[tor-talk] US Senators Seek to Crackdown on Bitcoin

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On Thu 16 Jun 2011 - 05:40:27 [+0200], andre76 at fastmail.fm wrote:
> Bitcoin is a scam.  Money or value can't be created on a computer
> (unless you consider the phoney fiat currency of the USD "money").  At
> best bitcoin is a ponzi scheme where the initial holders of the digital
> money get to see the increase in the computer value of the bitcoins they
> "own" only to, at the right time, dump them onto suckers that got in the
> this new fangled trickery at the end.  Those that hold bitcoins at the
> end will be at a loss as in reality, they're worth nothing.  Bitcoins
> are a classic example of the Wall Street method of Pump and Dump.  Fake
> or unrealistic information is circulated around the web about a certain
> stock and how it's to perform which is always UP UP UP in value.  This
> is the Pump phase.  The unsuspecting and gulible public rushes in to
> purchase massive amounts of the (really) junk stock.  The price rises
> dramaticly.  Those that promoted the stock then Dump it....fast.  They
> make their profit and the dummies that believed the junk about how great
> the equity was get stuck with a loss as the stock plummets.  

Money is not made to make people rich or poor. Money is here to ease trading.

With this perspective the goal is not to get a pile of bitcoins and wait. You
buy bitcoins or get paid with them and you spend them to get goods and
services.

On the ponzi scheme worry, one has to ask us which one of these holds:

  - I bet on the fact that others will came after me.
  - I bet that bitcoin will be still used at some later point.

Only the first describe a ponzi scheme and I think only the second apply for
bitcoins.

Early adopters will get rewarded for the risk they took and the time they
spent.  Late adopters will benefit from a stable and secure money with a finite
supply.

Regards.