Bitcoin - Scam or Legitimate Currency

[Arsenal1982]

What are your thoughts on the future viability of Bitcoin? I pulled up a chart of the Bitcoin over the past year and one thing came to mind; Tulips.

 

[ThisIsJason]

Considering that the US Government owns the biggest Bitcoin wallet, legit.

 

[Jennasis]

Paper money will eventually be phased out. I say legit!

 

[georgina]

I think tulips too. Don't believe it can be legit currency with such wild price fluctuations. But then I am old and suspicious!

 

[java]

My 19 year old believes in it. Me not yet but as the other poster I am old and reluctant to change. Never heard of tulip off to google.

Holy smokes just looked at the price chart and that really scares me as a former chart analyst.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

High risk, high reward currency. Prices are beginning to stabilize, but still too early to tell whether or not they're legit in the long run.

 

[penn19]

My ds (19) is a big believer in it. He also heard that the Developer/Inventor is anonymous? Or is preferring to remain anonymous. That makes me (old) suspicious.

 

[phineasfan100]

My ds (19) is a big believer in it. He also heard that the Developer/Inventor is anonymous? Or is preferring to remain anonymous. That makes me (old) suspicious.

I believe it has potential and I think he is remaining anonymous because of some of the stuff it's used for. (Why the Government has the biggest wallet) I can't tell you here but you can do a search for "tor bitcoin" and you will get more than enough information.

 

[lauradis]

Hopefully not in my lifetime. I love money. Cold hard cash is awesome.

 

[deedeetoo]

Tulips. Absolutely.

 

[wiigirl]

I think its going to stick around and used as a currency. I also think it very volitile.

 

[bellebud]

so I just googled to try to understand what Bitcoin is, and I'm still not really getting it (I do get the tulip thing though, so I'm not totally hopeless). Can someone explain it to me as if I'm in 1st grade?

 

[Geoff_M]

Keep in mind that the only thing that makes ANY currency worth anything is someone's willingness to accept it in payment for a good or service. US$, Euros, or Bitcoin... no difference.

As I understand it, there's one big hole with the comparison to the tulip hysteria... the number of Bitcoin that can exist it capped, whereas you could "mint" limitless tulip bulbs over time. The only thing that can change that is if the Bitcoin rules change.

As long as peoples' confidence in Bitcoin isn't shaken, I don't think it's going anywhere soon.

 

[iheartdisney]

All I know about bitcoin I learned from Network TV Dramas. Apparently it is very good for laundering money and paying terrorists.

 

[Handbag Lady]

If I had any, I would hoard them like mad.

 

[tvguy]

Well, our NBA team accepts it. Flip side, you can go to jail in China and some European countries for trying to use it.

 

[Arsenal1982]

Well, our NBA team accepts it. Flip side, you can go to jail in China and some European countries for trying to use it.

You can go to jail for doing almost anything in China.

 

[timmac]

I vote legit, with the caveat that I wouldn't necessarily use it yet, until it stabilizes a bit and gains a little better acceptance/penetration.

The "first grader" explanation is that essentially it's currency that is all digital. No paper or anything exists that backs it, only digital records of how many coins are owned by which wallet. What allows it to work, however, is that the entire transaction history (block chain) is available for verification.

The security at work that prevents issues is a variety of methods of encryption that allow transactions to be digitally signed by the involved parties in such a way that they are relatively easy to confirm, but computationally infeasible to
fabricate.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Even with the dumbed down explanation I'm just not getting it. And on the way to work there are signs posted saying "Bitcoins for College please". What the heck is that all about? College are accepting this non-existent currency that isn't backed up by anything? To me it's like poker chips with no where to cash them in. If there's no money behind the chips, what's the point of the chips? It's like playing with Monopoly money to me.

 

[timmac]

Well, to be fair, actual US currency isn't backed by anything either, yet it somehow works as a common medium of exchange for goods and services. In that regard, bitcoin isn't really all that different, except that it has no central controlling authority.