Can governments not step in and put an end to the cryptocurrency madness?

Theophany said:
Well they don't because banks are insured up the wazoo against that sort of thing and short of being wilfully ignorant (e.g. transferring your life savings to a Nigerian prince) your bank isn't going to leave you out of pocket.

If it doesn't pass the 'could my grandparents use it' test, how does it function as a realistic alternative to what already exists?

I get that it's a hobby, a fascinating experiment and that people have made a lot of money on it, but the idea that it could ever replace what we already have in it's current state is just drinking far too much of the koolaid.
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People do lose money with regular banks all the time, and no they do not always refund it.

Theophany said:
Pulling the 'no ur an idiot' defence against centralised, readily realisable, fungible currency really is a bold strategy in defending cryptocurrency.
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I wasn't calling you an idiot, don't be so harsh on yourself :rolleyes:. You were suggesting that my statement was wrong so I merely defended it by pointing out your misunderstanding.
 
krooton said:
Funnily enough, the energy I am 'wasting' would have been wasted any way heating my study, so not only am I profiting, but I'm not hurting the environment any more than I would have been :D
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Same, I’m using my existing card to mine during the winter months in the man cave rather than leaving the heater on... so cave stays warm and I make a few quid a day (after electrical cost) sending electrons through a GPU rather than through my a heater coil. All undervolted and running nice and cool at sub 50c at about 60% power, so not stressful on the card at all.
 
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DeliciousStorage said:
People do lose money with regular banks all the time, and no they do not always refund it.

I wasn't calling you an idiot, don't be so harsh on yourself :rolleyes:. You were suggesting that my statement was wrong so I merely defended it by pointing out your misunderstanding.
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Ok, let's clear one thing up right away here buddy or this is going to get very heated, I'm not being harsh on myself. :D
 
Zeeflyboy said:
Same, I’m using my existing card to mine during the winter months in the man cave rather than leaving the heater on... so cave stays warm and I make a few quid a day (after electrical cost) sending electrons through a GPU rather than through my a heater coil. All undervolted and running nice and cool at sub 50c at about 60% power, so not stressful on the card at all.
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It hammers the crap out of the memory, hence why a lot of ex-minging cards don't last too long before displaying artefacts, etc.

More fool me, I bought one :( Never again. As with everything else associated with crypto mining, buying ex-mining cards for gaming is also a massive gamble.
 
neocon said:
So is the UK housing market and long may it rise.
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Inflation adjusted prices just surpassed pre-GFC levels. If monetary stimulus is withdrawn the UK housing market is in trouble.

House Prices = Wages + Interest Rates + Supply/Demand

Wages are flat. Interest rates are artifically low because of the bank of england's response to Covid/QE. Supply/Demand dynamics are influenced by the SDLT cut (which should be withdrawn shortly).

Wages are the main driver and as inflation-adjusted wages have remained constant for over 10 years and wages are arguably the most important componant, we are in a speculative bubble that will inevitably crash. If you're buying your first home or climbing the ladder, do it, but if you're thinking of investing in real estate, you're taking a huge amount of risk by pretty much every single metric going.
 
The difference between real estate and bitcoin is that property is a tangible asset that can provide income (via rent) in addition to keeping pace with inflation.

In the long term bitcoin can at best retain its value like gold. Unlike gold however a bitcoin doesn't actually exist in the physical world and it's value could literally drop to zero! That's something which will never happen with either real estate or gold.
 
silvagti said:
The difference between real estate and bitcoin is that property is a tangible asset that can provide income (via rent) in addition to keeping pace with inflation.

In the long term bitcoin can at best retain its value like gold. Unlike gold however a bitcoin doesn't actually exist in the physical world and it's value could literally drop to zero! That's something which will never happen with either real estate or gold.
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How much do you think gold would be worth once we have access to asteroid mining?
 
FoxEye said:
It hammers the crap out of the memory, hence why a lot of ex-minging cards don't last too long before displaying artefacts, etc.

More fool me, I bought one :( Never again. As with everything else associated with crypto mining, buying ex-mining cards for gaming is also a massive gamble.
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It really is very light use - only gets used occasionally when it's especially cold during the winter just to stop man cave toys getting too cold.... probably not more than a month per year and even then not 24/7, mostly overnight. Never had any issues, even on the 980Ti's which I ran for years. Arguably probably less stressful than the thermal cycle from super cold to warm that would otherwise happen!

If you've got cards being hammered in a mining rig 24/7, 365 and probably multiple cards rammed together in a dedicated mining rig with insufficient cooling then yeah, I can guess maybe you'll see issues.
 
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Tephnos said:
How much do you think gold would be worth once we have access to asteroid mining?
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What, you mean in 2221? :p

Back in this century, gold is valuable for all sorts of things including electronics.

Asteroid mining (if it ever happens) will be stupidly expensive. It will require all alternatives to be exhausted before the cost of mining off-world makes any kind of sense.
 
All the time governments and central banks are printing money and devaluing people's savings and cash to hand, there is going to be interest in alternative investments.

People are seeing their savings being eroded by inflation and wondering what to do about it. Stocks are another potential avenue to preserve wealth but now plenty are seeing a genuinely scarce asset and asking if it can protect them against inflation.

Is it the answer given its shortcomings and issues? I don't know but I'm not betting against it.
 
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Tephnos said:
How much do you think gold would be worth once we have access to asteroid mining?
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We don't, so it's a moot point now. When we do it will depend on the cost of mining gold from asteroids and transporting the gold, which will initially be very high. So it'll be relevant at some point in the future (assuming relevant technology continues to improve) but not any time soon.

Right now, we're at the stage where it's a major (and majorly expensive) achievement to get a simple probe to an asteroid at all. We're a long way from asteroid mining being practical.
 
DeliciousStorage said:
No, it can't literally drop to zero, I'll buy 1 Bitcoin from anyone for £0.01.
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Let's say for example within the next decade or two all of the bitcoins on the planet have been mined and there's no longer any incentive for anyone to contribute to process transactions. At that point won't everyone just stop using it and switch to another more lucrative/speculative cryptocurrency.

Isn't Bitcoin's value is purely based on people using it and being willing/able to exchange it for national currencies.

I guess it can always be forked in future if there's any updates or changes required but every time that happens surely people will question just what the inherent value of a Bitcoin actually is and what it represents?
 
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When enough people can't make money from it. They will switch to whatever next coin is about to blossom.
I said itf b4 doge coin is where it's at.

214% in a month. Pure gains
 
Also, regarding "governments putting an end to the cryptocurrency madness", isn't there a very real chance governments will step in and ban Cryptocurrencies being exchanged for their own national currency due to concerns about tax evasion, money laundering and fraud.

I'm somewhat surprised most governments have been so tolerant of them given they literally present a threat to their own national currencies?
 
Narj said:
People are seeing their savings being eroded by inflation and wondering what to do about it. Stocks are another potential avenue to preserve wealth but now plenty are seeing a genuinely scarce asset and asking if it can protect them against inflation.
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stockmarkets all that inflation money has overvalued everything, bitcoin seems pretty wise right now.


seems bitcoin is the new bank account
 
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