Bitcoin anyone?

[frater secessus]

I prefer to use cash. It always works, no matter where I go or what I buy.
I'll leave the play money to the paranoids.

Your call.  And I won't call you names for doing so; that would be incivil.

There are places I shop online that give a discount to bitcoin purchases because there is no credit card transaction fees, chargebacks, or fakes.

 

[John61CT]

Interesting post about mining
https://qz.com/1055126/photos-china-has-one-of-worlds-largest-bitcoin-mines/

 

[chrisbailey]

It's only risky if you buy and hold, just using for transactions then cashing out is NP, or at least no more than taking credit cards.

Is there a way to accept it and then cash it out automatically? It might be simple enough for a mom and pop store to cash it out at the end of the business day, but if franchises and stores with multiple locations would need some sort of special setup, that would be a deterrent.

How would they know which location accepted it?

Does the CFTC still consider it a commodity?

 

[John61CT]

I'm no expert, major rabbit hole that!

Yes that's the regulatary foothold.

Just clarifying some misconceptions based on background info I've absorbed.

For a chain I'd say CO would need to facilitate, all at once.

 

[chrisbailey]

Well, it looks like when Overstock started taking it, they did have their Coinbase wallet set up to convert it to dollars according to this article  

Apparently they were keeping 10% of the bitcoin as an investment and to pay employees and vendors who wanted paid that way.  They've recently upped that to 50%.

 

[jonsun]

you buy bitcoin with real money, like you can buy game tokens at the arcade.

 

[John61CT]

Or you accept it in payment for good and services, use it to purchase from others, or when you want, convert to government currency

 

[chrisbailey]

I just feel sorry for the poor dumb fool who'd trade me my stupid real money for all his precious phantom gold.

That sentence seems to say you'd feel sorry for the fool that sold you all his bitcoin for cash.

And to think it looked like you weren't a bitcoin supporter.

 

[jonsun]

wow my posts were deleted again 

 

[GotSmart]

Thank You Wagoner for starting this thread.  I have learned a lot.  I have invested in survival all my life.  
Food education housing...  The concept of having extra money is kind of strange to me.  Now that i will be by myself... A possibility..  Investing was buying something and fixing and selling.

 

[dextours]

I can't predict what will become of Bitcoin. The important part about it is the technology and business model behind it. It is a secure way to do business that doesn't require banks or other traditional financial institutions. The majority of the world's population don't have credit cards or bank accounts. Bitcoin gives them the ability to do business with out the overhead of traditional financial institutions overhead.

 

[IGBT]

Bitcoin uses too much energy.  29kw-hr per transaction.   Enough to power like 30 vandwellers for a day.

 

[Ballenxj]

Bitcoin uses too much energy.  29kw-hr per transaction.   Enough to power like 30 vandwellers for a day.

Hahaha!

 

[GotSmart]

Bitcoin uses too much energy.  29kw-hr per transaction.   Enough to power like 30 vandwellers for a day.

So it costs me 3 bits a day to run my van?  I thought solar was free??? :huh:

 

[IGBT]

So it costs me 3 bits a day to run my van?  I thought solar was free??? :huh:

It is free!  Send me all your panels and controller!

 

[GotSmart]

It is free!  Send me all your panels and controller!

Just bitcoin me.  

 

[frater secessus]

Bitcoin uses too much energy.  29kw-hr per transaction.   Enough to power like 30 vandwellers for a day.

The electricity costs of processing and transmitting transactions is trivial.  The costs of bitcoin creation / blockchain security are high;  this is why it works.  And why most of the heavy lifting is done in places with inexpensive electricity.  

I will point out that the Fed, Treasury, bank, ATM, money transfer, and credit card infrastructures also have electricity costs.  Air conditioning for machinery and employees, lighting, etc.

 

[IGBT]

The electricity costs of processing and transmitting transactions is trivial.  The costs of bitcoin creation / blockchain security are high;  this is why it works.  And why most of the heavy lifting is done in places with inexpensive electricity.  

I will point out that the Fed, Treasury, bank, ATM, money transfer, and credit card infrastructures also have electricity costs.  Air conditioning for machinery and employees, lighting, etc.

I read something like bitcoin consumes 3000 times as much energy as a credit card transaction but I do not know if they are factoring in all of the things you did (employees, lighting, etc.)

But the bitcoin transaction also has machinery to solve the block chain and employees who build that machinery.

 

[frater secessus]

Bitcoin is a set of algorithms that run decentralized network; it has no employees or machinery. The code was written by volunteer. There are even autonomous companies that run on the blockchain that have no employees; just code providing services.

Third parties build mining gear and sell it to other third parties who use it to mine (process transactions, etc.).

 

[IGBT]

Bitcoin is a set of algorithms that run decentralized network; it has no employees or machinery.  The code was written by volunteer.  There are even autonomous companies that run on the blockchain that have no employees; just code providing services.  

Third parties build mining gear and sell it to other third parties who use it to mine (process transactions, etc.).

The mining gear is what I was referring to.   That is machinery and the people who build it are employees of the company who makes it.  Bitcoin uses quite advanced machinery that is constantly being upgraded.

I imagine that nobody actually does anything when I swipe my Visa card at a gas station pump.   It is all third party machinery and computers built by third parties which handle the transaction, log in database and such.  If a person had to actually hand verify each Visa transaction, the company would go bankrupt.