Bitcoin . . . A Cruisers' Currency ?

[zboss]

I admit... time to put your tin foil hat on...

IMO - Anybody who is a fan of bitcoin should read up on the birth of the Brazilian Real Currency. The Bush/Obama administrations policy of printing money faster than you could click a mouse button has pretty much collapsed any faith in the dollar over the long term.

Bitcoin is the US version of the Real IMO... the real US dollar will be extinct in 15 years.

[nimblemotors]

Bitcoin is most fascinating technology and social science, but it requires a functioning internet, so a cruising sailor would be about the last person to want bitcoins. Gold is, um, the Gold Standard around the world for holding value.
For gambling, there are plenty of options, bitcoin looks played out about now.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by PirateBooty

S
If you can convince a local pub to accept bitcoin and let me know who they are, I'd be happy to contact them and arrange a few rounds for Coops and Company.

See?

Now that you have some bitcoin, all you have to do is convince someone else to accept it!

Good luck with that!

[PirateBooty]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

See?

Now that you have some bitcoin, all you have to do is convince someone else to accept it!

Good luck with that!

No I don't. There are already hundreds of establishments in the area I live that accept bitcoin. I could eat for the rest of my life and use nothing but bitcoin to pay for it. I can buy a car with it, shop online at overstock.com or buy electronics at tigerdirect.com. The list is growing every day and if I can't find an establishment to accept it directly, I can just cash out bitcoin for fiat on coinbase.com anytime I want.

I expect that my current problem of how do I buy a boat with it will also take care of itself, in time. You seem a little butthurt about bitcoin.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I was at the boat show yesterday and no one was taking bitcoins that I could see.

You never know those tulip bulbs may come back one day.

very accurate parallel

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by nimblemotors

Bitcoin is most fascinating technology and social science, but it requires a functioning internet, so a cruising sailor would be about the last person to want bitcoins. ...

+1.

When you stop at Nukufetau and they don't even have electricity except a few hours a day when they run the generator (if they have fuel) how are you going to process the Bitcoin transaction? Barter is much easier.

And when you're in Brisbane instead, well, foreign exchange just isn't that difficult these days. And not much more than any processing fees you pay to convert Bitcoin to more standard currencies.

So, only really useful to cruising sailors when boatyards and chandleries start taking it directly, and none that I am familiar with have started yet. Will be interesting to see where it goes.

[PirateBooty]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

very accurate parallel

For those that don't get the reference and like to learn new things, bitcoin magazine did a nice writeup.

Tulip Mania Vs. Bitcoin – Bitcoin Magazine

[stillbuilding]

China has rejected Bitcoin - I guess they did not feel the need for another US currency. Gold works really well in China and Asia generally. In Hong Kong it is freely traded at the corner gold shop .

[PirateBooty]

Originally Posted by stillbuilding

China has rejected Bitcoin - I guess they did not feel the need for another US currency. Gold works really well in China and Asia generally. In Hong Kong it is freely traded at the corner gold shop .

China is second to the US in fiat to bitcoin volume and first in straight up trading volume across it's exchanges.

You can check the price of for Chinas largest exchange by volume here: Huobi BTC/CNY Charts - BitcoinWisdom

I didn't come here to sell or educate people on bitcoin but all of you misinformed people need to seriously spend more time investigating your points.

EDIT: I take some of that back, it looks like OKCoin is the largest Chinese exchange by volume currently. Damn it moves fast!

[Dsanduril]

Guess it's potato-potato.

China’s central bank barred financial institutions from handling Bitcoin transactions, moving to regulate the virtual currency after an 89-fold jump in its value sparked a surge of investor interest in the country.

Bitcoin plunged more than 20 percent to below $1,000 on the BitStamp Internet exchange after the People’s Bank of China said it isn’t a currency with “real meaning” and doesn’t have the same legal status. The public is free to participate in Internet transactions provided they take on the risk themselves, it said.

I think this was the basic reference, which is a ban by the Chinese government on any financial institution dealing with Bitcoin.

[PirateBooty]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

Guess it's potato-potato.



I think this was the basic reference, which is a ban by the Chinese government on any financial institution dealing with Bitcoin.

Regardless, China has clearly not rejected bitcoin.

[Dsanduril]

That's where you have to be careful what you say either way. As evidenced by their trading volume the people of China have not rejected Bitcoin. As evidenced by their actions and public statements, the government of China has.

[mgstich]

I know very little about bitcoins except that I am hesitant about such a volatile currency that is not yet widely accepted.

Also, I am of the impression that one earns bitcoins by dedicating part of his computer to be used in the algorithms.

Assuming that is true, that means I am voluntarily opening my computer to whom? Someone (an anonymous person) much, much smarter than I has written the program. Certainly if intelligent enough to create this theory and program, this person can then access any information on my computer, right?

I'm not sure I'm comfortable voluntarily granting access to my computer and dedicating it to bitcoin calculations...

Then again, I don't really understand the whole thing, so maybe my thought process doesn't make sense.

[PirateBooty]

Originally Posted by mgstich

I know very little about bitcoins except that I am hesitant about such a volatile currency that is not yet widely accepted.

Also, I am of the impression that one earns bitcoins by dedicating part of his computer to be used in the algorithms.

Assuming that is true, that means I am voluntarily opening my computer to whom? Someone (an anonymous person) much, much smarter than I has written the program. Certainly if intelligent enough to create this theory and program, this person can then access any information on my computer, right?

I'm not sure I'm comfortable voluntarily granting access to my computer and dedicating it to bitcoin calculations...

Then again, I don't really understand the whole thing, so maybe my thought process doesn't make sense.

Your attitude is correct about your personal security. I wish more people thought this way. However, there are two basic pieces of software when it comes to bitcoin.

First you have the mining software that mines bitcoins. It is no longer profitable to mine on a personal computer because the difficulty is very high. This difficulty I mention is the difficulty of completing the process that results in an accepted block which for now results in bitcoins as a reward to the persons who mined that block. The difficulty is dynamic and will change in such a way as to ensure the rate at which blocks are completed and bitcoins enter the ecosystem. We have dedicated hardware built specifically for the purpose of mining so you won't be installing mining software on your computer any longer.

Second you have the bitcoin wallet where you store the keys needed to access your bitcoins. Before there were online wallets that people could store bitcoins in the only choice for coin storage was the bitcoin wallet you installed on your computer and yes, if it had malicious code in it, it could be used as a vector for attack. The wallet software is open source which means the code is constantly reviewed by the public. Also, it is no longer necessary to run your own wallet, there are plenty of online wallet services to track your bitcoins. The tradeoff is that you have to trust the online wallet service with your coins.

I hope this was helpful. I too would be more worried about volatility if I was looking to enter the market right now. A part of me hopes it never stabilizes since it's just plain boring when it does.

[Capt Rottnest]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

See?

Now that you have some bitcoin, all you have to do is convince someone else to accept it!

Good luck with that!

Actually there's a bunch of bars in Oz accepting it, 4 or 5 in Perth alone. Serving the geek market they call it.
But, it is a Ponzi scheme. Built in deflation. Early adopters win.