Topic: Get Rich Quick (Read 1716 times)

Mining isn't the only way to make money quick and fast. Speculation is another good way and better proven in real world. Virtually everyone who has been around for a while is sad, because of not buying coins when they are cheap.

I want to see success stories, so non-computer-nereds join the system.

Some very good points.  I'm late to the BTC party and would like my mining rigs to pay for themselves.  But that's the problem: I just want to recover my costs and make money.  How many people are just like me?  I wager it's the majority.  Many people will hear that "bitcoins are a currency you create on your own home computer!" and instantly think it's A) a scam, B) a pyramid scheme.  I've tried to explain Bitcoin to a few people so far and ALL initially think it's a pyramid scam.  Even after they say 'yeah, I get it', the look in their eyes is of someone being confronted with a religious zealot espousing their extraordinary beliefs.

As for the currency being treated like a commodity instead of an actual currency, I suggest all currencies behave in that way.  I recall reading that less than 1% of foreign currency transactions are used to buy something real: the rest are from speculators betting on tiny movements in currency.  But at least with USD$ you can go buy something in a store.  We need a whole lot more major web sites to support BTC or I fear this will collapse.

I think it is both, because all currencies are both. That's what the whole cash market is all about. The only exception is the "with my computer part". Currencies are speculation, that's one of the main reason for them to be such an interesting market. Take foreign currency loans as an example. I guess most buyers use them for speculation at this time, but that's just because Bitcoins aren't established by now.

See the anti-deflation people and think about the Euro. It had a huge rise at the beginning and recently there was this crash. Lots of people made a whole lot of money, because they knew a few simple things:
Europe or the currency won't simply cease to exist.
Greece won't either.
The price is still WAY higher than it has been just some time ago when everyone was afraid of the high Euro causing a recession, because it'd stop import.
China and the US are even artificially lowering the price for their currencies to increase income.

Same thing for the financial crisis. Every sane person knew the best thing was to lower the prices for stocks and currencies by scaremongering (just like what you see in this forum right now), while buying the cheap stuff. There is no real reason behind this. It's not like all big corporations would suddenly disappear. Well, smaller ones maybe, but all shares dropped in price, even the ones from huge corporations. Yeah, of course they'd make less money for now, but of a comparatively short time period you'll see a huge growth. Just watch long-term charts, where you can see other recessions.

But actually this is basic stuff everyone should learn in school. It is a natural thing for a healthy(!) market that it always changes between recessions and booms. There is always some cause, like a trigger, but that's because the whole thing isn't perfect, else markets wouldn't at all be interesting for speculators.

So actually recessions are a good thing for Bitcoin. They are opposed to a real, permanent crash. All people know there isn't an infinite growth, but over the long run there is something that comes close to it. This will at least be true until all Bitcoins have been generated.

It is a bit unclear what happens afterwords, but we'll see it by then. It still takes a while until we reach that point.

Oh yes! It's a wonderful spectator sport. Just like watching non-bursting bitcoin bubbles.

Heh, thanks for clearing that up. I get what dig was saying now.

Interesting… Why ?

Yeah, the more you can do with them the less they'll be worth. That's been the general trend. 

I hope people will start to accept bitcoins.

This is curcial because otherwise, people will just loose any interest in bitcoins and sell them, leaving with a negative opinion.

Which will lead to decrease in value.

I used bitcoins a couple days ago to buy some computer hardware.

Does anyone else think the public perception of Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme ("free money with my computer!") more than an electronic currency?

I think this perspective is reinforced by all this speculative trading.

I'm starting to think any deflationary asset will begin to behave like a commodity rather than a currency. It seems to strongly discourage spending and encourage investment.

Will BTC work as a currency, to buy goods and services?