Topic: Is Bitcoin money? - page 15. (Read 112172 times)

Yes, Bitcoin can turn into a money with or without investments you can gain money and all you need a devices and internet and the result will definitely good.

In economic theory there is a definition of the concept - Money.
Bitcoin corresponds to all characteristics of money. We make a conclusion-bitcoin Money.

bitcoin is a digital currency that is not tied to a bank or government and allows its users to shop without revealing their identity. These coins are created by users who "mine" their currency by lending computing power to verify other user transactions. They accept bitcoin in return. These coins can also be bought and sold by exchanging local currency.

Gold and silver both have excellent industrial characteristics.  They are both excellent conductors, for example, with silver being the best elemental conductor known to science; and gold does not corrode even in harsh environments such as under the ocean floor.  Both are used extensively in electronics for space, and gold is used as a coating for glass windows, because it can filter out radiation and solar intensity much better than leaded glass.  Silver is also traditionally used in dishes because it has antibiotic effects, not because of it's color.  Polished lead can look almost as shiny, and that would not turn out as well.  Pure silver is not the only material that inhibits surface growth, but the only one known of before 1965, and still one of the better methods, and used in medicine to this day.  Silver is an excellent heat conductor as well, and used in heat paste to dissipate the heat of a computer's cpu.  Silver can be used to make better batteries, but they would literally cost a fortune.  Gold would make an ideal material for bullets, because it's more massive than lead, non-toxic to any form of life, and as soft as lead and therefore as likely to 'mushroom' effectively.

The point here is, the main reason that we don't see these uses is because of the monetary value of gold, not because it isn't useful.  The 'intrinsic' value doesn't have to add to, nor equal, it's monetary trade value; only provide for a natural price floor.


Scarcity is not a characteristic of money, because it's trade value adjusts to it's scarcity.  Historicly; gold, silver and copper coins were all inter-traded, but copper wasn't particularly scarce.  Iron/steel was more valuable during the middle ages, because kings had a hard time outfitting armies with weapons made of copper.  Steel cooking pots would have been considered expensive.  One contributing cause was that refinement of quality iron required much more energy and labor than copper, silver or gold.  All of those being softer metals, and therefore much less labor intensive than iron or steel.  These days, refined gold "above ground" is less scarce than silver of a comparable condition; yet gold is many times more valuable because of it's monetary value, which silver lost along the way.

Taken on the other side, platinum is much scarcer than gold, and today is much more valuable because there are industrial uses for which there are no acceptable alternatives, not because of any monetary value.  The miners were aware of platinum by the 1600's, but Spanish treasure ships were likely to forge it into a ship's ballast weight, a cannon, or even a cannonball rather than use it as money.  It was scarce stuff, and they knew it, but they didn't have any special use for it, and is was too scarce to attempt to make it into coins, because it was so scarce that most people had no experience with it, and would therefore be unlikely to be willing to trade in it at all.  Mercury was often found in silver (which is why it was called quicksilver) but also often found with platinum.  Mercury was significantly more valuable than platinum because doctors of the day believed it had medicinal properties.

Bitcoin is something radically new. Nothing like Bitcoin has been possible until now. I would go so far as to consider it sui generis; "in its own class".  This makes it important to understand what Bitcoin actually is before we try to describe it to others.

We're getting a good handle on the code, and of course on Bitcoin's function and utility, but what words should we use to describe Bitcoin itself? There has been some debate in other threads [mostly my doing] over how it is like/not like money, cash, dollars, etc. I'd like to start this thread by focusing on the term "money", and play Devil's avocate by asking for your best arguments that Bitcoin IS money.

My legal dictionary states "In usual and ordinary acceptation it [money] means gold, silver, or paper money, used as circulating medium of exchange, and does not embrace notes, bonds, evidences of debt, or other personal or real estate." [cites omitted]

Wikipedia says "Money is any object that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally, a standard of deferred payment." [cited omitted]

Webster's Online Dictionary defines money as:

• 1. The most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender; "we tried to collect the money he owed us".
• 2. Wealth reckoned in terms of money; "all his money is in real estate".
• 3. The official currency issued by a government or national bank; "he changed his money into francs".
• 4. A piece of metal, as gold, silver, copper, etc., coined, or stamped, and issued by the sovereign authority as a medium of exchange in financial transactions between citizens and with government; also, any number of such pieces; coin.
• 5. Any written or stamped promise, certificate, or order, as a government note, a bank note, a certificate of deposit, etc., which is payable in standard coined money and is lawfully current in lieu of it; in a comprehensive sense, any currency usually and lawfully employed in buying and selling.
• 6. In general, wealth; property; as, he has much money in land, or in stocks; to make, or lose, money.

[links omitted]
[/list]

I maintain that per these definitions, Bitcoin cannot possibly be described as "money". And further, I think that those who do describe Bitcoin as "money" are doing this community a disservice.

But that is just my point of view. Are there any that can convincingly argue otherwise, that Bitcoin IS money?