Topic: Returning to gold standard? (Read 3160 times)

Whole those hashpower? And everyday is rising and difficulty of mining rising and again..When this will stop? And how this will stop, with bitcoin steady price or with sudden fall?
This is what scare me most when i think about bitcoin.
Gold don't have those problems. If mining (of gold) become more expensive price will follow as hundreds of years before.

Sounds like an explosive idea.

Totally agreeing whith you.

The difficulty should rise in a non linear way, so that too much waste of hashpower isn't processed!

I don't see any real practical usage for all those hashpower?
Only for securing transactions, this is such waste of power!
I mean this was intended to be using some idle state of online computers for some hash, not to involve whole industry..Am I right?
We finally have real face of bitcoin as everything else in capitalism.

Correct, China's PBOC is already working on their own proprietary blockchain-based currency.  The Fed has disseminated whitepapers for their own "Fedcoin" currency, as well.  Governments can tolerate a lot of dissent, but unregulated currencies are something they absolutely will not tolerate.

They accomplish two completely different goals.  Gold is a rare, malleable, corrosion proof metal that has been used as a store of value for as long as records have been kept by humans.  It's value is readily assessed based on its rarity and physical characteristics.  The only actual asset backing a particular cryptocurrency is the hardware which serves no other purpose but to complete totally arbitrary (and wasteful) hashing calculations.  Furthermore, that hashing power could be directed at any number of competing cryptocurrencies.  It's an infrastructure more than it is a currency.

The next real, game changing currency will be one based on energy, I believe.  When battery technology improves so that several MWh worth of energy can be stored in a small cell, you'll see people exchange those instead of traditional currencies.

To be fair, Bitcoin could be sent from anywhere there is a neckbeard running a full node on a laptop with an internet connection to anywhere there is a neckbeard running a full node on a laptop with an internet connection.

Which is to say, nearly nowhere

Yeah, the practicability.

Contrary to gold, btc can be send anywhere from anywhere.

You'll tell me same thing for fiat if they're based on gold that means gold (through fiat) can do it too.

Yeah but btc is based not on simple arbitrary assets as gold but on Hashing power. Which means technology development and power! Much better that an arbitrary noble metal no?

Bitcoin has potential and it's a great idea but have no chance to change anything in monetary system of the world.I'm afraid if governments wants, they gonna make payment system based on blockchain customized for their purposes.

First you must understand what is inflation and how was made. Only with gold standard we will have less inflation rates. because for creating more value to money you need more gold..more gold more mining.

With this system today we have enormous public debt!

You will see some brutal times when bubble of debt burst!

Oh the irony   If anything has a socially constructed value, it is a cryptocurrency.  In this respect, it is very much like fiat.  What is the actual value of an entry in this distributed ledger we call Bitcoin?  It's anyone's guess.

True, but the local captains of industry like Mr. arbitrage, the ones whoring out their signatures to dice sites for pocket change, are clearly the elite few, the Randian heroes, the 1% who'll profit.

What makes you think a return to a currency system based upon an asset, which is every bit as cornered by a few 'whales' as Bitcoin is, is good for humanity?

From what I can make out from the history books, a gold standard meant some brutally hard times for the masses when the economy went in to downturn, and picking up assets for pennies on the gold backed dollar for the very few.

Gold standard is best thing can happen to people if we don't think about bitcoin.
I think gold standard have greater chance to be revived, than bitcoin would be adopted by government..

Secret about gold is hidden behind wall of lies and disinformation.
Look at the story about UFOs 99% of all those news about are just scam, and people know that and don't believe in story about aliens..
Those rules from M. Twain time, cannot be applied today. In time of mass info revolution you can hide something only with massive disinformation!

...

I don't know much of the below, but I strongly suspect that these (below) points are true.  Further, that hardly anyone knows one way or the other, not any of you, not me.  All countries are secretive to one degree or other (for security reasons) about where their gold is, how it is transported, etc.  If you dig hard enough, you can verify what I write yourselves.

1)  Ft Knox probably DOES hold most of the ~8100 tonnes of US gold.  Most of it as 90% Au (coin melt).  This is our National Gold.  Smaller amounts are also held at the Denver, San Francisco and West Point mints.  A relatively small amount (400 tonnes or so) is held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), in the basement there in Manhattan.  

2)  The FRBNY mostly holds gold for other governments' central banks, although the FRBNY does hold the +/- 400 tonnes of US gold mentioned just above.  The FRBNY stores it for free.  The total is (was 2014 or so) some 7000 tonnes in storage.  Most of that gold at the FRBNY was sent to NYC after WWII when Europe was worried about a Soviet invasion (and losing their gold).  Germany has been taking some of it back, as far as I know, they made an Agreement with the FRBNY (possibly the USG as well) to take down their holdings to a lower level.  This Agreement is well-known, just dig!  Why the FRBNY?  Convenience for gold trading as well as safety from the ex-USSR.  Check out the FRBNY's brochure of their gold vault here: https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html  They offer tours, but you have to book WAY in advance.  (I would like to go on the tour next time I am in NYC)

3)  Germany has not opened their gold holdings to public viewing, including the amounts they brought back recently from NYC (also some from Paris).  Their own experts are checking the bars.  (Koos Jansen is up on this, he is trying to get the bar numbers to see if they are EXACTLY what Germany sent over before, or other bars...).

In general, I would suggest that the Conspiracy Gold Theories are unlikely to accurately reflect reality.  "Yamashita's Gold" for example is complete hogwash, see Steve St Angelo's piece (Feb 8, 2016) here:

https://srsroccoreport.com/setting-the-record-straight-on-the-massive-gold-supply-conspiracy/

Wholesale gold holdings are kept quite secret for obvious reasons.

*   *   *

All of that said, it is possible, though highly unlikely, that the Ft Knox gold might be gone.  But to where?  How?  How would "they" move, say, 7000 tonnes in secret?  I used to work for a branch of .gov where we had to keep things SECRET.  And I will tell you that if 7000 tonnes of gold went "missing", LOTS of people would have known, and word would have gotten out.

"Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead."
-- Mark Twain


(Edited to correct mistakes)

People have good understanding over gold. This is the major reason why gold as a commodity is tied up with the amount of currency one can have in accordance to gold they can dig or possess.

The gold standard has been long gone lol.

Unless you get the current president of 2016 to re-sign the bill on gold stealgull act again, it`ll remain the same.

I dont think it`ll ever come back, since the 2016 debates were mainly about border control and immagrants as main discussion and not about our monetary system. If it was proposed and it did pass the house - I still think it wouldnt be signed off due to bankers paid lobbyist.

If you don't understand who rules the world, you must firs read this:  http://humansarefree.com/2014/10/exposing-shadow-forces-behind-nwo.html
Let's clear something, non existence of gold in Fortnox only proves theory US is heading to disaster. All that gold cannot vanish!?
Gold is taken from middle man and placed in Fortnox by force of law.
Through private federal reserve and banking system all that gold is stored on safe places..
all this proves only one theory GOLD WILL HAVE GREAT VALUE IN FUTURE!

Yep, great post, MatTheCat.
Germany won't ever get that gold, for one simply reason. They don't have enough military/economic power to force the US to do so.
there will be endless bla bla talks, and the Germans will finally give up on that.
I also doubt that that gold is still in the US vaults. Probably sold long time ago to China.