Topic: The press make me laugh with how they cover bitcoin, even now at 2013's end (Read 2075 times)

These figures are highly inacurrate.

One has to look at all of the money worldwide. This has to include M1, M2, and M3 money.

Then one has to look at derivatives whice are a form of money used by the worldwide banking systems.

According to wikipedia there is about 70 trillion in M1, M2, and M3 including derivatives.

If one were also to include world debt that figure raises to about 700 trillion worldwide.  World debt is comonly known to exceed 700 trillion dollars.

If Bitcoin were to have a valuation of just a fraction of the above amount, each bitcoin would have a value of over $ 1 million USD.  If It were to get a moderate piece of the world monetary market each coin would have a valuation of up to $20 million USD each!

Derivatives are not money they are assets, and their valuation is suspect. They base their value on what are in effect a bet on conditions in various parts of the world economy, and some of the conditions cannot now be satisfied, hence the stake in the bet is worthless.

You're saying that valuing bitcoin as a currency that everyone uses is calculated by counting up all the debt as well as all the assets? That's just doesn't make sense.

Then one has to look at derivatives whice are a form of money used by the worldwide banking systems.

According to wikipedia there is about 70 trillion in M1, M2, and M3 including derivatives.

If one were also to include world debt that figure raises to about 700 trillion worldwide.  World debt is comonly known to exceed 700 trillion dollars.

If Bitcoin were to have a valuation of just a fraction of the above amount, each bitcoin would have a value of over $ 1 million USD.  If It were to get a moderate piece of the world monetary market each coin would have a valuation of up to $20 million USD each!

the second link says:


stopped reading right there, a source that's that bad at math doesn't have any creditably at all.

10.8 billion / 3.8 trillion = 0.3%? not even close (it's closer to 0.03%)

also, this is more of an argument how much growth potential bitcoin actually has.

if bitcoin grow to only 3% of the worlds money supply (which is entirely possible), bitcoins value would go up by a 100 times.

even 30% is easily possible, which means the value of bitcoin could increase by a 1000 times, making each bitcoin worth rougly a million (in todays dollars).

Just been reading this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25332746

And this:  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-12/fact-fiction-and-11-bitcoin-myths


And the thought crossed my mind: it doesn't seem to matter how much time passes, even the (comparatively) good journalists with no agenda are so far behind the understanding curve. This isn't to say I'm some kind of Bitcoin sage, I know what I know, but there's people with both much more detailed knowledge of the system as well as better view of that big picture of how the bitcoin system fits into the rest of our world.

But these journalists just aren't up to the job of seeing the distributed cryptocurrency concept for what it is. They consistently fail to get a grasp of the implications of the design, and they consistently fail to understand the monetary theory part, too. Even dedicated cryptocurrency newsdesks like Coindesk have a bit of a shaky handle on how best to present certain concepts (although in fairness they're often very good too, light years away from the established news sites).

It's easy to take it for granted; I've spent every spare minute reading and talking about cryptocurrency and the surrounding topics to it since 2011. But it's hardly that much of a head-start, and these journalists are supposed to be professionals!

Is this such a different way of doing money that you need to be regularly using it and regularly educating yourself about it to get a proper grasp of what it really is and isn't?

A.J. is a sensationalist bastard but like a broken watch he's sometimes right.

In his "Bitcoin is Illuminati one world currency" piece, Alex says:

"Y'know, these days, I do all my thinking with my gut"

And I could not help but think "yeah, both of your chins are kind of giving that one away"

In his "Bitcoin is Illuminati one world currency" piece, Alex says:

"Y'know, these days, I do all my thinking with my gut"

And I could not help but think "yeah, both of your chins are kind of giving that one away"

10.8 *10^9 / 3.8 *10^12 = 2.84...*10^-3 = 0.00284

But even the "underground", "alternative" press are struggling, zerohedge not least (and their whole ethos is "the sky is falling, just really slowly.... watch it carefully").

Found Alex Jones talking about bitcoin on youtube just now, it's a "globalist techno-fascist plot", predictably.

Mainstream media not understanding something and getting facts wrong... what's new?

Errr, maybe you should learn math 10.8/3800 * 100 = 0.284...

"It will EASILY go to a million dollars muahahahahaa" [holds pinky on lips]

Go Timmeeeh!

the second link says:


stopped reading right there, a source that's that bad at math doesn't have any creditably at all.

10.8 billion / 3.8 trillion = 0.3%? not even close (it's closer to 0.03%)

also, this is more of an argument how much growth potential bitcoin actually has.

if bitcoin grow to only 3% of the worlds money supply (which is entirely possible), bitcoins value would go up by a 100 times.

even 30% is easily possible, which means the value of bitcoin could increase by a 1000 times, making each bitcoin worth rougly a million (in todays dollars).

Reality: By any objective measure, bitcoin is tiny at a total value of $10.8 billion.  Since one of the complaints about bitcoin is that it can enable hard-to-trace criminal activity, let’s compare that amount to the real enabler of drug sales, tax evasion, and even more heinous crimes the world over: the U.S. $100 bill.  There are about $400 billion of those floating around the world.  Total stock of cash money in the U.S.:  about $800 billion.  And when you look at total cash around the world, the number is about $3.8 trillion.  Bottom line: bitcoin at current valuation is 0.3% of the world’s cash money.  That is not huge.