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Topic: Why Bitcoin Will Never Be a Currency—in 2 Charts (Read 3969 times)

hero member
Activity: 667
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It would be a lot more accurate for the author to have entitled this piece "Why Bitcoin Will Never Be a Currency - in 2 Charts That Only Prove That Bitcoin Is Not Central Banking".

Seriously, this article is just making this syllogistic argument --

Premise 1: Bitcoin is not Central Banking
Premise 2: All currencies are produced by Central Banking
Conclusion: Therefore Bitcoin does not produce a currency.

Valid syllogistic form, MASSIVELY unsound premise #2.
legendary
Activity: 3514
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Actually BTC DOSE have a Central Banker, it is just a mindless unresponsive piece of code that is executing a programmed exponentially decreasing mining schedule that Satoshi created years ago.  Yet a bunch of silly libertarians have convinced themselves that living under the economic dictates of a mindless machine central banker is better then under that of any human.  How anyone claiming to be a believer in individual liberty and the free market would submit to a system which ignores the market, ignores all economic activity and ignores all human wishes is beyond absurd, it show that the so-called libertarian in America is a stooge and knows nor cares for anything resembling liberty.

He is in fact a slave at heart and yearns only for the tyrannical.

Humans are liable to all kinds of sins. There are even Commandments that deal specifically with a part of them. And I'm not even speaking that to err is human. Actually, bitcoin (or something that would be more useful or robust) can be regarded as a reliable basis for building tools that would specifically address the issues you pointed out...

It's too early to tell
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
Actually BTC DOSE have a Central Banker, it is just a mindless unresponsive piece of code that is executing a programmed exponentially decreasing mining schedule that Satoshi created years ago.  Yet a bunch of silly libertarians have convinced themselves that living under the economic dictates of a mindless machine central banker is better then under that of any human.  How anyone claiming to be a believer in individual liberty and the free market would submit to a system which ignores the market, ignores all economic activity and ignores all human wishes is beyond absurd, it show that the so-called libertarian in America is a stooge and knows nor cares for anything resembling liberty.

He is in fact a slave at heart and yearns only for the tyrannical.
You discredit yourself more with every post. Why don't you just stop?
legendary
Activity: 3066
Merit: 1147
The revolution will be monetized!
Actually BTC DOSE have a Central Banker, it is just a mindless unresponsive piece of code that is executing a programmed exponentially decreasing mining schedule that Satoshi created years ago.  Yet a bunch of silly libertarians have convinced themselves that living under the economic dictates of a mindless machine central banker is better then under that of any human.  How anyone claiming to be a believer in individual liberty and the free market would submit to a system which ignores the market, ignores all economic activity and ignores all human wishes is beyond absurd, it show that the so-called libertarian in America is a stooge and knows nor cares for anything resembling liberty.

He is in fact a slave at heart and yearns only for the tyrannical.
Or they could just trust math more than humans? I know I do.
sr. member
Activity: 826
Merit: 250
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Actually BTC DOSE have a Central Banker, it is just a mindless unresponsive piece of code that is executing a programmed exponentially decreasing mining schedule that Satoshi created years ago.  Yet a bunch of silly libertarians have convinced themselves that living under the economic dictates of a mindless machine central banker is better then under that of any human.  How anyone claiming to be a believer in individual liberty and the free market would submit to a system which ignores the market, ignores all economic activity and ignores all human wishes is beyond absurd, it show that the so-called libertarian in America is a stooge and knows nor cares for anything resembling liberty.

He is in fact a slave at heart and yearns only for the tyrannical.
newbie
Activity: 10
Merit: 0
If he would only have 3 charts.... i might have read the first sentence... notttt.
legendary
Activity: 3514
Merit: 1280
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Considered by bankers because they make money on it. Not good enough.

I don't think this discredits the article itself somehow (in fact, rather bankers for that matter). Don't shoot the messenger

Also, some small inflation (2-3 percent per year, maybe lower than that) is considered to be positive for economy (in fact, a currency should be depreciating for it to work properly). If economy and population would be growing, Bitcoin would be appreciating (gaining more purchasing power) too, meaning there is less bitcoins per good per capita. That point is correct as well...
Oh right, about that. The western population is in fact shrinking so don't worry about that.

Okay then. What about economy? If bitcoin will not go to the economy, the economy must come to bitcoin, right?
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
Considered by bankers because they make money on it. Not good enough.

I don't think this discredits the article itself somehow (in fact, rather bankers for that matter). Don't shoot the messenger

Also, some small inflation (2-3 percent per year, maybe lower than that) is considered to be positive for economy (in fact, a currency should be depreciating for it to work properly). If economy and population would be growing, Bitcoin would be appreciating (gaining more purchasing power) too, meaning there is less bitcoins per good per capita. That point is correct as well...
Oh right, about that. The western population is in fact shrinking so don't worry about that.
legendary
Activity: 3066
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The revolution will be monetized!
OMG two charts!  Shocked

I would not panic if he only had one chart, but two, this changes all the facts!!!
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
Guys, he's trolling:

Quote
So who's the perfect person to run Bitcoin? It'd have to be someone with central banking experience. Someone who understands why deflation is a problem. And someone who thinks virtual currencies hold promise. Someone like ... Ben Bernanke.

No one could be this bloody stupid.
Of course he can. If it really was obvious to those kinds of people what bitcoin is they would either be busy grabbing as much as they can or trying to get it shut down.
full member
Activity: 280
Merit: 102
Guys, he's trolling:

Quote
So who's the perfect person to run Bitcoin? It'd have to be someone with central banking experience. Someone who understands why deflation is a problem. And someone who thinks virtual currencies hold promise. Someone like ... Ben Bernanke.

No one could be this bloody stupid.
legendary
Activity: 3514
Merit: 1280
English ⬄ Russian Translation Services
Considered by bankers because they make money on it. Not good enough.

I don't think this discredits the article itself somehow (in fact, rather bankers for that matter). Don't shoot the messenger

Also, some small inflation (2-3 percent per year, maybe lower than that) is considered to be positive for economy (in fact, a currency should be depreciating for it to work properly). If economy and population would be growing, Bitcoin would be appreciating (gaining more purchasing power) too, meaning there is less bitcoins per good per capita. That point is correct as well...
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
Considered by bankers because they make money on it. Not good enough.
legendary
Activity: 3514
Merit: 1280
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Then there was the part about needing a bitcoin bank that could print or destroy bitcoins as needed. And the plug for bernie at the end. The word ponzi was used which automatically discredits him and his article. Lots of other stuff.

The actual wording about Ponzi doesn't claim that bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme as such, as you probably meant it to look or sound by saying that the word automatically discredits the author and his article. Actually, the article says it would be for central bankers to decide whether they wanted bitcoin to be a Ponzi scheme or an actual medium of exchange. Simple logic tells that the author doesn't think bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme by itself...
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1278
Then there was the part about needing a bitcoin bank that could print or destroy bitcoins as needed. And the plug for bernie at the end. The word ponzi was used which automatically discredits him and his article. Lots of other stuff.

But look. If both inflation and deflation is bad, then the obvious answer is to have a stable currency. Bitcoin could theoretically be it. If everything is priced in bitcoins, then inflation and deflation is a thing of the past.
legendary
Activity: 3514
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Yeah, I understand that the article is written for newbs in economics, but could you instead of blaming and cursing that guy try to actually refute the points? The author didn't indeed say anything new about bitcoin, but he didn't in fact say anything wrong about it either. Bitcoin deflationary nature is not a point of debate between its opponents as well as its supporters, so wtf?

He said lots of things wrong:

Quote
This self-perpetuating cycle of doom is what sunk the global economy in the 1930s, and what, to a lesser extent, has sunk Japan since the 1990s. And it's what has been sinking us since 2008, though this time central banks have at least kept prices from falling, just barely.

Now, it doesn't make much sense, but there's actually a currency designed to create these kind of economic calamities.


Bitcoin is designed to create these "economic calamities"? wtf. It's designed to try stop the banks creating these economic calamities.

He was referring to the deflationary nature of bitcoin. And yes, with a deflationary currency you are more prone to get into trouble, as the late 19th century crises, war in Europe and Great Depression have shown. This doesn't mean that you couldn't ruin the economy with an inflating/depreciating fiat (as with anything), but at least in the latter case you effectively get rid of some well-known issues associated with deflationary money...
global moderator
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Yeah, I understand that the article is written for newbs in economics, but could you instead of blaming and cursing that guy try to actually refute the points? The author didn't indeed say anything new about bitcoin, but he didn't in fact say anything wrong about it either. Bitcoin deflationary nature is not a point of debate between its opponents as well as its supporters, so wtf?

He said lots of things wrong:

Quote
This self-perpetuating cycle of doom is what sunk the global economy in the 1930s, and what, to a lesser extent, has sunk Japan since the 1990s. And it's what has been sinking us since 2008, though this time central banks have at least kept prices from falling, just barely.

Now, it doesn't make much sense, but there's actually a currency designed to create these kind of economic calamities.


Bitcoin is designed to create these "economic calamities"? wtf. It's designed to try stop the banks creating these economic calamities.

Quote
Bitcoin, the virtual currency you can theoretically use to buy things online
.

Theoretically? No, you can literally & actually buy things online. What is he talking about?

Quote
See, there's a predetermined number of bitcoins that will only grow at a low rate until 2040—and then stop
.

Wrong.

Plus more. Read the comments on the article. Even Atlantic fans are complaining about it being a terrible article, which it is.

legendary
Activity: 3514
Merit: 1280
English ⬄ Russian Translation Services
Yeah, I understand that the article is written for newbs in economics, but could you instead of blaming and cursing that guy try to actually refute the points? The author didn't indeed say anything new about bitcoin, but he didn't in fact say anything wrong about it either. Bitcoin deflationary nature is not a point of debate between its opponents as well as its supporters, so wtf?
newbie
Activity: 25
Merit: 0
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-bitcoin-will-never-be-a-currency-in-2-charts/282364/

Quote
What Bitcoin really needs is a central bank to stabilize its value. When the demand for Bitcoin goes up, they need to print more to keep it from skyrocketing.

This guy might has an idea of Economics but definitely does not understand Bitcoin!

Damn that guy really doesn't know what he's talking about.
global moderator
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Another writer to be ignored. It is amazing how many things about bitcoin get published by people that have absolutely no knowledge about it whatsoever.

What do you expect from bloggers and mainstream media? Do you really expect them to know what they're talking about and actually check facts? Cheesy
member
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Another writer to be ignored. It is amazing how many things about bitcoin get published by people that have absolutely no knowledge about it whatsoever.
global moderator
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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-bitcoin-will-never-be-a-currency-in-2-charts/282364/

Quote
What Bitcoin really needs is a central bank to stabilize its value. When the demand for Bitcoin goes up, they need to print more to keep it from skyrocketing.

This guy might has an idea of Economics but definitely does not understand Bitcoin!

Jeeze, cryptoplebs. It already is a currency. And I don't think he has a great understanding of economics at all. It's the banking institutions that got us into this mess and printing more money just devalues cash.
newbie
Activity: 23
Merit: 0
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-bitcoin-will-never-be-a-currency-in-2-charts/282364/

Quote
What Bitcoin really needs is a central bank to stabilize its value. When the demand for Bitcoin goes up, they need to print more to keep it from skyrocketing.

This guy might has an idea of Economics but definitely does not understand Bitcoin!
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