Why Bitcoins can't be a real currency.

[Coltaine]

I read this entire thing through, even though I don't really care about cryptocurrencies. It's an interesting take on the situation though.

 

http://brokenlibrarian.org/bitcoin/

 

 

8) So could Bitcoin ever be a real currency?

No, for one simple reason. Bitcoin does not scale. The network is very specifically designed to process a very limited number of transactions in each block, and each block by definition takes about ten minutes to process, regardless of how powerful the Bitcoin verification network is. The more popular that Bitcoin becomes, the slower it will be for every single transaction to get processed. The claim that Bitcoin is "instant" is demonstrably false.

 

[Luc401]

WEAK! give me a better reason!

[Bonsai99]

I read this entire thing through, even though I don't really care about cryptocurrencies. It's an interesting take on the situation though.

 

http://brokenlibrarian.org/bitcoin/

Transactions usually appear instantly, confirmations of the transaction is the only part that takes time.

(you can't spend the recieved Bitcoins until it has atleast 6 confirmations)

So it is instant depending on the way you spin it.

 

Read a tiny bit of that article and he seems really biased from the start.

[AlwaysFSX]

Number 8 is a terrible reason to argue Bitcoin can't be a real currency.

[Andi]

And now? Nothing you buy with digital Fiat currency now gets paid instantly. It takes days

[rashdanml]

Technically speaking, no payment method is instant. Not even credit cards. The charge on a CC happens instantly, but the bills are paid later down the line. 

 

Bitcoin as a currency has its flaws, sure. I don't see it becoming mainstream in anyway. However, the idea of a common, global currency is attractive. Too bad the current economy probably won't allow it to happen. 

[Coltaine]

Transactions usually appear instantly, confirmations of the transaction is the only part that takes time.

(you can't spend the recieved Bitcoins until it has atleast 6 confirmations)

So it is instant depending on the way you spin it.

 

Read a tiny bit of that article and he seems really biased from the start.

 

Well, yes, I never said that the person is 100% factually correct just that it's an interesting argument on what cryptocurrencies are. Whoever it is seems to have at least a decent amount of knowledge about the matter though.

 

Number 8 is a terrible reason to argue Bitcoin can't be a real currency.

 

Well, it was the first paragraph under the question "So could Bitcoin ever be a real currency?", so I nabbed that, I don't really know/care about these modern internet monies.

 

And now? Nothing you buy with digital Fiat currency now gets paid instantly. It takes days

 

I work for a FPT dealership and I have never heard of Fiat money.. Please elaborate or send me a PM or something.

[Bonsai99]

I work for a FPT dealership and I have never heard of Fiat money.. Please elaborate or send me a PM or something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money

[ajoy39]

Technically speaking, no payment method is instant. Not even credit cards. The charge on a CC happens instantly, but the bills are paid later down the line.  

 

Bitcoin as a currency has its flaws, sure. I don't see it becoming mainstream in anyway. However, the idea of a common, global currency is attractive. Too bad the current economy probably won't allow it to happen. 

when I pay for something with my debit card the money is taken out of my account within seconds of the transaction completing.

[KamiKatze]

@RuecanOnRails

 

I'd love your take on this.

[Andi]

when I pay for something with my debit card the money is taken out of my account within seconds of the transaction completing.

but don't be fooled banks take your money and play with it a day or two, because it's free money to gamble with. Than they pay whatever you bought.

[rashdanml]

when I pay for something with my debit card the money is taken out of my account within seconds of the transaction completing.

Cash and debit are the exceptions. Also, I've never really tracked it to the minute/seconds (I use a prepaid credit card most of the time), but it's entirely possible there's a longer delay than a few seconds. 

[bcredeur97]

so it's a commodity. great! IT SHALL LIVE ON!

[Imaginaerum]

10 minutes? It takes 3 days to transfer Paypal funds, I'd take 10 minutes.

[applebook]

Anything that fluctuates as significantly as Bitcoins does is  :rolleyes:

[ajoy39]

but don't be fooled banks take your money and play with it a day or two, because it's free money to gamble with. Than they pay whatever you bought.

thats not the point, a debit transaction is instant. 

 

Cash and debit are the exceptions. Also, I've never really tracked it to the minute/seconds (I use a prepaid credit card most of the time), but it's entirely possible there's a longer delay than a few seconds. 

last week I paid a bill at a restaurant and, while walking across the street to the liquor store, checked my balance on my phone to see how much I could spend. The money from the restaurant was already taken out

[Opsilon]

Bitcoin can be a currency but, they have to tie it to something in real life so that it actually have some value, maybe as shares, silver, or anything that actually has value in the real world, even a currency like Dollar or Euro, until then it will just stay a crypto-currency, that has value only on the internet. until a major bank decides bitcoins are a thing, you can kiss that entire concept goodbye...  

[Aho]

Bitcoin's biggest barrier is its volatility. It can drop from $1200 to $500 in a day. It's like the stock market, a single piece of bad news will make the value plummet.

[Imaginaerum]

thats not the point, a debit transaction is instant. 

 

last week I paid a bill at a restaurant and, while walking across the street to the liquor store, checked my balance on my phone to see how much I could spend. The money from the restaurant was already taken out

It isn't instant, actually. If you go to a gas station you'll usually see a charge of $100 for a day or two until the actual charge shows up. That doesn't mean it doesn't appear instantly, it usually does so you don't go spend $50 fifteen times then only pay for the first transaction.

[Ertman]

thats not the point, a debit transaction is instant.

last week I paid a bill at a restaurant and, while walking across the street to the liquor store, checked my balance on my phone to see how much I could spend. The money from the restaurant was already taken out

Technically, no. It's called a debit card for a reason.

Cash and trade are the only instant forms of transactions.

[James_AJ]

a solid reason: it is NOT freaking backed by anything real in this world. In real world the currencies are backed by GOLD and that's why simply printing more doesn't create more value.

Another reason that everyone knows already is that people are using these things as investments, as stocks or some obscure item that they're hoping would rise in price, not as a money, which people trust 100% completely and with this NSA sh*t going on we're never gonna have 100% trust on some obscure online "currency" that's not backed by anything.

[TechFan@ic]

Why shouldn't we ask why the US Dollar can't be a real currency ? oh wait....

[Kilerbomb]

Why is this in the news section. This is not news, it's your opinion.

[Mooshi]

tl;dr

[Bonsai99]

tl;dr

Then why make this useless spam post that adds absolutely no value to the discussion and just takes up space?