You think this is a threat? Not sure what the guy means. https://pay.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1g4s5g/sha256_the_beating_heart_of_bitcoin_was_designed/ "Its not the algorithm that is the concern. If the NSA or Department of Homeland Security or the DOJ, etc... want to attack Bitcoin they can do it, and they can succeed, easily. They would just have to download the blockchain and mine, then push through double spends or erase spendings, etc... "
1. The IRS will tax anything, that is strictly not illegal. Furthermore, the IRS is just one branch of the government and doesn't have effect on how the other part of the government regulates things. 2. This is absolutely not true. The programmed release of coins is predetermined, it doesn't depend on real demand. 3. I already proved this wrong, stop repeating it... Competition and banning would be the easiest counter examples...
Better, to just ignore the Trolls.... Some more intelligent people write pieces like this: https://plus.google.com/+PeterHDiamandis/posts/dWQFcpcws8V
Always and forever. Now if you explain which argument you didn't fully understand I will explain it specially to you s-l-o-w-e-r.... Stop crying and start arguing. Oh my apologies, you don't have an argument...
It only costs $17 million to kill dogecoin. The price to kill it is dropping also. In a few weeks, it could be less than $10 million dollars to gain 51% control. Every other altcoin except Litecoin and NXT are pretty much in the same boat: it only takes a few million dollars, if that, of computing power to kill them. This past spring, Andreas Antonopoulos figured it would take over a billion dollars in computing power to kill the Bitcoin network. That figure is rising too as the hashrate keeps on chugging along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWTQgmCuiCw Something interesting to consider when one wonders why BTC's market cap is so much larger than all the altcoins combined. https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate
Just for the sake of argument, you do know that for the US government 1 billion dollars is nothing but a rounding error? And you can kill/damage it with banning, viruses, competition, broker hacking, etc. It is possible that banks and/or retailers will introduce their own coins and 5-10 years from now coins will be just like giftcards at the store, everyone has its own... Do you think bitcoin will still be in 3 digits then?
Why argue? The first link explains the government kill switch scenario. Your second idea negate's the Byzantine General problem that bitcoin solved. Corporate coins may exist, but people would still need to trust the corporation.
Tell you guys what. I have been aching to own some BTC, not much but enough to make it interesting. Just one or two in the event it does fly. And if she rolls...meh, dgaf. But after investigating its rather intimidating. I get the wallet and offline storage..encryption..etc. But what if I just want to put the wallet in a safe and forget about it. What happens if software becomes out dated or un-usable? The myriad of headaches associated with just holding the BTC and keeping it safe is mind boggling to me. Who has a really good info source to answer any questions like that? Been to /r/bitcoin FAQ`s and bitcoin.org but it still seems confusing to me.
Just buy a couple of BTC from Coinbase and keep them there if it is a small investment for you. Coinbase is not Mt Gox. If you are still concerned about storage, there is a link on Coinbase that will create a paper wallet for you. If you are concerned about the paper wallet disintegrating, you can buy a plastic paper wallet from Coinkite or other companies some of which use steel and wood. If you somehow lose your paper wallet, well, then that is like losing cash.