Fiat currencies (namely the USD) are intangible by definition -- not freely convertible into gold... they are no less or more so convertible to gold that BTC. I actually sold some BTC last week and bot some gold with the proceeds. Yeah, the USD is more stable by historical standards. The DM in the 20s didn't fare so well. Argentina, etc. The argument vis a vis one Fiat vs. another is moot. None of them are convertible by law. Stating that the USD won't drop to zero is a valuation argument. The govt guarantee isn't worth shit. The DM deval was far more pronounced (lol) than the gains in BTC to date:
Man... did you know that IQ becomes lower, and lower at age.... Peilthetraveler. explained it very well: usefulness makes something valuable. As is water in the desert. As is Bitcoin for a guest-worker who sends every month 100 dollar to his Philippine family back home, who now can give them 10 dollar more (instead of giving that to Western Union).....
I'd like to buy some Bitcoins but I'm always hearing about exchanges being shut down and money being stolen. I'd appreciate if someone can outline a way to buy & hold bitcoins in a way that is safe from exchange shutdowns and theft.
Everyone remembers my bad calls nobody ever remembers my good ones. What about istar financial. In 2009 I told everyone to buy that at $1. Now its $15. Nobody ever calls me on that one. I seem to also remember telling people to buy SMRT at around $5 or so a few years back which is now trading at around $12. Just like everyone else, Im right more or less half the time, but when I pick a winner, it more than makes up for the losers.
You can hold them on your computer with a bitcoin wallet. https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet You just buy them from coinbase, then you transfer them to your wallet on your desktop.
do some search this has been well covered. 1) buy usb dongle #1, download bitcoin client + wallet.dat file onto the usb, confirm it loads up and works. 2) buy usb dongle #2, make a copy of the wallet.dat onto it and unplug usb #2. 2) sign up to coinbase.com, link check account, buy bitcoin, wait until lockup period expires 3) transfer bitcoin from coinbase to your bitcoin client address 4) confirm transaction is successful 5) unplug usb #1 6) keep both safe and in separate storage. think wallet.dat also your password, whoever has a copy of it can take your entire bitcoin, so never give it out, never leave it on an online computer, never send it in email, etc.. You can also encrypt the wallet.dat file on the usb for added protection if paranoid or have a separate new laptop with everything off and only turned on when need to transact bitcoins. All this is with the assumption your computer is not comprised to begin with, if you unsure, use it a clean laptop or os via a boot drive.
I don't think there is any question that Bitcoin is an amazing financial innovation. For years Visa/Mastercard/Amex have been skimming at least 3% off of every single transaction like a mafia and this is really hurting businesses. I thought Dwolla was the solution to this until Bitcoin blew up in price. But now there are a lot more cryptocurrencies being create every month. I'm just not sure how this all plays out but I think its unwise to invest more than 1-2% of your net worth in Bitcoin - just like any other trade. I think the whole payment networks space is going to be extremely volatile for a long time but I have no doubt the Visa/Mastercard/Amex mafia will be crushed. I think exchanging dollars & crytocurrencies on the Dwolla network (25 cent transaction fee & works inside the regulated financial system) is the future of payments. Edit: thanks peil and newguy for the instructions.
mtgox price went from ~20% above market to 10% below, a 30% swing in 2 days after btc withdraw ban. I can guarantee those assholes are manipulating the books to load up from the panic selling. Tech glitch of basic bitcoin to bitcoin transfer requires a full withdraw halt? after 2 years of fixing the system? who the fuck in their right mind will believe this. Also don't understand why the users are panic selling bitcoins, you can't fucking get the fiat out anyway. There is no company/person/event that ruined bitcoin more than mtgox has over the years, those guys need to goto jail. Such blatant bullshit and manipulation, yet noone is doing anything.