Bitcoin has inherent value because it has "a hard to find number with certain cryptographic properties"?
Whilst I will grant you that the cryptographic properties are inherent, I'm not sure you could prove that they have any value. Is there a decent sized market for the supply and purchase of such numbers? No. And thus there is no value - value only exists when someone else is prepared to compensate you providing them with the item in question. As for gold and silver - are you talking about "intrinsic value"? If so, then neither gold nor silver has intrinsic value, as they provide no income. Investing in gold or silver is entirely a capital gains play - you're hoping someone else will take it off your hands for more than you paid for it. Contrast to a bond or share, where the underlying security provides you with an income stream because the funds are used to pursue actual economic activity (obviously subject to the usual risk/reward caveats) Cheers Ken From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Cornetet Sent: Friday, 7 March 2014 9:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin No, because Dave has at some point in the past went from doing what he does best (personal finance) to being an expert on all things financial. This is a good example. He clearly has done zero research into bitcoin, and yet he is an expert on it. Now, I'm not saying bitcoin is a good investment, but I am saying that Dave clearly doesn't understand what it is, or what makes it valuable. In fact, he gets things exactly 180 degrees wrong. Bitcoin's strengths are that it doesn't depend on a government backing it. Like gold or silver, and unlike paper money, bitcoin has an inherit value (a hard to find number with certain cryptographic properties). He also conflates the the failure of MtGox with the bitcoin currency itself. That's a bit like saying dollars are junk because some savings and loans failed during the 70s (which weren't FDIC insured and real people lost real money). From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Webster Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2014 2:17 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin Just because he thinks Bitcoins are a pile of crap and a scam? Webster From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Ken Cornetet <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 12:28 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin I have great deal of respect for Dave's financial philosophy and advice for the most part, but Dave long ago lost the distinction between his opinions and facts. From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rod Trent Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2014 12:59 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin Oh, he does. He says it pretty plainly. From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tigran K Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 12:37 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin He doesn't understand what bitcoin is. On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 9:21 AM, Rod Trent <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: To me...this pretty much explains the whole Bitcoin scam... http://youtu.be/32l1ht1wlLI From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>] On Behalf Of J- P Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 12:02 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [NTSysADM] OT:Bitcoin http://www.pcworld.com/article/2105280/10-questions-on-the-mt-gox-implosion.html
