It always was an ersatz currency. Better to have the real thing GOLD and SILVER my son. None of this new fangled paper stuff that has all the intrinsic value of TP. Full Faith and Credit of the US govt what a joke, did u listen to the Democrat debate last night.

Was it really ever relevant? Currency backed by nothing can pretty easily become nothing.

To me, it was never alive.

Me too.

I have no need for the product. It always seemed rather shady and not on the up and up.

Was waiting for this!
Great news!

I'm kinda from the "Silver Dollar" and "Two Dollar Bill" generation myself......

Not sure...but the USD hasn't technically been backed by gold since '72.

Any monetary system is based on faith. If users have no faith in it, it won't work. It took a long time for Brazil to accept the new real, and most of that time was spent just getting people to trust it.

Yes, every time you mention Bitcoin, someone wants to know what it's worth in dollars.

In-forum bickering...
It's a good thing that all of us here on this BBS are above that sort of nonsense, and we know how to keep things civil....

It's dead Jim!

Is anyone really surprised?

A funny thing happens when a currency loses value, people want to spend the bad currency and save the good currency but spending is what makes something a currency to begin with.
Since you can link Bitcoin to paypal, your bank account it has plenty of hooks into the financial system, you can spend it without exchange issues internationally and you can store your money on your hard drive.
There are a lot of uses for a currency like that and if your argument is that it was not backed by a strong government, talk to Argentinians and Grecians (Grecos?) about that.
I own no Bitcoin but thinking about it. . .

I understand mining for gold, silver, etc.

I could never quite grasp mining for bitcoin ....

nice of the developer to sell all his coins and THEN let everyone one its failed.

If bit coin goes by the way side something else will fill the gap. This is a new form of currency for a new world. Going to be hard to un-invent it. No personal investment on my part, but it just seems really likely that something will come along and do it, and maybe better, and it's "out there " quality is part of its power. As long as it's trading it s working. Wapum on the other hand probably lasted 800 years but we dont hear about it much anymore.

Bitcoin was a joke, anyone with a laptop that could start rumors could directly affect the value of it

I wonder if the ever-declining rewards to bitcoin miners will become a problem. The reward gets halved on a predefined schedule (every four years, I think), around 2040 the reward will be zero. Then the miners' only revenue will be transaction fees. So computing costs have to decline faster than the reward, which is probably reasonable. Then when the reward is zero, computing costs have to be lower than the transaction fee or the fee has to be raised. If mining becomes unprofitable, blocks will not be hashed and thus transactions not processed. Is there a mechanism to adjust fees?

This also means that the rate of creation of new bitcoin declines to zero by 2040. If bitcoin usage grows faster than bitcoin supply, then bitcoin will become more valuable over time. In other words, there will be deflation in the bitcoin world. Deflation is bad because it incentivizes people to delay spending (the item will be cheaper if you wait) and to not borrow (repaying the debt becomes more expensive). That is the case in every normal exhibit/currency. Is bitcoin different for some reason?

according to the article, there is but it has major flaws and wasn't well received

Parfers.

Back bitcoin with Gold and you will have a real currency. Ones and zeros dont cut it.

Further the USD is backed by the Saudi's saying all oil trades WILL be settled in USD. That gives the USD an intrinsic value.