Hi Bob, with all due respect, this is exactly what bitcoin isn't. It=20 isn't fiat, it supply cannot change due to the whims of anyone, and its=20 rise in value is not a Ponzi scheme. It has already facilitated a $50M+=20 Ponzi scheme (broken up by the Feds), like any currency or readily=20 exchange-able store of value can. Bitcoin suffers from its own success at creating enthusiasm among=20 technical people and risk-taking investors, which means large & rapid=20 swings in value vs. fiat: is a good place to watch it all live. This prevents its use as a currency anytime soon, end of story. It has=20 been said that the fixed supply rate of new bitcoin (granted when a=20 block is solved, i.e. hundreds of transactions are combined into a new=20 block added to the worldwide blockchain), which prevents swings in value=20 due to inflation (anyone angry at the Federal Reserve's QE printing of=20 money love this), will make it not possible to use as a currency,=20 because as people buy and sell their bitcoin as an investment (i.e.=20 major fiat money goes into and out of bitcoin) the price /has/ to swing,=20 since supply is absolutely fixed while demand varies widely. There is=20 no authority to create more or destroy it to temper these swings. If there aren't a lot of merchants using it (to make it more=20 currency-like and more stable), the main value becomes what you think=20 you can sell it to the next investor for in a day/month/year, and now=20 you have tulip bulbs you can trade instantly worldwide. It may well be that one of the dozens of other virtual currencies that=20 have sprung up on bitcoin's groundbreaking architectural underpinnings=20 will prove to be more useful. Yet another amazing feature of what is=20 possible now is that if you /want/ inflation, or you want to prevent=20 concentration of wealth, or have no cap on the quantity of 'coin' over=20 time, or make the mining process much harder to put into ASICs, or make=20 true micropayments (like literally 1c) be practical, or make it far more=20 (or less) anonymous, it is largely knobs to tweak in a codebase and=20 relatively minor changes in how some of the technical details work. It=20 is a construction kit. If someone creates a better scheme for use as a=20 currency (the money-in-your-pocket 'silver' to bitcoin bars-of-gold in=20 vaults, as they say), that could really take off. (already: Litecoin,=20 peercoin, primecoin, zerocoin, ...) Personally, I'd like to get my $2000 for custom pcbs sold to a theater=20 scenery building business in Italy yesterday paid w/o giving ~4% to=20 paypal or a combined $50 fee on their side + my side + 3 day wait for=20 the banks. That's my real-world use for bitcoin or its more stable in=20 value successor. Like I said, I'm a bit obsessed. If I weren't an EE I'd be an economist. J Bob Axtell wrote: > Bitcoins are just another fiat currency that will shortly run out of gas > and fail, just like the paper dollar will/is doing. No real wealth was > ever accumulated using paper money, and none ever will, Bitcoins > included. It is just another Ponzi scheme, like musical chairs, or > casino gambling. > > In the glaring light of the failed world-wide banking system, the idea > that ANOTHER fiat currency could gain popularity, simply boggles my > fevered brow. > > Invest in something with a genuine return, such as a real education, > land (in a country where one can actually OWN- not just rent- the land), > gold dust or nuggets, platinum, or silver. Many good opportunities are > being missed, and many are no longer possible in most Western countries, > such as the USA. > > --Bob A > --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .