Posted: Feb 17, 2019 8:28 am
jamest wrote:Thommo wrote:Insofar as you're being naive (stupid is your word, not mine), it's in thinking that governments couldn't regulate cryptocurrency rather than thinking that governments could regulate gold.
That thought has crossed my mind already, I just have no idea how they could do that with an intangible and decentralised global asset?
Like China already does, for example?
jamest wrote:We are comparing currencies here, not companies which generate income. I haven't invested in a company, but a currency. There is no intrinsic value in any fiat currency, a point you don't seem to grasp.
No, we're talking about investment and speculation. You bought bitcoin not as a means of exchange, but as a risky vehicle for increasing your capital. A point you don't seem to grasp.
I don't hold Sterling (or indeed Dollars or any other currency) because I believe Sterling will appreciate in value, the Sterling I possess I do not claim will make me profit (by virtue of being Sterling). I have it because I need to be able to go to the shops and buy potatoes and carrots, and I need a means of exchange that the shop will honour. Sterling has worked quite well at that, bitcoin does not.
jamest wrote:Again, what you are talking about here is irrelevant since the discussion should only be a comparison of currencies.
Why do you think that? Is this not an alternative investment you could have made? You're banging on about gold which isn't a currency but rather a commodity, at some length, in a thread which you originally resurrected on the grounds it was not about bitcoin or currency. Why the need for a spurious rationalisation?
jamest wrote:Unless all governments collude to permanently shut down the internet, the capacity to use cryptocurrency for transactions will remain. You can purchase an ever-increasing amount of goods on the blockchain these days using cryptocurrency.
Ever-increasing? Doubtful.
The volume of bitcoin transactions, and the range of available goods is miniscule compared to any major currency. As a currency bitcoin's uses are very limited. Not that this really has much meaning in terms of the chance that you will later be able to sell the bitcoins for a profit (in whichever of these fiat currencies you decide you dislike least).