The Predictable Death of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin Bank - Page 35 - Politics and Economics

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The Predictable Death of the Mt. Gox Bitcoin Bank

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03-21-2014 , 11:25 AM

#851

seattlelou

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Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 31,584

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxtower

I thought ACH was US only?

Yes, there really is no good system for cross border payments. SWIFT advices are pretty shaky.

03-21-2014 , 07:31 PM

#852

Sholar

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Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 6,357

mt-gox-says-it-has-found-200000-bitcoins-worth-about-114-million

Old wallets, couch cushions...always worth checking.

03-21-2014 , 08:39 PM

#853

Money2Burn

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Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 12,628

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sholar

The ability to unwind transactions isn't purely a downside. It's not a technological limitation either.

What bitcoin offers is a way for automated clearing of transactions without trust...trying to argue that it's cheaper, faster etc. is going nowhere, especially since it will only get more expensive with time.

That's a strange way to phrase "eliminating the need for a middle man."

As far as costs go you're right, and I'm not really qualified in order to have that strong of an opinion or to be considered authoritative. I just wrote a relatively short note covering Bitcoin basics to be used in a Payment Systems law class. I'm basically going off what I remember reading. As far as remittance payments go, evidently the fees are variable. I think they can be anywhere as high as a little over 10% down to less than 1% depending upon the corridor the money is being sent through. Bitcoin fees average around 1% currently, I think. You're right, too, that Bitcoin fees will increase over time, but it's not clear by how much or if some future platform could be tweaked in such a way that it wouldn't require nearly as much computing power to keep the network secure.

03-21-2014 , 09:27 PM

#854

TomCollins

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Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 43,058

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money2Burn

Bitcoin fees are not 1%. They can be anywhere from a half a penny to nothing in most cases.

03-22-2014 , 05:00 PM

#855

Sholar

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Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 6,357

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money2Burn

That's a strange way to phrase "eliminating the need for a middle man."

Well, I'm emphasizing the point that's interesting to me. Right now, "using a middleman" is cheaper and more convenient than bitcoin--by a large margin--so adoption of bitcoin requires satisfying some other need.

Quote:

As far as remittance payments go, evidently the fees are variable. I think they can be anywhere as high as a little over 10% down to less than 1%

Which is why I thought highlighting a 10% cost of remittances was misplaced.

Quote:

some future platform could be tweaked in such a way that it wouldn't require nearly as much computing power to keep the network secure.

Exactly.

04-09-2014 , 04:18 AM

#856

daca

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Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 10,499

I think this is basically right.

Quote:

Bitcoin's detractors are making the same mistake as many Bitcoin fans: thinking about Bitcoin as a new kind of currency. That obscures what makes Bitcoin potentially revolutionary: it's the world's first completely open financial network.

Quote:

Many of Bitcoin's early adopters were acolytes of Ron Paul's brand of hard-money libertarianism. They were attracted to the promise of a currency whose supply was outside of state control, and as a consequence, Bitcoin has gained a reputation as the second coming of the gold standard. That, in turn, has made mainstream economists who are hostile to Ron Paul and the gold standard hostile to Bitcoin.

But in reality, the case for Bitcoin simply doesn't have much to do with its unorthodox monetary policy. Bitcoin is a payment network that happens to have its own currency, not the other way around. It's worth taking seriously whether or not you agree with Ron Paul's views on the Federal Reserve.

from here: http://www.vox.com/2014/3/31/5557170...y-good-network

So much of the arguing has been about bitcoin as a currency, with people taking up their lazy default positions, but it really should just be viewed as a new technology. It's not going to replace to dollar, but it could be very useful in other situations, perhaps even some surprising ones.