The Economist 1988 - “Get Ready For A World Currency by 2018″

[Deleted]

You can buy cash with it and then you can buy food
But really, currency doesn't just happen overnight. Give it time, it won't take long before it completely takes off in Japan and then it's just going to explode.

Ye, but that doesn't make it a currency. You can get cash by selling pretty much anything.

I don't know how these bitcoins can become a currency if they are worth so much. It's like, let's trade with kgs of gold, or cars or houses. Maybe I'm just too retarded to understand this, but I really don't see how something worth so much can become a currency.

[anaxie]

Doesnt steam accept bitcoins?

Fuck if i had one it would be one helluva steam winter sale when i buy a over 700 games

[Vash The Stampede]

Digital currency's all good but honestly **** bitcoin and others like it that allow "mining" that causes abnormal demand and prices for computer hardware. And a lot of wasted electricity.

Don't blame miners for actually buying a product, blame the market for having only 2 graphic chip manufacturing. We only have 2 choices, AMD and Nvidia, and both want to enter the server market and leave behind the gaming market. So of course their chips are more for data crunching than game playing. You don't exactly see AMD and Nvidia complaining about those bitcoin miners, but updating their drivers for better performance.

We need more competition in the GPU market and like idiots we unanimously support Nvidia. So if a 3rd company were to join the competition, we wouldn't buy their GPU cause we're stupid and only buy Nvidia.

I'd like it if governments came down on it like they did corn-fueled cars when people started being unable to afford food, but IT is further from a basic need.

No please cause corn is over abused in America. We turn it into honey and put it in our sodas to sweeten them.

[Gohzerlock]

Can literally buy weed with bitcoin in Canada...

[Masark]

Doesnt steam accept bitcoins?

I don't believe so, but there's almost certainly people who will sell you Steam credit for bitcoin.

[Deleted]

Yeah, let's not. Beholding currency to nations on the other side of the globe, is a rather risky endeavor.

Not to mention nobody would really want to tie their currency that directly to everyone else's, because that would undermine their economic stability and trust with those that perform far worse.

[Thage]

The main issue with stuff like Bitcoin is that it's a pretty deep investment for the average consumer to start mining their own coins, especially with the regular upgrades needed to keep up with advances in tech so you don't fall behind the curve. And it's also a deep buy-in at around $5k a pop versus taking that $5k and investing it in 'safe' stocks that are highly unlikely to bomb out anytime soon like Amazon, Google, or Microsoft, at least from the average Joe's point of view.

What's more likely is a continuing shift away from paper currency and coins toward electronic funds where dollars can be converted to euros can be converted to yen can be converted to rubles can be converted to whatever the hell you want on the fly, making a de facto global currency through instant exchanges without necessarily needing to go into things like cryptocurrency (which, again, have a fairly significant barrier to entry for your everyday schlub just looking to get a job, support himself, and pay his bills with a bit left on the side for funsies).

[Masark]

And it's also a deep buy-in at around $5k a pop

There's no need to buy a whole one. Bitcoin is divisible down to hundred-millionths, so you can easily buy e.g. $20 worth.

[Mormolyce]

Bitcoin is a loooooooong way from being a well accepted currency, let alone "a world currency".

[Strawberry]

Bitcoin now at almost $5800. That's quite a growth. It's probably going to break $6000 maybe even today and most likely grow some more past that.
However I don't recommend anyone to buy it now. It will grow for another week or so and then go down after the fork to maybe around $5000 (depending how high it goes before the fork).

[Strawberry]

Exactly 3 weeks later, Bitcoin goes from $5000 to $7200. Probably going to hit $10.000 in January.
I was partly right in my previous post. It went down a bit but then up again because next fork is coming in mid November.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Predicting things more than 5 years ahead has never really worked that well, especially when it it comes to social and ecnomic trends. That it doesn't work for 30 years ahead, in age before the information age no less, is really in the more news at 11 category.

Also bitcoin is extremely clunky to use and has less than zero stability. You might as well count gold as the global currency if you are willing to include speculation objects.

[Fahrad Wagner]

Bitcoin is a loooooooong way from being a well accepted currency, let alone "a world currency".

Exactly. And as "nice" as a "world currency" sounds, it's actually not a very good idea. It could smooth inequalities in some places yet make them worst elsewhere, and it would be very complicated to sustain and balance. Not to mention that it could make the economy even more fragile that it already is. The euro zone is the perfect example, and I'm saying this as a pro-euro, but the way that money was created wasn't the best as it didn't take into account the disparities between countries.

[ddengster]

As of 2017, judging by how long transactions in bitcoin take it's not ready to be a world currency due to the scale of transactions in the world today. We'll need to wait for another decade for this problem to be solved, if it's solvable at all. Also, for each country they have advantages in using their own currencies over a universal one, I highly doubt they would take it 'for the greater good' or for unification's sake.

[Protean]

Rather interesting read.

https://socioecohistory.wordpress.co...mist-magazine/

Meanwhile Bitcoin breaks $5000 and hits all time high at $5350 or so (now about $5250). This is the world currency everyone's been waiting for.
And not only that, it's being followed by a horde of altcoins designed for many different purposes, from online tipping to clean energy.
Those who hoarded altcoins in late 2016 for next to nothing are multimilionaires/bilionaires right now.

If you're so sure about the future of Bitcoin, why don't you put your money where your mouth is.

I challenge you to invest all your money, every single cent in Bitcoins.

[Strawberry]

If you're so sure about the future of Bitcoin, why don't you put your money where your mouth is.

I challenge you to invest all your money, every single cent in Bitcoins.

Errrrr. I already did. ALL my savings are in cryptocurrency, every single cent.
And I'm pouring more money into it with every paycheck. I'm also mining altcoins with 13 video cards and paying €200 each month for electricity.

[Mihalik]

But what good is Bitcoin really?

I can't buy food or anything with it, which is the point of currency.

Technically speaking you can't buy food with Government bonds either. Nor with stocks, nor with futures. Tho you can buy specific things like...companies or even real estate.

[Machismo]

Bitcoin is nothing more than a pyramid scheme currently being held up my currency manipulators.

[Cosmic Janitor]

As of 2017, judging by how long transactions in bitcoin take it's not ready to be a world currency due to the scale of transactions in the world today. We'll need to wait for another decade for this problem to be solved, if it's solvable at all. Also, for each country they have advantages in using their own currencies over a universal one, I highly doubt they would take it 'for the greater good' or for unification's sake.

Yeah I always wondered about that. I mean a complete log of all transactions in form a block chain is nice and all, but doesn't that get unmanagable after a while? There is also the issue that the currency has no smal denominations, so you essentially need to sell a whole coin or borrow parts of it for smaler purchases. I don't see how this is practical at all.

[Daelak]

Rather interesting read.

https://socioecohistory.wordpress.co...mist-magazine/

Meanwhile Bitcoin breaks $5000 and hits all time high at $5350 or so (now about $5250). This is the world currency everyone's been waiting for.
And not only that, it's being followed by a horde of altcoins designed for many different purposes, from online tipping to clean energy.
Those who hoarded altcoins in late 2016 for next to nothing are multimilionaires/bilionaires right now.

The USD is already the world currency, and it was already in 1988.