The Bitcoin frenzy is even crazier than the Tulip Mania that afflicted the Dutch all those years ago. At least the tulips were real, for openers. They existed. You could physically put your hands on them. Unlike these Bitcoins – which seem to exist only on various recondite web sites such as Coinbase and LocalBitcoin.
It’s “money” you can’t spend.
This is even worse than Federal Fraud Notes, whose value may be fleeting and always declining – but at least you can buy a cup of coffee with them.
Who accepts Bitcoins? I mean, in the way that my local coffee dive accepts a $1 bill? I want a simple, comprehensible transaction – not the financial equivalent of an automated electric car.
I have some Bitcoin – given me by a supporter of EPautos. I would like to use the Bitcoin to pay some bills. But this appears impossible. Bitcoin can be traded – apparently. And bought and sold – using Bitcoin.
But that doesn’t put any coffee in my cup.
To do anything with these Bitcoins – other than diddling with them on the ‘Net – apparently entails providing some unknown digital entity access to your bank accountĀ – and that gives me pause in the same way that Dracula recoils from the light.
If I do it and some Chechen hacker vacuums my checking account, it’s van by the river time for your ol’ pal Eric – and I’m too old and tired to deal with that again. The whole thing strikes me as a fraud.
Nothing about Bitcoin is easy much less intelligible. It is amazing to me that anyone takes the time to deal with it at all.
Maybe I am just getting old and no longer “hip” and “with it.”
All I know is that when a supporter sends me $20 in the mail,Ā I can go out and buy some got-damned coffee with it. If it’s a check, I can cash it – and go buy coffee.
Is it asking too much?
Anyone out there want to buy some Bitcoin?
For real money, I mean.
Some observations:
One can seem like a real jerk when, after having been given something of market value, simply complains about it. Sure makes me hesitant to donate money to someone who seems so ungrateful.
The complaint that one “can’t buy a cup of coffee” with bitcoin is rather silly. Would you complain about receiving gold or diamonds since it’s cumbersome to exchange them directly for a cup of coffee?
The complaint about giving “some unknown digital entity” one’s bank information is also silly, coming from someone who apparently gave such information to PayPal in order to accept donations.
As well, it just seems pretentious to speak so confidently about something one knows nothing about. I’ve long thought this to be a trend among your treatment of any new technology: it’s new, and I don’t understand it, therefore it must be bad.
So, I think you are just getting old. And probably were never hip.
Also might be a bit much to pontificate so self-righteously on a site where Eric devotes probably 10 hours a day 7 days a week, yet almost no one here reciprocates. Including you most likely.
That’s the American personality in a nutshell really: To talk authoritatively about things you know almost nothing about.
I know people here like to think they’re above the average American. But in a lot of important ways, they’re clearly not.
Eric has an open mind. Why not share with him how you get a cup of coffee using bitcoin?
You’re absolutely right. I don’t give Eric anything.
Hi Lysander,
Which is entirely your right; but if you don’t think much of the site, why bother coming here? One of the worst weaknesses of the pro liberty movement is that it attacks itself – and doesn’t support those with whom it has common cause.
The left especially almost never makes this mistake. They direct their fire at enemies….
I used to think more of the site, but it has lost value for me. It seems to be mostly repetitive messages about how much Tesla, electric cars, automated cars, new cars, etc. suck. These things may be true, but I feel like I’ve heard it all before. Other than that, I’m not in the market for a new car so car reviews don’t do much for me at the moment. I’ll stop bothering to come here, if it makes you feel better.
I find it a bit ironic that you mention this weakness of the pro liberty movement after having attacked something a lot of them are excited about and think will be a real game changer. I don’t think well-intentioned and informed criticism is a bad thing, but your post seems more like trashing the concept, rather than asking questions in an attempt to understand it. The resources are out there.
I’d also like to point out how the same questions you ask of bitcoin could be rightly asked about anything else. What is the source of value of US dollars? Of gold? https://mises.org/library/origins-money-0
And I disagree that the left almost never makes this mistake. Look at the self-cannibalization among the radical feminists, for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_transracialism_controversy
I’ll leave you alone now.
“Hip”, Lysander? If anything, your little rant illustrates your own naĆÆvetĆ©. You seem to be the one who is defending something, which, much like electric cars, is being embraced by those who think that they are savvy and sophisticated, while in reality, they are just falling for hype and believing popular myths.
Not sure why you read what I wrote as a defense of bitcoin. I simply pointed out how Eric’s criticisms of it apply just as well to other things.
And “hip” was Eric’s word, not mine.
Hi Lysander,
I’m suspicious of anything that doesn’t make sense. How does Bitcoin make sense? Is it a medium of exchange or a speculative Ponzi scheme?
The answers seem… unclear.
Hi Lysander,
I didn’t disparage the giving; I simply pointed out that using Bitcoin is . . . challenging. It’s a whole new system to learn. Very inscrutable. Who has time for this? And yeah, I am reluctant to tie my bank account to some very sketchy-seeming thing. Sketchy because what, exactly, is the source of value of Bitcoin? Speculation? If not that, what tangible value is behind it? When someone donates $20 to support the site, it is $20 of value they are sending. Wealth they parted with to send toward EPautos. They had to earn $20 of value first. Where does the “….035” value of Bitcoin come from? How does it quadruple in value over a period of just a few weeks?
Mind: I am not slamming Bitcoin; I just have questions…
Plus, Eric, with something like PayEnemy (as much as I loathe them!) when you tie your bank account to them, at least if there’s some hanky-panky, you have some recourse/know who to go after. Who do you go after (and how?) with Bitcoin? Yeah…good luck with that, right?!
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Žiugžda is the newest member of Bankeraās team and will be advising us alongside other notable figures such as Lon Wong, president of the NEM.io foundation, and Eva Kaili, a member of the European Parliament, just to name a couple.
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Im also in agreement with you Nuncio.Bitcoin is GOV setup,NWO,one world currency,666 in spades.Gonna make 911 and the Patriot Act look like amateur hour when it gets pushed thru.NOT created by some mystery Asian guy ‘they’ cant find.Of course not,’he’ doesnt exist!!Gov pysop,possibly one of the greatest psyops EVER!!
Hi Fred,
My Spider Sense tingles, too. I don’t understand what the value of Bitcoin is, for one thing. It is not a tangible asset or commodity, has no intrinsic value. Yet it has been increasing in value. Explosively.
How?
And more to the point – how can that last?
Money – real money – is a kind of synonym for tangible value. If its value is not tied to tangible value, then it is fundamentally fraudulent, right?
This is why I cashed out of the Bitcoin I had.
Money ā real money ā is a kind of synonym for tangible value. If its value is not tied to tangible value, then it is fundamentally fraudulent, right?
======================
Yet we buy into FRN’s,go figure.
If I had any bitcoin I think I would sell a bit on the way up if i could but hold some too.This mania may hit a half million a coin,who knows? WTH,some folks will get rich off of this if they play it right.
All I know is its too risky and now too expensive for me to play this classic pump and dump as it appears to me,yet the most return I ever made in the stock market was on a classic pump and dump stock.Some smart players here will manage to do it too from crypto.
The other thing is its parabolic rise.Conventional wisdom always see’s it do a parabolic crash too.And the cheerleaders will say….ahh,but not this time.Could this be the exception,who knows,just history alone tells us it isnt.
Pass the popcorn,and keep the ammunition dry,we are going to see something amazing here.
Right on, Fred! It’s like people’s mentality with the stock market. They buy when it’s high, and sell AFTER it drops. Ass backwards.
Who knows, Bitcoin could still keep going….. or not- but who even cares? We’d still have to “share” any profit with Uncle, to fund his welfare and wars; and really, what right do we have to expect to make a profit if we have not done any labor nor added any value or provided any service to anyone? We become like the bankers when we do that- sticking our worthless money out there, and hoping it comes back with more with no effort expended nor value added…and then we wonder why we live in a day when the money is worthless, eh?
I’d rather use my worthless FRNs to purchase something that has intrinsic value- like tractors (The darn things have been appreciating better than gold!) or other things which are actually usable, and for which there is a ready market, and will always be- and which Uncle hasn’t gotten his mitts on yet…or even gold (if it ever comes out of it’s bubble- which this Bitcoin frenzy might help it to do). [If I get me some gold, and a funny hat and a pot, I could become a leprechaun! I can do a pretty mean Irish brogue, even though I’m a WOP)
Hi Nunz,
I used the Bitcoin to buy some much-needed post-divorce tangible goods!
Now yer talkin, Eric! š
Too bad we couldn’t trade women for valuable tangible goods. But women these days ain’t worth nothin’!
I read an article a few days ago which illustrates the problem some people are having “cashing out”.
Apparently, Bitcoin is a black hole into which you throw your FRN’s, so you can watch the value of a little worthless trinket fluctuate and make you feel rich on paper [or, in this case, more like: on electrons”], but in the end, the only ones who are going to end up making money are the ones to whom you sent yours.
I can’t believe that so many people fall for this crap. An alternative currency that is of even less intrinsic value than FRNs! Just like we should always run when ever we see anyone offering us anything for “free”, why should it be any different with Bitcoin, which is offering “free” wealth for nothing more than putting some of your money out there? Why do people expect profit, when not providing a product or service?
I have a strong hunch that this whole crypto-currency thing is being orchestrated by some very powerful and evil people- the ones who run this world- as a way of getting people used to the idea of cryptos, so that they will be accustomed to and accepting of the cashless society which our overlords plan to inflict on us.
I see it going something like this: Bitcoin goes bust/no one can get their money/turns out to be a total scam [“the problem”] – Government, as usual, steps in to “regulate” [i.e. track and control] crypto markets [“the solution”] and everyone [except us] cheers. With gov’t then in control of the crypto infrastructure, they can then easily morph all financial transactions to it, as it will be “safe”- and then just lit cash fall by the wayside, and then outlaw it- and only the small minority of us tin-foil-hatters will care.
Remember where you read it first.
I think “Bitcoin” is Esperanto for “Get rich buying trinkets”! (And we thought that the Injuns were dumb for selling Manhattan for a few beads and trinkets!)
PS [Damn, no edit feature!]
“I read an article a few days ago which illustrates the problem some people are having ācashing outā.”
Apparently, nobody can.
The gist of the article was that when people went to cash out, the exchanges were having trouble “verifying their identity” [Isn’t that supposed to be the biggest selling point of cryptos? Anonymity?]- As one person who was interviewed stated “They didn’t require any verification when they took our money; but when we want to get our money out, they suddenly want verification, which is impossible to provide, since there was no verification to begin with!”.
Just an excuse, obviously, to prevent people from getting back any money.
Can you see whats coming?… : D
I’ve withdrawn hundreds of thousands of dollars this year with no problems once I was verified.
The whole verification thing is a recent phenomenon to comply with Federal Know Your Customer laws.
Hi Interferon,
I was – and am – very leery about tying my bank account to Bitcoin, but I did figure out how to buy things with it… I think!
Tying a bank account or any kind of account which falls under any financial regs eliminates any possibility of anonymity…so what’s the point of even using it? Unless one is trading the coins in an alley, in person…there is no anonymity.
And probably like using the TOR browser, or a proxy server or encrypted email, it probably just sends up a big red flag to those who are watching us. (Hmmm…did Tor invent that browser?)
Hi Nunz,
See the latest on this, here: https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2017/12/15/like-bitcoin-think/
Well, it is more like tying your bank account to a particular exchange like Coinbase. An unscrupulous exchange could access your bank account.
Like I said below, there are some anonymous debit card companies that can directly access your bitcoin wallet so you don’t have to tie in your bank account to spend the bitcoin at any place that accepts Visa.
Newegg accepts bitcoin:
https://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/16-6277/index.html
If you need new computer or electronic stuff
Also, there are anonymous debit cards linked to bitcoin that don’t have names on the front. Maybe helps keep Big Brother in the dark.
Set up a separate checking account to withdraw the bitcoin. Then the hackers only have that.
Geez, what could go wrong, Eric? These things were worth what, maybe 800 bucks a year ago, and now itās 17 grand? Seems reasonable (heavy dose of sarcasm). Even better, there are maybe a dozen people in the whole world that understand what the hell this thing actually is or how it works. I havenāt the foggiest notion of how to actually do it, but if I were you, Iād do my damndest to figure out how to trade it for something of tangible worth, or cash it in, or whatever the hell you do with those things – before the giant bubble goes kaboom.
You can get a BitPay card from http://www.bitpay.com that allows you to spend directly from you bitcoin wallet. It does currency conversion on the fly like a foreign currency debit card would.
It is a problem for Bitcoin that more merchants don’t accept it. Sort of a chicken and egg problem. Hopefully more merchants will start accepting it.
BTW, I mined about 400 bitcoins back in 2012-2013 and sold some of them this year to buy a Tesla š