Professional Looters Agree To Reduce Looting By 111 Billion Next Year

[michaelsuede]

I mentioned that list specifically, and the comment stands. A few charities, some Internet services, alpaca socks and a few businesses here and there.

That is no take-up whatsoever. The reasons are easy to see. Speculative market, no liquidity, dodgy exchanges (did you see what happened to dwolla?), scams and hacking left and right.

That is not the basis for an economic revolution.

Because the addition of hundreds of vendors over several months does not constitute "take-up" by the market.

Because exchanges which are trading 20,000 bitcoins a day have no liquidity.

Because dozens of secure exchanges to chose from means all of them must be "dodgy".

Because scams and hacking never happen with normal US bank accounts.

 

[rustypouch]

Because the addition of hundreds of vendors over several months does not constitute "take-up" by the market.

Because exchanges which are trading 20,000 bitcoins a day have no liquidity.

Because dozens of secure exchanges to chose from means all of them must be "dodgy".

Because scams and hacking never happen with normal US bank accounts.

Now you're catching on!

 

[Kthulhut Fhtagn]

Why is it whenever I hear AnCaps talk about their no government theories I keep thinking of certain allegedly free-to-use services that actually require a hefty subscription to receive any real service from them?

We're sorry that we were unable to arrive in time to prevent the sexual assault of your daughter, we are also sorry that as a level 1 citizen we will be unable to either apprehend or prosecute the offender as your current level of payment does not include those services. For better service, please upgrade to premium citizenship.

 

[Piscivore]

Why is it whenever I hear AnCaps talk about their no government theories I keep thinking of certain allegedly free-to-use services that actually require a hefty subscription to receive any real service from them?

We're sorry that we were unable to arrive in time to prevent the sexual assault of your daughter, we are also sorry that as a level 1 citizen we will be unable to either apprehend or prosecute the offender as your current level of payment does not include those services. For better service, please upgrade to premium citizenship.

To be fair, there is a measure of that in our current system, it's simply not as overt and formal.

 

[anduin]

Because the addition of hundreds of vendors over several months does not constitute "take-up" by the market.

Take a look in detail at the sites accepting Bitcoins. The vast majority of the software services provided are not for sales, but accepting BTC donations. I decided to make a random sample of sites advertised under Educational Software.

- OpenEmulator (accepts donations in BTC).
- ActiveGrade (no longer accepts Bitcoins).
- Popup Chinese and Popup Cantonese (same business, free registration, not clear it accepts BTCs).
- Project Fedena (no indication that it accepts BTCs).
- Question Writer (accepts BTCs).
- AssignmentHOLE Tutorials (accepts BTCs).
- SimplyMaya (accepts PayPal, no indication that it accepts BTCs).
- Flash Card Maker (accepts credit cards and PayPal, no indication that it accepts BTCs).

The same can be seen in almost every sub-heading. This is not the sign of a growing and vibrant economy.

Because exchanges which are trading 20,000 bitcoins a day have no liquidity.

Liquidity in Bitcoins, as in currency circulation you know, people using the currency to pay for things. There is mostly hoarding and speculation, this is the opposite of liquidity.

Because dozens of secure exchanges to chose from means all of them must be "dodgy".

Secure exchanges? One word. MtGox. The exchanges are laughable small-time operations that rely on the financial cluelessness of the libertarians and teenage hackers that make up almost the entirety of the Bitcoin economy. I notice that you failed to answer the comment about Dwolla. This is a huge blow for BTC (yet another one). The only reason why it is still alive is because of True Believers like yourself.

Because scams and hacking never happen with normal US bank accounts.

The law protects me against such scams. For example, in Europe I am protected in case of fraud almost for the entirety of the transaction. If someone hacks my bank account I have access to the legal system.

If someone steals my BTC wallet, tough luck.

Yes, I can see why Bitcoin is taking off so well (hint: sarcasm).

 

[michaelsuede]

Trade Hill is run by banking industry professionals, and Mt. Gox learned its lesson from the first attack and is now offering Yubikey's, which make account theft next to impossible.

As for your hoarding nonsense, we can see exactly how many transactions take place daily.

Bitcoins sent last 24h 2,705,841.86 BTC
http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/

Which means the entire bitcoin monetary supply is circulated every 3 days.

Yeah, its just a bunch of people hoarding money and all those bitcoin transactions aren't actually being used to buy anything.

In half a week's time, over 95 million dollars worth of bitcoins will be used in transactions.

 

[elbe]

Which means the entire bitcoin monetary supply is circulated every 3 days.

Yeah, its just a bunch of people hoarding money and all those bitcoin transactions aren't actually being used to buy anything.

In half a week's time, over 95 million dollars worth of bitcoins will be used in transactions.

Isn't the important part not that they're moving but what they're being used for? Are they being used for anything? Or is it just speculation trading?

 

[anduin]

Trade Hill is run by banking industry professionals, and Mt. Gox learned its lesson from the first attack and is now offering Yubikey's, which make account theft next to impossible.

TradeHill is a Mickey Mouse operation running from Chile. These "banking industry professionals" missed the Dwolla trick until it was too late. MtGox is still a joke, an operation running out of the infrastructure to exchange Magic the Gathering cards.

As for your hoarding nonsense, we can see exactly how many transactions take place daily. <snip>
Which means the entire bitcoin monetary supply is circulated every 3 days.

Early adopters and exchanges moving money from one wallet to the other. There is no circulation of BTCs as a payment system.

Your analysis fails to mention that a very large percentage of the more than 6 million bitcoins in existence is in the hands of a few early adopters.

Yeah, its just a bunch of people hoarding money and all those bitcoin transactions aren't actually being used to buy anything.

In half a week's time, over 95 million dollars worth of bitcoins will be used in transactions.

You mistake speculation with liquidity. The indication of the economy is open for everyone to see in the exchanges. At most, volume traded in MtGox over a makes up for only 1 million BTCs, and almost certainly these are the same bitcoins being traded by speculators and day traders.

This is the very definition of a stagnant market.

 

[anduin]

By the way, I notice that you failed to address the Dwolla debacle again, and you have no response to the fact that most of the sites listed as taking BTCs are actually not taking any payments in bitcoin.

 

[Tippit]

Why? I wish I had that kind of time to waste.

How much cumulative time do you think you've wasted posting useless one-liners and insults, here?

 

[anduin]

I just wanted to bump this to check on michaelsuede.

How's that Bitcoin working for you?

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

How much cumulative time do you think you've wasted posting useless one-liners and insults, here?

None.

 

[DrDave]

None.

If I had a BitCoin for every one-liner you made...

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

If I had a BitCoin for every one-liner you made...

You'd be rich! Well, actually you wouldn't, because they have no value. But you could pretend you're rich! (assuming you aren't already)

 

[aneurinv]

michaelsuede, BRILLAINT title

 

[aneurinv]

BRILLAINT is better than Brilliant. just in case you were wondering.

 

[megaresp]

Because looting is what people will do if government is no longer capable of forcing them, at implied or actual gunpoint, to pay for their purchases.

Yeah, because the only thing stopping me from looting right this minute is the massive number of policemen that stalk every street corner of London.

Oh wait, looting is going on right now in multiple London suburbs. Police seem incapable of stopping it. 99.99% of Londoners don't join in, and instead express disgust at the few who do.

It must be all those angry gods up there that stop the rest of us from looting, right? Why else would I, my wife and everybody I know restrain ourselves needlessly?

 

[DC]

By the end of the year 2011?

You think those vendors and the Bitcoin market itself will not be functioning?

That's only 5 months away.

What quantifiable measures are you looking to bet on here?

dang you are totally crazy.

why don't you go to Somalia?

 

[KingMerv00]

If I want food, I'll pay for food on my own.

If I want police, I'll pay for police on my own.

If I want healthcare, I'll pay for healthcare on my own.

What do you recommend poor people do?

 

[megaresp]

It is impossible for anyone to exploit anyone else if all transactions are voluntary.

It is literally impossible.

It can't be done.

Fraud, theft etc exist with or without a free market. A semantic insistence that fraudulent transactions are not truly voluntary does not magically stop it from happening.