The price of bitcoin influences my mood but not my outlook.

In my opinion, the price of bitcoin is going to zigzag, go up and down, and so on. As long as new services and goods come into existence, then we will be just fine.

Don't forget that we rose to dollar parity in almost a vertical jump. Before that, we were in the 0.3 to 0.4 range.

Yeah, I'm just like you, I don't think the exchange rate is that important, except for the mood 

But I still think it's interesting to see what people think about its future evolution.

I'll throw a good business idea: the best way for such polls will be bets with bitcoins.

Neither is gold.


You consider this a bad thing?


Because Bitcoin is becoming more popular, while U.S. government continues to debase the dollar.

I consider bitcoin to be commodity money in a way. It derives value from it's properties, which are quite useful. As long as there are like-minded people, it will have value.

What would be exiting is if all states were to suddenly disappear!  

How can something be backed by itself? Gold is "backed" by the belief that one will be able to exchange gold for the things one needs. Bitcoin is exactly the same.


There is a finite amount of gold on the earth. Is the continued mining of gold necessary for it to be useful as a currency? No.


Yes, this is correct. The thing that makes Bitcoin worth anything is that others are willing to accept it in exchange for goods.


This is incorrect. The U.S. has legal tender laws, which enshrine the U.S. dollar as the official currency of the government. That means precisely two things:

1) Taxes are paid in USD
2) Courts will enforce contracts in USD

That's it. As a merchant, you are free to accept any payment method you want. As a creditor, your debts will only be honored by courts if you allow your debtors to repay in USD.

It's true. From the treasury site:


The dollar is just more convenient than euros. Anyway, it's not like euros are any less fiat...

Case law, however, does exist that basicly means that if US$ were offered in settlement of debts, but were rejected because of a contract that required some other form of settlement, any court will hold that debt as void.

So, in practice, any business that allows a customer to acrue a debt first (as an example, a sit-down resturant, where you eat first and pay on the way out) must accept US$ as payment of that debt, even if they had a huge sign on the way in that said, "No gold or silver, no service".

I've used this to my advantage in the past, as I don't use credit cards.  I had reserved a particular tool from Home Depot's tool shop, and went in to rent the item.  Advance reservation is free, unless you cancel, so they didn't ask for anything more than my name and address on the phone when I called.  I went to pick it up, and they asked for a credit card for the security deposit.  The clerk insisted that he couldn't rent me the tool without a credit card, and I said that I was certain that his computer system did have a cash deposit option in theer somewhere, because that was the law.  He ended up calling his manager, and after going through the whole ting again, the manager called some kind of corporate office, who proceeded to tell him how to access that part of the POS system.

I left with the tool, and did not need a card despite their insistance that only a credit card was acceptable.

Well, they you would be wrong.  Not only is it possible, it's actually done.  It's not common, but a European can offer Euros to a vendor, and the vendor has the right to accept foreign currency, but not the requirement, as settlement of debts.  What is questionable, is whether or not a business with public access can quote prices in foreign currencies; but I'd bet that McDonald's isn't interested in a menu board that displays prices in Euros anyway.

BTW, the founder of the Liberty Dollar was recently convicted of some kind of fraud; but none of the associated businesses that accepted the Liberty Dollar could be charged with anything, nor none that sold same without advertising that fact.  Because a private business could accept payment in live chickens, if they desired.  Private local currencies such as the Ithica Hour depend upon this for their ongoing existance.

EDIT:  Also, I think you might be right about the future price of Bitcoins, and as a show of friendship, I'll pay you triple ($.03) your quote for any of those worthless bitcoins you might have.  This is a limited time offer, however, so hit me before I come to my senses!

It's a limited term offer.  Jump on it before I take my meds!

BTW  The intrinsic value of every fiat currency on Earth is very near zero, and ever approaching that value in the market itself.  So I would extend my offer to $ and Euros as well.  I'll gladly pay $.05 for every Euro that you possess or .05 Euros for every one of those US Federal Reserve Notes.