A couple of days ago we came across an article on Bloomberg about an upcoming auction (6/27/14 - Today) on a cache of Bitcoins worth about $17 million. The auction is for 29,656 Bitcoins, which are part of more than 144,000 the FBI transferred to U.S. Marshals after shutting down the Silk Road marketplace and arrested its operator last year. This auction offers a rare opportunity to secure a large amount of the virtual currency at one time.
Here's a link to FAQ's about the auction - Bitcoin Auction FAQ's
I thought it would be interesting at ask....
Loading ...As always, we would love to hear what you have to say on the subject of the auction or just Bitcoin (BITCOIN:BITSTAMPUSD) in general.
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
When the report came out several months ago about the exchange that bellied up the media made out like bitcoin was going under.
That exchange ("Mt. Gox", a stupid gamers'-platform-turned-currency-exchange) was no more representative for the overall value of Bitcoin than, say, Yahoo shares are for the NASDAQ or Cisco shares for the NYSE.
One or two such "players" may go away, go bust, fall to pennies or what have you without likely affecting the overall market. Same thing with Bitcoin and other Crypto coins.
insurance like that will likely be offered, once the market demands it. (So-called "Cryptoland" is a truly free market, a lot more free than our conventional economy, with great dynamics and innovation and will meet any such demand with a wide choice of services.)
One provider already has a trial running for Bitcoin safekeeping including insurance, but that's the only thing out there -- yet.
In the early days, you could not ensure your silver or gold coins either. If your metals were stolen, you were out of luck, so keep them safe in the first place and let no one steel them! Same thing with gold or silver bullion today (unless you waste money on someone to keep and insure them for you), same thing with bitcoins or other Crypto coins...
Therefore, it is always a matter of weighing the alternatives: DIY (less costly) or full-service offer (probalby insured, yet eating in to your wealth on a constant rate, as in annual premiums or fees). Applies to both, dollar holdings on one hand and gold/silver or Bitcoin on the other.
What if my bitcoins get stolen by gov or hackers?is there insurance like my bank offers me from a robbery .the big glitch a while ago was kind of expected now prices were going lower any way I dont trust it
edit:
Bitcoin is not "fiat" as there is absolutely nothing that can be "DONE" to it from a central-planning point of view, once its algorithm has been created and implemented. Bitcoin is the contrary of what the term fiat stands for.
"Fiat" means that government can "DO" anything to the dollar, euro, pound AT WILL, on the other hand (and most of us know by now that they are doing just that). With paper currencies or "fiat", this is a matter of power, politics, and guns. To undermine Bitcoin in a comparable way, government would need the power to declare that "2+2=5". (Obama might be tempted to try and go for that, too, but no one in their right mind would!)
Bitcoin, the ultimate FIAT currency. Unlike the other fiat currency bills and coins, bitcoin can't be held, felt or used in any non conventional way.
It is the ultimate Trust in an idea, not based on any value.
Normal money at least have a use if it falls to zero value.
Coins can be drilled to make washers, make great poker chips, a box of them makes a good anchor for a small boat.
Paper bills can make a fire (Maybe not the new CDN plastic ones) and if all else fails, be used as toilet paper.
I trust bitcoin as much as I trust Gov't.. NOT AT ALL!
Yeah. - What he ^ said.
you guys don't understand the concept of what "Bitcoin" or, in rather, all decentralized peer-to-peer Crypto currencies stand for.
First off, your opinion on Bitcoin as a "store of value" (or lack of it) may be correct. I do not see Bitcoin's primary use in storing value either, and I would not trust more than some risk capital to that thing (which is an asset class of its own, possibly a weak one though).
That said, your point of not going to bid on an auction for a significant amount of bitcoins (and significant price in dollars) makes total sense. Would not do it either myself. (Part of the reason is that I wouldn't "reward" Uncle Sam's mafia-style behavior by throwing dollars at them like this.)
Crypto coins are much more than just "money for the internet" just as e-mail is much more than just a fancy phone or fax machine!
Being a payment system is only ONE feature. Bitcoin and Alt coins etc predominantly have a structural feature though which is building the foundation for a "New-New Economy" or something like "Web 3.0" where all these other devlopments hailed in this Blog and elsewhere come into play: from Solar energy and decentralized power to Encryption and Privacy technologies to 3-D Plotters (or 3-D "printers") for de-centralized or "additive" production with all their implications for the wider economy and its ever-changing face.
Therefore, it can neither easily be said that this is "as un-trustworthy as government paper" nor does it matter if it is or not -- for Bitcoin and Crypto coins are not a question of monetary "trust" (nor of trust at all because their main feature is being trust-less systems)!
Am I the only one that didn't understand anything Mark said in his Reply?
People normally do understand these things, including the "2+2=5" example, above.
Interesting to see that people interested in investing in the latest tech hype don't even know what it's all about or how it's interrelated.
Let me know if you'd like me to make this still easier to understand for a special low-info audience here, if needed...