bitcoin invades mainstream banking system, page-8

spanners,

Thanks for the video post. I watched it some time ago. Interesting and informative like you say.

a couple of things though: the AUD hasn't been worth 50 cents US for over 10 years. there was a dip to 65c in 2007 but it was momentary.

1000 dollars to 250000 dollars in 3 years puts every other major currency swing to shame (not talking about zimbabwe and that ilk here, just countries the financial world actually cares about). This just illustrates my point. it's like saying I wish I had bought apple or google at 10 cents and held onto it. shares are not money, and your admission demonstrates this. You still rate the value of bitcoins in dollar terms - how many dollars it would buy you, not in terms of the products and services bitcoins will buy you - house payments, cars, etc.

if people just all use bitcoins to hold onto, how would transactions take place?

what makes bitcoins worth anything at all is that people are willing to buy them off you at a certain price. when the market vanishes, so does the value. If a nation bans their use as mediums of exchange, the value vanishes.

do you honestly believe the US government would allow the USD to be replaced by a currency it can neither regulate nor create?

Can you see the EU allowing greece to pay back their debt with Bitcoins simply because the tiny proportion of people in the world that use them say they are worth X amount of euros?

It won't happen.

the Nullabor analogy was simplified. if anyone comes on holiday to Australia they can change their home currency for local currency at the airport. you can't that with bitcoin. people can pay on credit card from their own country that the credit card company will convert. can't do that with bitcoin.

as nice an idea as it is - an unencumbered currency, shifting to a virtual currency of this type would mean a total shift from the majority of people and goverments in the world and this simply won't happen.

seriously, if next week your employer said they were going to pay you in Bitcoins would you accept?

R