Should I buy bitcoins?!

[shunyadragon]

If by "inherent" value, you mean "intrinsic" value, Americastanian currency
has none...no gold or silver. The value isn't backed up by reserves of
any intrinsic value....only by everyone's trust. Same as Bitcoin (which
is more volatile.)

No, inherent value dose not translate to "intrinsic" value. An example of intrinsic value would be gold and silver coins which have value in and of themselves. The principle currencies of the world are better described as having extrinsic value, or value related to the economy, and exchange value between countries, Bit coin has neither inherent nor intrinsic value.

Other than ones and zeros in computer language where would there be any value whatsoever?

From: Bitcoin lost a third of its value in 24 hours

Has the bitcoin fever broken?

Bitcoin prices plunged sharply to below $11,000 on Friday, shedding a third of its value in just 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk.com. It later rebounded slightly to around $12,000 -- but that's still a stunning 25% less valuable than bitcoin was Thursday morning.

Prices had approached $20,000 as recently as Sunday.

The price drop comes on the back of a few days of bad news for bitcoin, which has still soared by more than 1,000% since the start of the year.

On Thursday, a bitcoin spinoff called bitcoin cash was suspended from one of the most popular exchanges after possible insider trading.


Related: What is bitcoin?

Meanwhile, the U.S.'s markets regulator halted trading in a red-hot bitcoin stock.

Earlier in the week, a South Korea-based virtual currency exchange was forced to close its doorsafter falling victim to two attacks by hackers in the space of a few months.

The incidents have raised questions about the reliability of cryptocurrency markets, which aren't regulated by governments or central banks.

But some argue bitcoin is just taking a breather -- albeit a big one -- after a furious 2017.

Related: Huh? Tea-maker to become blockchain company. Stock soars

"A correction like we are witnessing today is hardly surprising," said Dave Chapman, managing director of Hong Kong cryptocurrency trading platform Octagon Strategy.

Amid the turbulence Friday, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase, said buys and sells might be "temporarily offline" due to high traffic.

The plunge threatens to take the shine off what's been an incredible year for bitcoin. This time last year the virtual currency was worth less than $1,000.

The rally has been driven partly by the expectation that more and more mainstream investors will begin trading it.

Earlier in December, two major U.S. financial exchanges launched trading in bitcoin futures, which will help give it more clout with big, institutional investors.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Other than ones and zeros in computer language where would there be any value whatsoever?

Block Chain technology has a lot of intrinsic value but its value is not yet tied to its servicing potential like it ought to be. Its been functioning strictly as currency, but there has been no tie-in to real value yet. That has made it a toy.

You could instead make a block chain be a service to sign documents. A digital signing service guarantees that a document had been unchanged since its creation (using a secret key that returns a fingerprint for the document). Instead of mining invisible money, you'd mine to gain the ability to secure data. So you'd sign your records and if anybody questioned their integrity, you could use the block chain to prove they were original. You'd have to keep mining (or paying someone to) in order to continue to earn the right to maintain your documents, which would have expiration dates. If you stopped mining they'd be dropped after a time, but if you kept mining they'd be copied first and still guaranteed. The advantage is that anyone can mine, so anyone can preserve their documents. The person with more computing power can resell, because they will have more notary rights.

That service could be resold in the real world, so individuals would still be rewarded to mine but rather than fiat currency they'd get notary signing services which they could resell. It would not be as rewarding, but the block chain would then have long term intrinsic value and would in some ways substitute for government institutions.

You could use this for many things. Currently we rely upon government to guarantee our identities, to keep our land records and so forth. Everything is kept safely in a cabinet or on a server somewhere. It would also not suffer the limitation of bitcoin -- which to avoid inflation has an upper limit and which never loses bitcoin. A notary service would not need such limitation and would also purge old documents that were ready to be filed off of the blockchain.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

That is how currency has inherent value. Without international recognition and exchange currency has not inherent value. The inherent value for currency rests ultimately in economy of the countries that issue the currency. This is why the USA, Canada, and European countries have the highest inherent value. The bit coin has no international recognition nor exchange value nor economic system to support it, therefore it is worthless concerning inherent value.

All the value of bit coins is in ones and zeros of computer language. What basis for value and exchange in this?

If currency had inherent value it wouldn't matter how many countries or people recognised it. The value we place in currency is blind faith - we just accept its value because we're told that what we have to think it is. Just like how we take it on faith that we have money in our bank account even though we've not physically handled it. If you're going to dismiss Bitcoin because all it's value is in ones and zeros of computer language then I hope you don't perform any electronic transactions like with a debit card. Otherwise you'll look rather hypocritical.

 

[Revoltingest]

I do have a single piece of US currency that says that it's redeemable in lawful money at a Federal Reserve Bank.

You are in essence correct about fiat money but the difference it the amount of greed and fear surrounding the two. Bitcoin and it's siblings are just the latest example of how fear and greed junkies are getting their fix and causing a bubble.

Intrinsic value does not enter into it as the silver bubble and tulip bulb bubble did have something real as their base but not enough to matter to the speculators.

Tulips differ from precious metals, the former having only aesthetic
value, while the latter have valuable industrial applications.

 

[Revoltingest]

No, inherent value dose not translate to "intrinsic" value. An example of intrinsic value would be gold and silver coins which have value in and of themselves. The principle currencies of the world are better described as having extrinsic value, or value related to the economy, and exchange value between countries, Bit coin has neither inherent nor intrinsic value.

Other than ones and zeros in computer language where would there be any value whatsoever?

From: Bitcoin lost a third of its value in 24 hours

Has the bitcoin fever broken?

Bitcoin prices plunged sharply to below $11,000 on Friday, shedding a third of its value in just 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk.com. It later rebounded slightly to around $12,000 -- but that's still a stunning 25% less valuable than bitcoin was Thursday morning.

Prices had approached $20,000 as recently as Sunday.

The price drop comes on the back of a few days of bad news for bitcoin, which has still soared by more than 1,000% since the start of the year.

On Thursday, a bitcoin spinoff called bitcoin cash was suspended from one of the most popular exchanges after possible insider trading.


Related: What is bitcoin?

Meanwhile, the U.S.'s markets regulator halted trading in a red-hot bitcoin stock.

Earlier in the week, a South Korea-based virtual currency exchange was forced to close its doorsafter falling victim to two attacks by hackers in the space of a few months.

The incidents have raised questions about the reliability of cryptocurrency markets, which aren't regulated by governments or central banks.

But some argue bitcoin is just taking a breather -- albeit a big one -- after a furious 2017.

Related: Huh? Tea-maker to become blockchain company. Stock soars

"A correction like we are witnessing today is hardly surprising," said Dave Chapman, managing director of Hong Kong cryptocurrency trading platform Octagon Strategy.

Amid the turbulence Friday, one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase, said buys and sells might be "temporarily offline" due to high traffic.

The plunge threatens to take the shine off what's been an incredible year for bitcoin. This time last year the virtual currency was worth less than $1,000.

The rally has been driven partly by the expectation that more and more mainstream investors will begin trading it.

Earlier in December, two major U.S. financial exchanges launched trading in bitcoin futures, which will help give it more clout with big, institutional investors.

What does "inherent value" mean?

 

[shunyadragon]

What does "inherent value" mean?

similar to extrinsic value, It may be described as an inseparable element of value with the economy, trade, and international exchange.

 

[shunyadragon]

If currency had inherent value it wouldn't matter how many countries or people recognised it. The value we place in currency is blind faith - we just accept its value because we're told that what we have to think it is. Just like how we take it on faith that we have money in our bank account even though we've not physically handled it. If you're going to dismiss Bitcoin because all it's value is in ones and zeros of computer language then I hope you don't perform any electronic transactions like with a debit card. Otherwise you'll look rather hypocritical.

,
Not so, in the previous posts I clearly described the extrinsic or inherent value of currency. Something like bit coins have no value in terms of 'intrinsic', inherent nor extrinsic value, and would be based on blind faith. You are wrongly defining 'inherent value.'

ALL recognized currencies can be used to buy gold, silver and other precious metals and gems at world market prices, which have intrinsic value. Someone would a fool par excellence to trade their gold for bit coins.

 

[Revoltingest]

similar to extrinsic value, It may be described as an inseparable element of value with the economy, trade, and international exchange.

That could describe both the dollar & Bitcoin.
The difference is less volatility for the former,
& less regulation (for the moment) for the latter.

 

[Subduction Zone]

similar to extrinsic value, It may be described as an inseparable element of value with the economy, trade, and international exchange.

Okay, bitcoints are out. They are too risky. I guess I will invest all of my money here:
CryptoKitties | Collect and breed digital cats!

This man has made more money trading cryptokitties than investing in his IRA

 

[shunyadragon]

Okay, bitcoints are out. They are too risky. I guess I will invest all of my money here:
CryptoKitties | Collect and breed digital cats!

This man has made more money trading cryptokitties than investing in his IRA

'Create or maybe clone your own 'cryptokitties?'

 

[Subduction Zone]

'Create or maybe clone your own 'cryptokitties?'

I don't understand how it works, but I am going to make a fortune!!

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

Not so, in the previous posts I clearly described the extrinsic or inherent value of currency. Something like bit coins have no value in terms of 'intrinsic', inherent nor extrinsic value, and would be based on blind faith. You are wrongly defining 'inherent value.'

Just to clarify; I'm defining 'inherent value' as "worth as an inherent property of an object, independent of human treatment or desire for that object".

ALL recognized currencies can be used to buy gold, silver and other precious metals and gems at world market prices, which have intrinsic value. Someone would a fool par excellence to trade their gold for bit coins.

The same can be said for $s, £s, Euros and any other currency because we're their value is (apparently) less stable than precious metals when in reality the way they're viewed is the same - they're precious because we're conditioned to want them. Rewind a dozen or so centuries to Aztec Mexico; they called gold 'the excrement of the gods' - that's how valueless it was to them. If gold had inherent value the Aztecs would have been the wealthiest civilisation going in the New World. But they weren't because gold just didn't mean that much to them.

 

[Rival]

Rewind a dozen or so centuries to Aztec Mexico; they called gold 'the excrement of the gods' - that's how valueless it was to them. If gold had inherent value the Aztecs would have been the wealthiest civilisation going in the New World. But they weren't because gold just didn't mean that much to them.

Cacao, on the other hand...

 

[shunyadragon]

Just to clarify; I'm defining 'inherent value' as "worth as an inherent property of an object, independent of human treatment or desire for that object".

Does not reflect all uses of inherent value, The value of money is independent of individual human treatment nor desire for the money. You apparently could care less about money, but that does not determine the value of the money. It is interdependent on the needs of the economy, and international exchange. If you do not like the term use extrinsic, as defined.

The same can be said for $s, £s, Euros and any other currency because we're their value is (apparently) less stable than precious metals when in reality the way they're viewed is the same - they're precious because we're conditioned to want them. Rewind a dozen or so centuries to Aztec Mexico; they called gold 'the excrement of the gods' - that's how valueless it was to them. If gold had inherent value the Aztecs would have been the wealthiest civilisation going in the New World. But they weren't because gold just didn't mean that much to them.

Rewind is not relevant. Money has inherent value at the time it exists. By your reasoning humans are conditioned go bots, which is carrying the discussion to bizzaro ends. and not meaningful in the world of everyday existence. Money indeed has functional and meaningful value regardless of the form, in present reality or how whatever was used no or 2,000 years ago. The extrinsic (inherent) value of money is clearly different from the intrinsic value of mediums like gold, and silver that have value in their own use and value.

The comparison is what has useful long term useful reality and value in TODAY's world in relation to the economy and everyday use to buy and sell things, the major currencies or bit coins.

Come back to earth, and stop playing nonsense games.

 

[sun rise]

I don't understand how it works, but I am going to make a fortune!!

Give me some when you have made it. I'm worthy.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Give me some when you have made it. I'm worthy.

I am not so sure of that. You do realize that your avatar is a DOG don't you?

 

[shunyadragon]

I am not so sure of that. You do realize that your avatar is a DOG don't you?

I like the dog it looks like mine,'Little Bear.'

 

[Subduction Zone]

I like the dog it looks like mine,'Little Bear.'

So we have two votes for the dog.

I am sure that I will have more than enough money to share. I mean, it is a can't lose investment. So lucky that I didn't to for bitcoins.

 

[sun rise]

Dogs win.

 

[shunyadragon]

This article describes the investment in Bitcoins as 'gambling'

From: Bitcoin price drop: Cryptocurrency plunges to lowest level since November

Bitcoin keeps tumbling.
The price of the volatile digital currency briefly dipped below $10,000 around 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, its lowest level since late November, according to data from CoinDesk.com.

Bitcoin has dropped nearly 30% this week and has lost almost half of its $19,343 peak value on December 16. Bitcoin approached its record as it launched on futures exchanges in the United States. But it has since fallen sharply.

Other popular cryptocurrencies ethereum and ripple also have posted double-digit losses. One virtual currency exchange, Bitconnect, dived 93% late Monday.

It's unclear why bitcoin has had a rough week. Cryptocurrency is a murky market with frequent swings.


"Volatility is quite common in the cryptocurrency world," said Mati Greenspan, a Tel Aviv-based analyst at investment firm eToro, on Tuesday.

The plunge follows a Bloomberg report on Monday that Chinese officials were stepping-up measures to limit cryptocurrency trading, which is already banned on exchanges.

Related: What is bitcoin?

Investors in South Korea and Japan, the two largest cryptocurrency trading nations, were sitting on the sidelines Tuesday waiting for the regulatory uncertainty to clear before placing further bets, said Greenspan. He believes the light trading volume caused bitcoin's price to plunge.

Related: Hackers take advantage of bitcoin's wild ride

Trading is booming in South Korea, but officials began clamping down late last month.

South Korea banned opening anonymous virtual currency accounts and put in place new laws giving authorities power to shut down digital currency exchanges. Officials are currently weighing halting trading on exchanges.

--CNNMoney's Daniel Shane contributed to this story.