On 12/11/12 10:44, David Gerard wrote:
On 12 November 2012 09:29, Daniel Pocock daniel@pocock.com.au wrote:
- people seem to be crying out for a clarification of the legal and
policy issues - and as usual, vested interests are creating FUD that needs to have a balanced response
This creates the impression that it's only vested interests who consider the whole idea a pump-and-dump scam. And that's not the case at all.
Actually, as a long term investment, it could be argued that anything is a pump-and-dump scam. Even gold has had `bubbles', although the counter argument is that buying gold in a bubble is better than having your money evaporate in a bad bank (`bad bank' should be an oxymoron or contradiction of course, but just Google for `bad bank' and see how many times it comes up in the news these days)
However, if you put aside the `investment' arguments and look at it as a means of payment, how does it stack up? In the long run, is it better to pay 6-7% in a combination of fees and exchange rate commission when using a credit card for foreign currency purchases, or is it better to use something like Bitcoin?
As Richard Dawkins says to creationists, "debating me would look good on your CV, debating you would not look good on mine." Bitcoin would love an FSF-related imprimatur (and FSFE counts); feeding the vested interests of the early Bitcoin adopters and their wish to con people into buying their coins may not be in FSFE's best interests.
I don't want to belittle your point of view - it is always good to look at any new inventions with a critical eye, especially when money is involved. But what do you see as safer alternatives to Bitcoin?