petition: official currency code for Bitcoin (BTC?)

[Daniel Pocock]

On 12/11/12 10:44, David Gerard wrote:
> On 12 November 2012 09:29, Daniel Pocock <daniel at 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?