Bitcoins

[stowie]

At the moment my ignorance about the concept makes it seem very high risk. However when you consider that banks can fail and do fail leaving their depositors with little or nothing, the risk seems no worse. The biggest uncertainty over bitcoin is their legal status.

TBH I have a mind to acquire a few expendable 'Satoshi' just to play around and see how it works. You never know, we might all be doing it one day..

With standard banks in the UK you have the government guarantee for deposits up to £85k*. There is none of this with Bitcoin as it has no government backing. Your "wealth" is kept in an electronic wallet so if you lose this your Bitcoins are gone forever.


*There can be exceptions..

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 2748800, member: 45"]Is it just me that has no idea what Bitcoins are?[/quote]

Nope...

 

[asterix]

[QUOTE 2748800, member: 45"]Is it just me that has no idea what Bitcoins are?[/quote]

Sorry but when I was doing the poll I intended to add another option for those who don't know about this strange development but somehow the poll got posted instead! Nor could I find an edit mechanism othan 'edit title'.

So I know a little about bitcoins but not much about polls..

An explanation of bitcoins is here:

http://www.coindesk.com/information/is-bitcoin-legal/

It's interesting to see the reactions of various countries to the concept.

 

[mark st1]

[QUOTE 2748800, member: 45"]Is it just me that has no idea what Bitcoins are?[/quote]

Nope...

Me 3

 

[User169]

Over 900USD!

The local takeaway service now accepts them as payment.

 

[asterix]

Indeed:

The value of virtual currency Bitcoin has soared to over $900 (£559), after a US Senate committee hearing.

The committee was told that virtual currencies were a "legitimate financial service" with the same benefits and risks as other online payment systems.

 

[thom]

Newport State of Bitcoin Mining:

Some poor guy has lost 4 million $ worth of bit coin.
He threw out his hard drive in summer and only just realised it had 7500 bit coins on it.
Now they are in a dump in Newport.

 

[Crackle]

Some poor guy has lost 4 million $ worth of bit coin.
He threw out his hard drive in summer and only just realised it had 7500 bit coins on it.
Now they are in a dump in Newport.

What surprises me about that story is that he has a girlfriend.