Today's bad idea: open a business called Bitcoin Bakery. Sell bread via the internet, 1 BTC a loaf. Accept only BTC and post a mission statement saying that, as a reserve currency, bitcoin holds no value whatsoever on its own. Therefore, this site exists to let people buy something material with their bitcoin. Liquidate all BTC upon purchase. Bake bread.
@literorrery you'd better have gold flakes baked into that bread
@DialMforMara Nope! It's just a good loaf of bread. Mostly it's there to tell people who believe in Bitcoin that they're really just the latest form of gold rus speculators and not all that libertarian.
@snipejaeg @DialMforMara Okay, so, insofar as currency is an arbitrary value store, value is subjective, the price of all goods are arbitrary, anything _could_ be used as currency if people agree to use it as a value store, and exchange rates normalize to reflect relative spending power of currencies across a range of economic systems, you are correct, yes. All currencies lack intrinsic value. You're very perceptive.
@literorrery @DialMforMara ....so why is bitcoin any better or worse and needing to be singled out to teach people it holds no value on its own? is my confusion
@snipejaeg @DialMforMara http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-mining-electricity-usage-2017-11
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/12/2/16724786/bitcoin-mining-energy-electricity
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/bitcoin-passes-10000-cryptocurrency-crash-considered-by-experts.html
Short form: Bitcoin -- most cryptocurrencies, to be sure, but BTC's the biggest adopter and thus the biggest taret -- is doing more harm than good between the currency speculation and the total power consumption being wasted on bitflipping.
@literorrery @DialMforMara Doesn't all currency lack intrinsic value though? It's only worth what someone is willing to give you for it.
1USD = 1 hamburger, or 1USD = 2 Forever Stamps, but I can't take a hamburger in to the post office to buy stamps.