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posted by martyb on Friday September 15 2017, @04:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the check-back-in-ten-years dept.

In a recent Reuters story http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-banks-conference-jpmorgan/jpmorgans-dimon-says-bitcoin-is-a-fraud-idUSKCN1BN2KP, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon threw a bomb at the emerging cryptocurrency.

In the story he states, "The currency isn't going to work. You can't have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart."

He goes on to compare Bitcoin to the 17th-century Dutch tulip bulb situation.

Is he right, or is he just shilling for the present system of imaginary-value fiat currencies?

[Separately, according to Bloomberg, Bitcoin has been on a five-day decline: Bitcoin Crashes After Chinese Exchange Says It Will Halt Trading. --Ed.].


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  • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday September 15 2017, @09:25PM (3 children)

    by darkfeline (1030) on Friday September 15 2017, @09:25PM (#568708) Homepage

    Currencies ARE invented out of thin air. If enough people can agree to use something as a currency, then it's a currency. Being backed by a military/government (for debts only!) is a nice touch, but you can't really force all of your citizens to take cash if they decide to stop trusting it. See Zimbabwe for an extreme example.

    The only thing USD has over BTC is that more people use it. Granted, that's the entire point of a currency, but Mr. JP over here better watch his ass, the US isn't exactly heading up and by virtue of being used in the black market, BTC is almost guaranteed to remain in use. The black market would easily outlive the US.

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  • (Score: 1) by pdfernhout on Saturday September 16 2017, @01:36AM

    by pdfernhout (5984) on Saturday September 16 2017, @01:36AM (#568793) Homepage

    Some governments are better at regulating their currency supply than others. How is the "constitution" of the bitcoin system regulated? Who elected the software developers?

    A currency only holds its value in proportion to the confidence in the community that uses it (and its current and likely future political regulation).

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  • (Score: 2) by mattTheOne on Saturday September 16 2017, @02:51AM (1 child)

    by mattTheOne (1788) on Saturday September 16 2017, @02:51AM (#568813)

    Its deeper than that.

    The USD is backed by the full force of the US gov., and currently used as the petrodollar. That's why its always in demand, no matter how much it get dilluted by the Feds. I just wouldnt feel as comfortable buying "treasury bonds" at the BTC treasury dept of digital bankers R Us.

    I think digital currencies can be useful, but it needs to be one that's backed by a gov. with force, heck ppl dont even trust banks, that's why there's FDIC insurance for savings accounts.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 16 2017, @03:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 16 2017, @03:08PM (#568985)

      How far off is the next US housing crisis, 40% drop in $US. What's to stop Congress from not extending the debt ceiling? X% drop, no one knows what X will be. What if the petro-dollar is broken? China is developing a market to trade oil directly for gold, bypassing the US completely.

      How are bullets going to stop any of those things?