from the the-times-they-are-a'-changin' dept.
Overstock.com and the Internet Archive have separately discussed their decisions to hold onto cryptocurrencies rather than convert them immediately. From news.bitcoin.com:
Operating as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Internet Archive has accepted bitcoin donations since 2012. This week Kahle decided to explain to the public in a blog post why bitcoin remains a fixture in the nonprofit's balance sheet.
"A foundation was curious as to why we have Bitcoin on our balance sheet, and I thought I would explain it publicly," explains Kahle. "The Internet Archive explores how bitcoin and other Internet innovations can be useful in the non-profit sphere – this is part of it. We want to see how donated bitcoin can be used, not just sold off."
[...] At the beginning of August the company's CEO, Patrick Byrne revealed it is currently stashing fifty percent of its bitcoin revenue. Byrne has been [a] long-time bitcoin proponent and believes the technology behind the decentralized currency will be the future of finance. During a budget report, Byrne revealed the business used to keep 10 percent of the daily bitcoin revenue the company earned and converted the rest of the funds to USD. Now Byrne details that the corporation's board of directors has authorized a strategy to hold fifty percent of the firm's bitcoin revenue.
The original announcements:
http://blog.archive.org/2017/09/02/why-bitcoin-is-on-the-internet-archives-balance-sheet/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-ostk-earnings-conference-155549361.html (requires ECMAScript to "Read More")
Note: "HODL" appears to be a bitcoin joke, see here
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday September 08 2017, @09:21AM (3 children)
I believe the whole driver behind BitCoin is we have no idea how responsibly our banking system will handle what gives all appearances of inevitably having a meltdown in the near future.
A lot of people look like they are trying to diversify their wealth storage containers.
Same with holding physical gold... but the problem with gold is liquidity and unknown exchange costs when the time comes... uhhh would I take five gold coins for my van? And have no idea if those coins are fakes or not? You might be lucky to get a gallon of water from me for them. Provided I knew where I could get some more water.
If the shit hits the fan, I don't want to be holding a slug of metal instead of having the things I need. This is the scenario I see as quite likely in the event I had gold, and someone else had something I needed badly. [youtube.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @10:32AM (2 children)
Of course that test had a few parameters that might cause someone not to buy even if determining/believing the coin is not fake and knowing quite well its true value:
So in short, everything in this shouts "warning, possibly crime involved; don't buy". Indeed, one might say he didn't sell the coin not despite it being ridiculously cheap, but because of it being ridiculously cheap.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Friday September 08 2017, @12:04PM (1 child)
All you say rings true.
The guy who made this video made a bunch of videos of similar social experiments.
In a way, an eye-opener for me, as I put myself in the same position... what if I had gold coin and needed something?
What if I needed it bad?
What would be more valuable in a situation where shit has just hit the fan... an adjustable wrench? A flashlight? A cigarette lighter? Can of food? Gold coin?
I would sure be loathe to give up one of my tools for a coin of unknown authenticity, especially seeing the latest spiel of fake gold coins I see advertised on TV ( You know, the ones "clad in 44 milligrams of pure 24 Karat Gold!" )
Hell, I would probably accept the coin out of charity if I was asked to give up a bottle of water in short supply.
Fine, I guess, if the guy can get to a trusted money-changer, but my take on it is a bottle of liquor is probably a more tradeable item during an economic collapse. If it wasn't for them going stale, my best bet would be cigarettes. Even though I do not smoke. My guess is cans of food, rechargeable flashlights, fuel, toilet paper, antacids, tools, and other manufactured goods will skyrocket in price if the factories and distribution systems take a hit. Note this list is by no means conclusive - these are just things that come to mind that can be bought and stored while they are available, and some have a very long shelf life.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @03:35PM
You are thinking of survival on the wrong timescale. Gold and other precious metals are mostly useless in the immediate timeframe after somme sort of collapse or disaster, but they are hedge in the intermediate scale. The ifs whats and hows are going to be wildly different based on what sort of scenario you are imagining, but almost all scenarios are going to be localized in some fashion. If the USD collapsed, someone holding gold bullion could still do trade with the Europeans or Asia. Also, metals are portable and divisible. How much does two thousand dollars of canned food or cigarettes weigh? For the last 10 or so years, that is less than two ounces of gold. Ever try to split off five dollars of a battery? Doesn't work too well. Again, not particularly usefull to have if you are starving after a flood, but if you have a stash somewhere, you may be much better off after things settle down.
Anyway, the article is about Bitcoin and neither organization seems to be concered with the dollar collapsing, more of holding Bitcoin as another investment device like stocks or securities. The Archive.org guys seem to be mostly technophiles, so the bitcoins were actually used to pay a number of salaries and ended up making them some money.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday September 08 2017, @11:19AM
I'm HODORing too.
HODOR!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @12:48PM (6 children)
If the shit really hits the fan, you can expect to not have internet connectivity (indeed, you'll be lucky if you have electricity). Good luck paying with bitcoins in that situation. And yes, you can print your bitcoins; but how do you prove that what you have printed are real bitcoins without access to a computer and the blockchain?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @01:04PM (5 children)
There is no point in planning for the zombie apocalypse; if things get that bad, it virtually doesn't matter what any of your previous investment decisions have been. I mean, you might as well just put a bullet in your head right now if you're going to plan your life around such scenarios.
There's nothing stopping an organization from minting hard-copy bills/coins with embedded Bitcoin data; trading those things would be no different than trading dollars today—it would just be an "off-chain" transaction, and it would be possible for anyone who is worried to take those hard copies back to some central location to be checked on what little of the Bitcoin network people do manage to get up and running; with back-up generators, radio communications equipment, and a few spare computers, you could still do that kind of thing.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday September 08 2017, @02:46PM (3 children)
You think you need a zombie apocalypse in order to lose electricity? A blown-up transformer and nobody available to fix it are more than sufficient for that scenario. If you think of a backup generator in your cellar, note that it is not sufficient that you have electricity. Every router between you and the place you want to reach needs to have electricity; especially the first one at your ISP that you connect to. If you count on mobile, that also holds for the base station.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @03:58PM (2 children)
The zombie apocalypse is the indefinite loss of electricity, etc.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday September 08 2017, @04:11PM (1 child)
No electricity is enough for the zombie apocalypse? Really?
Because no electricity is certainly enough for the "bitcoin apocalypse".
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Saturday September 09 2017, @02:38AM
I'm pretty sure you need some zombies too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @04:57PM
Unless you've been investing in ammo and canned goods.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Friday September 08 2017, @06:07PM
A decentralized monetary system ... blood will run freely in the streets before that is ever allowed to happen.