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Comment by mkirklions | Hacker News Reader

>I feel like bitcoin people live in some kind of alternate reality that I simply don't understand.

I can tell. You seem to think Bitcoin is another inflationary currency.

The excitement is that, Donald Trump doesnt have control over Bitcoin. China doesnt have control over bitcoin. No government does. People with computers have control over it. There are 21,000,000 Bitcoin ever ever ever. No amount of awful government can change that.

>How is it at all revolutionary since you've basically gone and re-invented a much shitter version of the credit card and traditional (evil) fiat banking.

Like I said, Bitcoin is rare and digital. I think you are complaining about payment processing companies. I have had an excellent experience using these companies with no fees on instant transactions.

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> There are 21,000,000 Bitcoin ever ever ever.

Provably false. Bitcoin has been forked into multiple chains numerous time, creating many more then 21 million tokens. Given that there is no trademark on the term "Bitcoin", some of these forks can rightfully claim themselves to be The True Bitcoin.

In addition, there are thousands of other non-forked blockchains that are nearly identical to bitcoin, save for a few minor configuration changes.

> Bitcoin is rare and digital.

Absolutely false. Bitcoin is digital and infinitely creditable. This has been proven over and over again.

Your original point was correct, you dont understand Bitcoin.

i think you're arguing semantics. if most people dont view the forked chain as valid and prefer the original, then a new bitcoin isn't created per se.

That's why BTC's value went down when BCH forked, right? Even a moderately successful fork will hurt BTC's value.

It actually went up, somehow.

> Provably false. Bitcoin has been forked into multiple chains numerous time, creating many more then 21 million tokens.

This is absurd. You could say the same for the dollar and the canadian dollar. You seem to think a new currency devalues every other currency.

"The excitement is that, Donald Trump doesnt have control over Bitcoin. China doesnt have control over bitcoin. No government does. People with computers have control over it. There are 21,000,000 Bitcoin ever ever ever. No amount of awful government can change that."

What I don't understand is how you think your are insulated with bitcoin. If Trump does something so catastrophically stupid that USD is worthless, what will be the effects on the worldwide economy? How will bitcoin insulate you from something like the 07 recession, it won't make finding a job easier. At least the gold peppers can claim there is some value left in gold in a hypothetical nuclear post apocalypse, BTC instantly becomes worthless without widespread internet access. Without network access, what value is in a blockchain?

> How will bitcoin insulate you from something like the 07 recession, it won't make finding a job easier.

Obviously you're not 100% protected, but you're more protected from anything that doesn't affect the entire world.

Or do you think that holding dollars exposes you to an Amazon bankruptcy just as much as holding Amazon gift cards?

> BTC instantly becomes worthless without widespread internet access. Without network access, what value is in a blockchain?

Have you looked around at the world you live in? If network access ceases to exist the entire economy will collapse, I don't think Bitcoin is your biggest worry there.

> China doesnt have control over bitcoin.

I thought China had over 50% of the mining power

mining power doesn't let you break the Bitcoin consensus rules, like the limit of 21M BTC.

>The excitement is that, Donald Trump doesnt have control over Bitcoin. China doesnt have control over bitcoin. No government does. People with computers have control over it. There are 21,000,000 Bitcoin ever ever ever. No amount of awful government can change that.

It's already banned in some countries, and many tax it. Evading those laws comes with risks, so many or most people comply. Exchanges end up being forced to hand some data over to the IRS/others. Overall, governments seem to have control over it nearly the same as they have control over the trade of anything else.

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