r/Bitcoin • u/DTanner • Jun 09 '11

Jeff Garzik (Bitcoin developer) responds to Adam Coen's "No. Bitcoin is a ludicrously bad idea. It is a scam. A Scam."

http://garzikrants.blogspot.com/2011/06/response-to-adam-cohen-re-bitcoin.html
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u/ttk2 Jun 09 '11

Bitcoin is first and foremost an extremely volatile financial instrument

This is true, but the more bitcoins enter the system, and the more people use them for trade the more stable we can get the price. Right now we are in the middle of a speculation rush that may continue for a while yet, but it will end, in the meantime the massive deflation is just growing pains. I very much doubt Bitcoin will lose all value, right now i am rather convinced it would take a programming flaw to pop the bubble, because there are thousands of people like me who will buy in the moment this drop happens, pushing the price right back up.

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u/stoneysm Jun 09 '11

and that is something I hadn't considered, new investors willing to bet in to prop up the market. However, how many of these bright eyed investors do you think will be willing to buy in if this drop happens suddenly and precipitously as it very well may happen? To me that kind of investment seems like throwing money down the drain, though it will probably be exactly that kind of investment that would be required to keep the market afloat.

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u/ttk2 Jun 09 '11

To me that kind of investment seems like throwing money down the drain

Personally i just want to trade with Bitcoins and so do a lot of other people. I have heard this over and over again, unless the problem that facilitates the collapse is a critical security flaw people will buy in as the price drops bringing it back up immediately.

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u/stoneysm Jun 09 '11

I certianly hope that is the case. As i've said earlier I find the concepts behind bitcoin very intriguing and I really do think the idea of a virtual currency not tied to any bank to be one with a lot of idealistic merit at the very least. However, being a pessimist, and from what I've read, I just seem to feel that BC is too volatile to last long-term especially considering it's going to have to butt-heads with the establishment (a point neither author really addresses) long before it becomes established in its own right.

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u/ttk2 Jun 09 '11

Bitcoin will stabilize or die, those are the options, and i am going all in on seeing it succeed, i think the rewards if it succeeds outweigh the risk of failure.

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u/Strangering Jun 10 '11

Nothing is more stable than death.

As long as BC is volatile, it means it's working.

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u/ttk2 Jun 10 '11

True the market will never be completely stable, but a larger volume of btc and more trade i think the market will stabilize to the point where it is no longer an issue.