Bitcoin & the crypto-currency revolution. (get some here).

[Pappa]

Man Forgets About Buying $27 of Bitcoin, Is Now Worth About $1 Million

Four years ago, Oslo-man Christopher Koch's girlfriend scoffed at his purchase of $27-worth of Bitcoin. Chances are she was singing a decidedly different tune last April, when Koch checked back in on his investment and found out it was worth $886,000. And over a cool million today.

Back in 2009, Koch was working on a thesis paper about encryption, which introduced him to the relatively unknown world of Bitcoin. On little more than a whim, he decided to throw down $27 for 5,000 Bitcoins because the encryption process fascinated him and because why not. Koch then promptly forgot about the purchase—until Bitcoin started popping up in the news four years later, that is.

Remembering his offhand investment, Koch frantically searched for the password to his wallet and was floored to find that, by last April's standards, he was sitting on an $886,000 nest egg. After trading in just one-fifth of his total purchase, he was able to buy himself an apartment in Toyen, one of the wealthiest areas in Oslo.

Of course, Bitcoin is also notorious for occasionally erratic fluctuations in value, the most recent example being the seizure of Silk Road earlier in the month, which saw the price fall to $30 before skyrocketing again to $197. By today's standards, though, Koch's $27 investment of 5,000 Bitcoins is worth a total of $1,010,000. Not bad for a broke student with zero investment experience.

[JimC]

Where's my fucking time machine!

[MrFungus420]

I still don't see any real use for it.

You have a few zealots (like Skepticus) claiming that it is a panacea that will solve the world's ills when virtually all that you can do is buy some stuff online on a limited number of websites.

You can't use them to buy groceries, put gas in your car, get your car repaired, pay your utility bills, go to a restaurant, go to a movie, go to a play, pay the pizza-delivery person, pay a kid to mow your lawn, pay for a prescription, or even buy a pack of gum at the store.

About the only draw is the claim that if you have some, you're going to get rich.

[Trinity]

I think any new currency (bitcoin or LETTS or whatever) will only be successful if it is the most commonly used currency and for that to happen there needs to be a rapid increase in people converting from money. This is unlikely to happen overnight, people are skeptical, ignorant of the facts and are pretty conditioned to see money as "all there has been, is and ever will be". Our thinking needs to change, radically.

[Clinton Huxley]

Bitcoin? Could be great. Or it could be the Betamax of crypto-currency.

[Tero]

Could I donate my bit coin to Joyce Myers? She will take anything:

[Faithfree]

Bitcoin is word of the year, apparently.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-13/a ... ection=act

[JimC]

Bitcoin is word of the year, apparently.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-13/a ... ection=act

Skepticus will be thrilled...

[pErvinalia]

I wish I bought some of this stuff when I first heard about it last year.

[mistermack]

Bitcoin exchange rate has gone mental recently. Oddly, it's not the utility value that is supporting the price, it's the relative untraceability of it that seems to be the attraction.
Money laundering, in other words. A place to keep a stash, where the fuzz can't find it or get at it.

And as crime is such a big industry, that doesn't look likely to change, unless the police and governments decide to move in on it. If they can.

[Svartalf]

All of a sudden, I see the creators of Bitcoin receiving offers they can't refuse...

[Hermit]

An article by someone who is not enamoured by Bitcoin: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bitco ... th-2013-12

[MrFungus420]

An article by someone who is not enamoured by Bitcoin: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bitco ... th-2013-12

So that means that there are only about 20 people in the world that couldn't have written it?

[cronus]

Next big bitcoin crash and I'm gonna get me some.

[mistermack]

Next big bitcoin crash and I'm gonna get me some.

I think a lot of people might be thinking the same. Which means it's not going to crash ever again, to the levels it was at before.
That is, unless governments step in in some way, to prevent trading in Bitcoins, because of the criminal aspect. Or if some other better virtual currency starts up, and everybody dumps bitcoins to get into that.
In which case the bitcoins might lose your money in that instance.

There's no doubt about it, seeing into the future is the best superpower to pick, if you ever get the chance.