[PassTheAmmo]

Actually for me bitcoin proves just how few people can ACTUALLY spot a pyramid scheme or a pump and dump - instead resorting to calling everything that seems too good to be true a scam. It may work 99.9% of the time, but BTC is the false positive IMO. I totally agree that the Cyprus thing is totally bogus though, journalists are uninformed and lazy as usual. The real reason is that it seems more and more likely that bitcoin will be the currency of the Internet in the future. And nothing else.

[ubernostrum]

The fact that Bitcoin is touted as an alternative to untrustworthy -- because inflationary -- traditional currencies, while its exchange rate staggers around like an ice-skating drunk compared to those same traditional currencies, does not fill me with confidence.

[Atropos]

"The real reason" for the current price hike is most likely http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=bitcoin meaning we are back in a super high interest in bitcoin phase. Maybe because that is because the world just realized the "currency of the Internet" thing, or it is just a hype, fueled by a lot of misleading promotion and lies. No use to discuss it though, we all will learn in 6+ months...

[jellicle]

> It may work 99.9% of the time, but BTC is the false positive IMO.

That's one of the major markers of a bubble - people convincing themselves that this time is different. There's a book about bubbles with that title.

[niggler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKC7iaBKvs#t=768s

A pretty brilliant scam if you ask me

[imsofuture]

That's not a terribly good point though -- fiat currency also has no intrinsic value.

[niggler]

That's a misunderstanding of history. USD used to be backed by silver and all bills said "in silver payable to the bearer on demand". It was only relatively recently that the practice ended.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/US-%245-...

[Karunamon]

It doesn't really invalidate his statement though. The USD is not backed by anything (whether it was in the past or not is irrelevant), and aside from the fact that it's commonly accepted, has no more intrinsic value than Bitcoin.

[prodigal_erik]

As long as 300 million people are required to convert a fraction of their income to USD for taxes, its value can't go to zero. Bitcoin's value is purely an article of faith so far.

[philliphaydon]

I'm pretty much convinced its a scam after reading this:

http://nerdr.com/bitcoin-exchange-scam-bitcoins-are-worthles...