[148857] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: [Cryptography] On Security Architecture, The Panopticon,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James A. Donald)
Tue Dec 31 14:22:45 2013
X-Original-To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2013 18:44:53 +1000
From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
To: cryptography@metzdowd.com
In-Reply-To: <C4D742F6-CA07-493A-8E49-B525E4559972@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jamesd@echeque.com
Errors-To: cryptography-bounces+crypto.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@metzdowd.com
John Kelsey wrote:
> Distinguish the different uses of bitcoins. For buying things
> online, yeah, there's a demand for bitcoins based on wanting to be
> able to do online transactions. To the extent there are
> transactions that lots of people prefer to do in bitcoins (whether
> legal or illegal), there will be a certain amount of demand for
> bitcoins based simply on how many bitcoins are either involved in a
> transaction right now, or are being held ready to be used for a
> transaction soon. But bitcoins are online, and their volatility
> makes them an awful store of value. (They can be a speculative
> investment, but they aren't where you'd want to park your retirement
> fund on your 60th birthday.) They're too volatile to be a good unit
> to price things in, too.
But if one has retirement funds denominated in dollars, one is exposed
to a considerable risk that these might go to zero.
In the event that dollars go to zero, either gold or bitcoins will go
up, gold by a little, bitcoins by a lot.
Therefore to reduce the risk of being poor in the midst of a terrible
crisis, should diversify some dollar denominated assets into gold and
bitcoins.
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