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0 pointsgst12y ago0 comments

> The platform would never tank because people know roughly what it's worth.

So what exactly is the worth of one ounce of gold? The current market price? Or another price? What's the difference to Bitcoin in regards to pricing?

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fat0wl12y ago· 2 in thread

Eh I'll be honest I'm not sure exactly how the gold standard works but I'm pretty sure it's priced individually against many currencies, whereas Bitcoin's whole pricing system is fantastical.

I'm pretty sure Bitcoin just takes it's sticker price (whatever it's currently been bid upto) and then does a bunch of arbitrary currency conversions.

Again, I THINK this, do not know... but i THINK if you took the amount of gold and multiplied by its USD price to arrive at some figure of how much the "gold pool" is worth (bitcoiners do this all the time) gold traders would laugh their asses off at you. The medium needs to be tightly interwoven into individual economies through usage and growth/settling.

Bitcoin is like this thing that is sitting out in the ether totally untested and people are making random claims about how much its worth, supported only by bidding wars in trading.

mrb12y ago

"I'm pretty sure it's priced individually against many currencies"

No, it is not "priced". Nobody sets an "official price" for gold. Every actor in the market who sells and buys gold is free to set his own price, via "asks" and "bids" in the market. This is what gst highlighted for you: Bitcoin functions exactly like gold, their value fluctuates freely on international and national markets via trading, and nothing else.

"if you took the amount of gold and multiplied by its USD price to arrive at some figure of how much the "gold pool" is worth gold traders would laugh their asses off at you"

Actually, no. Analysts do this all the time. Google for "gold reserves". Here is the latest data from the World Bank: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FI.RES.TOTL.CD

fat0wl12y ago

What I meant by priced individually isn't that a price is "set" I meant people buy & sell gold in a number of currencies, such that each has an exchange rate that isn't interpreted by conversion to a fiat currency then checking the exchange rate for that.

I don't know too much about gold though so I'll let the convo go. To be honest I think CreditCards are where it's at & the small fees involved are to provide consumer protection so I don't mind.

If Bitcoin reaches a comparable infrastructure I'm sure they'll be charging fees for everything too (the exchange services already do, no?).

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