
Bitcoin World’s 30th Largest Currency, Market Cap Closes on Mastercard - golangnews
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-worlds-30th-largest-currency-market-cap-nears-mastercards-171-billion/amp/
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roel_v
I couldn't tell from the article - how do they define 'market cap'? Nr of
currently mined coins * current value? Because if so, how does that make sense
- nobody knows how many coins are 'lost'. Is there anyone watching e.g. how
many coins haven't moved wallet since, say, 2013? Like, satoshi's coins - does
it make sense to include those in any metric?

(maybe they're using an entirely different definition in which case the above
is moot)

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eknkc
I believe it is calculated based on the amount of coins in circulation. Maybe
those that had a movement in last N days or something like that, not sure
about the exact details.

Daily transaction volume might be a better indication though..

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gonvaled
You are looking for "Bitcoins days destroyed" [1]

[1]
[https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/845/9479](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/845/9479)

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docdeek
One key difference right now, though, is that I can use my Mastercard to pay
for just about anythying just about anywhere I happen to be. In comparison to
this worldwide acceptance as a means of payment, BTC seems just about
worthless.

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mmjaa
I've got two credit cards, a Visa and a MasterCard, both of them backed by my
Bitcoin wallet. Where's the problem? I can pay with Bitcoin anywhere I
could've paid with Visa/Mastercard .. this isn't about BtC vs.
Visa/Mastercard.

Its about BtC vs. US$, &etc.

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qplex
What you are saying is that "I can pay with currency $x anywhere, I just need
to exchange it first"

If you use Visa/MasterCard, you will not pay _in_ BTC but in
dollars/euros/whatever.

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mmjaa
I pay in BtC. The card provider does the conversion automatically - but I,
personally, pay in BtC. I have nothing to do with US$.

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ghthor
Is there a guide I can use to set this up?

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mmjaa
[http://wirexapp.com/](http://wirexapp.com/)

There are quite a few others, but this is the one I know about.

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qplex
They list the current price of BTC at $2,456.15 on that page. Hope it's out of
date and not the exchange rate they use ;-)

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mmjaa
Um yeah, that might be something local. For me it shows $9,704.50, which is
pretty close to what coinmarketcap is showing ..

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mettamage
I'm a bit weary. Say this cryptocurrency thing does take of and it's not a
bubble. Then wouldn't this have similar effects that quantitative easing would
have? I understand quantitative easing as 'printing money', because I'm not an
economics person.

But if this would take off and get a strong foothold at the prices that we're
seeing now (bitcoin almost 10K in dollars), then didn't some subset of techies
print _a lot_ more money than there is?

To me it seems there might be a chance that we're devaluing real currencies by
quite a bit over the course of the next couple of years. Of course, the bigger
chance is that this is a bubble and it will pop, but what if it isn't?

I know this is quite an unnuanced comment. I'm putting it out here, because I
feel other people have the same concern and would like to see people who know
a bit more comment on these ideas.

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55555
Quantitative Easing injects new money into the economy, devaluing money. But
my bitcoin is only worth $10,000 USD if that's the amount you agree to pay me
for it. And you will pay me using existing money. So there is no new money
being injected and so it would seem there is no devaluation of old money.

But it feels like maybe you're right. I think existing money is essentially
being devalued every time someone decides to spend their USD on bitcoin,
demonstrating that a new thing that came out of (more-or-less) thin air now
has value, and thus those who own it can 'claim' dollars, and thus there are
less dollars for all the people who don't yet own bitcoin. Which means they
are getting poorer.

My head hurts. Can someone smarter than I figure this out?

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mattrices
This is not QE. BTC is treated like a physical asset with a fixed quantity, if
x reserves of y mineral were found that would not be QE. Discoveries that
increase net global value are completely different from altering the amount of
a circulating currency.

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empath75
The price of bitcoin is totally fraudulent, driven by a couple of exchanges
literally printing money, and gullible people doing arbitrage and exchanging
bitcoin for tether.

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gaius
The question is, say I had a million dollars worth of bitcoin. Or 10 million,
or 100 million. How easily could I exchange them for a traditional hard
currency, GBP, CHF, USD? What is the depth of the liquidity of this market?
Without that, the valuation is meaningless.

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kss238
The 24hr volume for bitcoin is currently at 6.2 B.

Selling 10 MM of bitcoin in a day would not affect price very much. Looking at
the largest American exchange (6% of daily btc volume), GDAX, a 10 MM market
sell order would drop the price to around 9400 USD from 9750 USD currently.

Selling 100 MM of bitcoin in a day would affect the price significantly.
Looking at GDAX, a 100 MM market sell order would drop the price to around
7000 USD from 9750 USD currently. Although this would be arbed pretty quickly
and I would think that it would recover to maybe 8500 USD.

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empath75
Volume in tethers or dollars?

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zokeia
I honestly do not understand how this market cap comparison argument is useful
in assessing the viability of Bitcoin.

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gonvaled
As a value store? Clearly because of exposure.

As a vehicle for trade? Not there yet, we need more adoption, aided by
exposure.

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joosters
Isn't the exposure making people less likely to trade? No-one wants to spend
bitcoins because they're afraid they'll grow in value and they will have
wasted money.

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gonvaled
But people are trading all the time. The exchanges prove that: as many
bitcoins bought as sold! :)

Will the buyers be willing to use those bitcoins to buy other things than fiat
currencies? Once more products are sold in btc, why not?

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down
gold has $7 Trillion and I fail to see how gold is a better store of value, I
fail to see why would anyone buy gold bullion for example, is just a piece of
metal.

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twelve40
imho the biggest difference is: gold is currently the preferred reserve by the
world governments, which hold 30k tons, including the government with the
largest military in the world. There is a chance that those in power will put
a bit of effort to keep it more or less stable.

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down
and they store it because there is a market for it, because people find it
valuable, if the millennials don't get why a piece of metal has value, there
isn't much governments can if no one buys their shiny metal.

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guitarbill
except when it's e.g. required to manufacture the electronics these
millennials use. gold might be over-valued in your opinion, but it has
intrinsic value, unlike bitcoin.

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neinnein
The comments on Bitcoin in here are almost all made by people who don't
understand what they're talking about, spewing lies and half truths. Zero
understanding, zero facts, 100% angry. It's hilarious.

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Merthurian
Couldn't agree more XD so funny.

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noway421
Who provides liquidity for bitcoin still? With all that growth, everyone would
only want to hold.

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icebraining
People who understand that past performance is no guarantee of future results?
If you entered and made a good return, you might want to save it in something
considered safer. Also, you might want to use the money for something else.

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moonbug22
Not a currency. Doesn't have a 'market cap'.

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mfrommil
Currency "refers to money in any form when in actual use or circulation as a
medium of exchange".

Definitely is money in a relatively new form, that millions of people are
using to facilitate exchanges. Why wouldn't BTC be considered currency?

