On 2011-06-11 1:58 PM, Peter Gutmann wrote:

I wouldn't call bitcoins digital cash. They're more like digital tulip bulbs,

Monetary value is always speculative. It depends on the expectation that they will be used as money. There is a small but not totally insignificant chance that after fiat monies collapse, the world will go bitcoin standard. There is a large chance that the world will go gold standard. There are about ten billion ounces of gold in the world, therefore fifteen trillion dollars worth of gold. This value only makes sense if there is large chance that gold will be money. There are about three hundred million dollars worth of bitcoins. Therefore the market is valuing the chance that the world will go to a bitcoin standard at The current value of gold looks about right to me. So the current value of bitcoin is also about right - that all the gold in the world is worth about five hundred thousand times all the bitcoins in the world. Which is probably a fairly conservative estimate for the prospects that the world will go bitcoin. If the current price of gold makes sense, the current price of bitcoin makes sense. I would recommend putting most of one's cashi in gold, and a tiny bit of one's cash in bitcoin. _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list cryptography@randombit.net http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE