The bitcoins are coming!
A Bitcoin ATM. Photo: Zach Copley, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Those who follow high tech news have already heard of bitcoins, a new form of “virtual” currency.
I’m not even going to pretend I get it. The whole idea sounds like a quasi-Ponzi scheme to me. Or some variation of the great Tulip bubble from centuries past. Sort of.
On the other hand, with the disappearance of the gold standard and very few coins having anything to do with precious metals anymore, are bitcoins really so different from any national currency? It can be argued that both are based on little more than fragile faith, to an alarming degree.
By way of keeping up with modern trends, I bring you bitcoin updates from up North. Canada, it would appear, is ready to try them out for a ride. Consider this item from Oct 2013:
…the world saw the first Bitcoin automated teller machine go live in a downtown Vancouver coffee shop, allowing people to exchange Canadian cash for the digital currency at a current rate of $211.79 per Bitcoin.
New users set up a digital wallet by scanning their palm on the machine, while others who already have a Bitcoin wallet select how much money they want to spend, insert the cash, and scan a complex square bar code on their phone to have the Bitcoins transferred to their wallet.
Not to be left behind, earlier this week the Ottawa Citizen reported that:
…on Thursday, Ottawa will join Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal as municipalities that have Bitcoin dispensing machines. The machine will be run by crypto-currency firm BIT-Capital.com and will be housed in the Clocktower Brew Pub on Clarence Street in the ByWard Market.
The article goes on to offer a primer on bitcoins with cautions that this is a new and unregulated form of currency, meaning “the risks are huge.” This CBC coverage on the same launch includes a video.
To paraphrase a quip from Dale Hobson: a totally abstract currency, being traded in a pub – what can go wrong?
Without a doubt, there will be bumps, scams and scandals along the path of any new monetary system. Then again, the same can certainly be said for conventional banking and regulators these days.
Are bitcoins the dawn of something new and powerful? Just another way to exploit greed and fleece the gullible?
We’ll find out, I guess. I prefer the sidelines while all that gets sorted out!
Tags: bitcoins, canada, economy, monetary policy, Ontario, regulation, social change, technology
.0236082912318806 bitcoin per beer? (5dollar tap)
check my math, i’m a little drunk……
No thanks and their is a difference.
Are the bitcoins backed up by the “full faith and credit” of anyone?
There – not their.
Not quite understanding these coins , First do you have to have a cell phone to set your account up and add your palm print too ? also is there anything physical to them so if you want to stash some under the mattress for the rainey days,you can , Sounds mostly like you can spend 212 bucks Canadian , ( How much are they for one in the U.S.) on a coin and be left with nothing if this fad fades . Probably all of us will be back to bartering anyway , before too much longer .
its no different than any form of exchange, or banking.
I give a form of token, not inherently worth anything, then they hold on to it and allow me {for a nominal fee (sarcasm)} to carry it in another form, in this case electrical, instead of ink, and then pass it on to the next rube—uh, I mean person. of course one should question wether this entity is reliable, you know like a government (more sarcasm)
I echo mr hobson’s sentiment, but I work as much as I can under the principle of barter, mentioned by seszoo.
now if only the ford dealership would take eggs and milk for that new pick up…..
Not really new. Five years old.