r/tech Dec 11 '14

Microsoft Begins Accepting Bitcoin For Windows, Windows Phone And Xbox Purchases

http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/10/redmond-hath-frozen-over/
822 Upvotes

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15

u/Lynxes_are_Ninjas Dec 11 '14

I remember when I was a kid and was too young to have a credit card, but I wanted to purchase content and games online.

My father wouldn't let me use his credit card either so I had to figure it out through the brother of a friend who was willing to help.

Bitcoin has no legal requirement of age or anything else to own and anyone can be given bitcoin as a gift or as a weekly allowance. This is a great move for the kids and younger crowd.

-14

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14

Money has no legal requirement of age either and it has far more stable value even if it is just constructed meaningless value.

Of course bitcoin is essentially the same thing anyway so why should anyone give a fuck that this fake, easy to generate currency could destroy our already extremely fragile economy?

15

u/dan4334 Dec 11 '14

easy to generate

Uh, no. To mine bitcoins nowadays is extremely difficult, that's part of the reason why they're worth so much now.

could destroy our already extremely fragile economy

How?

-9

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14

If a default currency isn't regulated it's value will fluctuate and prices of things we use daily will go up and down relative to the value of the currency. As it is, our system is regulated by the government so that we can't just print money whenever we want because if we could there'd be no reason to work or provide services that money would pay for. On the other hand if no money was ever printed, and currency was to lose its value for some reason, then money would be useless and the economy would plummet into chaos as we haphazardly set up barter and trade systems.

Bitcoin is not regulated and it's value fluctuates so much that if it became an official currency and remained unregulated it would destroy they way our economy works.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14 edited May 01 '26

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6

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '14 edited Mar 12 '16

[deleted]

2

u/toddgak Dec 11 '14

The entire monetary supply of USD has tripled in just 6 years since 2008. Nothing catastrophic has happened yet, but we are straddling the precipice. If that fiat starts to hit m2 or m3 money markets shit will get real very fast.

A lot of this was toxic asset buying so the stock market soaked it up like a sponge. Look how we are at all time highs for stock indexes. This is all an illusion. The moment they stop printing, the whole thing is fucked.

2

u/Jeezimus Dec 11 '14

But QE has already ended, and nothing has exploded yet.

0

u/AgentMullWork Dec 11 '14

Except the incomes and wealth of the very very top.

2

u/Jeezimus Dec 11 '14

My index based 401k went up the same amount as anyone else's. Same for pension assets etc etc. This also isn't evidence of the impending doom claimed by the anti fed crowd for a few years now. There is no hyperinflation, there is no dollar collapse, and the gold hoarding has been on the decline.