Commodity or Currency?

This – for me- from where I am coming from, (mostly ignorance) – whole deal about bitcoins is pretty weird. What are they? According to at least two articles I read on BBC news they are either a commodity – like pork belly and coffee – or they are a token like the Italian “getone,” which you had to buy – usually in a bar with a good coffee machine – before you could use a public telephone. So, bitcoins – or getones – weren’t currency because they (the latter anyway) had no monetary value but they were worth the duration of a telephone call. This was well before Skype, I suppose.

Anyway, the point is, that these yokes, bitcoins, are something that can be traded and swapped, – like, I suppose, pork bellies and Euros. (By who and where, and what for?)

So, where do they come from? Who makes money from them? Why was it all a big secret? Why didn’t the Japanese guy – or did he? – say something like – I am not the inventor.

I remember reading something somewhere where it mentioned that if you ever wanted to be mega rich from absolutely nothing, then start your own religion. Ron L Hubbard did apparently – as well as write books – did he write Genesis or was that God?

So, bit coins are “mined” from something – obviously – but a 64-digit number is the answer to some increasingly complex cryptographically engrossing problem and then you need a bitcoin address. And a wallet in the cloud? Mother of god! It’s all getting a bit too fancy for me – a bit rich for my blood and I still have not done anything about the copyright issue for photos and that kind of stuff. Something to look forward to later, this month!

Can’t believe it is May already.

Author: serkeen

I am Irish, currently living in West Australia. I have a degree in Old & Middle English, Lang & Lit and, despite having worked in Kuwait, Italy, Malaysia, USA, Brunei, Australia and Hong Kong over the last 40 years, I have a strong interest in Ireland’s ancient pre-history and the heroes of its Celtic past as recorded in the 12th and late 14th century collection of manuscripts, collectively known as The Ulster Cycle. I enjoy writing historical novels, firmly grounded in a well-researched background, providing a fresh and exciting look into times long gone. I have an empathy with the historical period and I draw upon my experiences of that area and the original documents. I hope, by providing enough historical “realia” to hook you into a hitherto unknown – or barely glimpsed - historical period. View all posts by serkeen