"The incentive can also be funded with transaction fees. If the output value of a transaction is less than its input value, the difference is a transaction fee that is added to the incentive value of the block containing the transaction. Once a predetermined number of coins have entered circulation, the incentive can transition entirely to transaction fees and be completely inflation free."
Heh, no. GPG mitigates a wide spectrum of threats. Not all threats. It's part of an over-all strategy of risk management. Your thinking of "it's a silver bullet that fails completely" is as lulzy as the people who think "it's a silver bullet that works perfectly."
Think probabilistically, not black-and-white binary logic.
The Fed "regulates" (I use the word loosely) interest rates. Lots of trading (by hedge funds and others) depends on expectations about future monetary policy. _Maybe_ the former Fed chairman would have insights about that?
When your software aspires to move billions of dollars of value, it would ideally be written in Ada.
That said, I agree that C# and Java are good options.
What's hilarious is all of the Bitcoin startups that are running on node.js and mongodb. Would you put your kids on a flight if you knew the control system was written with javascript and mongodb? Yikes.
Doesn't just have to be retained earnings from past profitability, it could also be investor cash that would presumably be recuperated with future profitability.
Because legal talent has a power distribution. Here are words litigants will hear: "get the best attorney you can afford, this isn't an area where you want to cut costs. A great attorney can save you money." Get the picture?
The huge oversupply of lawyers is coming from lower-tier law schools.
The author's central point is still very misguided: "Specifically, watch legitimate transaction volume--I'd suggest only buying if it shows signs of seriously ramping up."
Markets are based on expectations about the future, which is tangentially related to present reality. Present reality is that many smart, well-funded people are working on merchant adoption.
By the time legitimate transaction volume ramps up the price will have baked it in months ahead of time.
Not saying today's price is unsustainable, but I would recommend buying as many bitcoins as you would bet on black at the roulette table during a weekend in Vegas. If you're not a betting person, get off HN and go read Reader's Digest or something.
http://nakamotoinstitute.org/bitcoin/