Bitcoin -- Is This The Currency Of The Future Or Is Just Virtual Currency

Be very very careful - Beenz and Indigoz were my two biggest dot-com disasters. There's a whole world of hurt if the Fed or any monetary authority around the world think that you are trying to create an alternate currency.

The trading of virtual items has fascinated me for quite some time too. I know people that have sold and bought Everquest (massive online multi-player role playing game) items for thousands of dollars. You can buy bags of gold coins for the iPad game Infinity Blade. Imagine if there was a mechanism where you could sell your excess coins? That would complete the circle. You really would have an Infinity Dollar or Peso or Kroner.

If you think about it, it can be said that all currencies are virtual to begin with. It has been a very long time since currency has actually been linked to a physical resource like Gold.

JackD201 said:

If you think about it, it can be said that all currencies are virtual to begin with. It has been a very long time since currency has actually been linked to a physical resource like Gold.

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That's one of my favourite stories when I was on the lecture circuit. I would have a US dollar bill in my pocket, and I told the story about how it used to backed by gold (before 1933). There were also a very few that were backed by silver. They were actual gold or silver certificates, and you could theoretically go to the Treasury and exchange that note for the equivalent amount of gold and silver.

These days, the US$ is no longer backed by gold or by silver.

Do you know what is printed on the note these days?

"In God We Trust"

There is also a non-digital version of "money" called "script". I once was hosted in San Francisco by someone who paid for a day of entertainment (shows, restaurants) by choosing businesses that would accept script. He ran a prosperous local printing business that accepted script and it appeared there was a mini-economy in the greater Bay Area that was largely bypassing the conventional monetary system.