About $700 at the moment:

[cryptocoincharts.info...]

Hopefully this link is allowed to pass.

Amazing! It has risen to levels that I suspect nobody would have believed.

The value of a single bitcoin has surpassed $1,000 (£613) for the first time, according to MTGox, one of the virtual currency's major exchanges.Bitcoin Breaks through $1000 [bbc.co.uk]

"For Bitcoin to go from zero to $1,000 in just five years has been amazing to watch," said Mike Hearn, a Bitcoin developer.

"It's easy to forget that Bitcoin's true value is not in an arbitrary exchange rate, but in its ability to enable new applications and services which aren't possible with today's payment networks."

It's only the tip of the iceberg. This is the biggest thing since the Internet.

I've heard of Bitcoins but haven't bothered to try to understand what it's all about yet. Maybe now would be a good time.

My immediate concern though is how would a cashier be able to give me back change for a $2 cup of coffee if I paid with a $1000 Bitcoin? :)

Bitcoins are infinitely divisible. Just like numbers. :)

Has anyone ever asked a question they later regretted? I sort of regret going and investigating Bitcoin to get a better understanding of what it is.

It took me down a rabbit hole.

I wanted to get the understanding from an authoritative source, not necessarily an authoritative website, because that can be open to interpretation.

It lead me to a woman named Karen Hudes. She previously served as World Bank Senior Counsel for 21 years. I can't think of anyone else who would be more of an authority than that.

In fact she does endorse use of Bitcoin so this isn't some geeky tech thing (like I thought it might be). As a result of watching a few hours of interviews with her from various sources...

...I don't know what to say. It's astonishing. Have I ever said that before anywhere else on Webmaster World? If yes, forget it. This is the new astonishing.

I can also now understand why the value of Bitcoin is going through the roof.

I'm going to offer one link out to a source of one interview but first I want to add a few words of caution. Please please please, don't panic. But, be informed, it's important, seriously important.

Karen Hudes is obviously very intelligent and has truckloads of integrity. Whoever chooses to dig into this topic further will be able to determine that for themselves. Of the interviews out there you are unlikely to find one in main stream media, especially in the USA.

There are quite a few on YouTube but I wouldn't recommend beginning there. There are too many potential fear based conspiracy theory comments in the alternative choice videos in the sidebar to distract you. Besides that, the one I'm offering as a suggested staring point will help to keep one calm by her very reassuring nature and lack of fear.

She talks about Bitcoin at the 21:40 minute mark in the video but watching it from the beginning will put it in proper context. I have to say the first 15 minutes of the interview isn't going to give you warm fuzzies but hang in there. Rationale does prevail towards the end.

For anyone intrigued about what they learn, I won't post the YouTube URLs, but look up another set of 3 videos posted by Forerunner777. You'll probably want to grab a bowl of popcorn for those.

Lots more I want to comment on but lets first see if my post will withstand <snip> <snip> <snip> first.

I certainly hope it will because I feel I'm keeping this VERY OT including a link out to a site that has Bitcoin in it's URL (how much more OT can I get than that?). The OP was also started by an Admin so again I guess it's fair game, yes? [allthingsbitcoin.org...]

Bitcoins are infinitely divisible. Just like numbers. :)

Infinitely, like the emblem of the flag of the Métis people I mentioned elsewhere hereabouts [webmasterworld.com...]

And concerning my rabbit hole comments above. You'll need to watch the additional set of 3 forerunner777 videos I mentioned for context.

3 forerunner777

7^3 ?

Ha, wasn't me, must be one of the other 400 of us, but the videos are chilling though. They're worth the time to watch.

Could you give us a general idea of what you learned in the videos?

My opinion... People can sound very intelligent and still be very wrong. I have a serious problem investing in anything, where fear and doom is the foundation of reasoning behind the investment. People have been predicting some version of financial cataclysm, for a very long time. I know people that lost a ton of money in 08, not because of the market... but because they freaked out and sold everything. People that just waited, made everything back. To say that today's system will fail, simply because money is not worth anything, is not exactly rational. Because technically, it has not really been worth anything for a long time. Yet, as you can see, the system keeps going. Back around mid 2012, I told my gold loving friends who thought the world was going to end, that if it was me... I'd sell and call it a good run. Last I checked, gold had lost about 1/5. Where this bitcoin thing will go, who knows... but I would be extremely leery of anything so new and unproven... especially if it's mainly getting talked about, by the doom and gloom crowd.

Could you give us a general idea of what you learned in the videos?

Unfortunately nothing that would fit into the scope of focus of this thread. But, I think I can wiggle it into the Bill Gates thread going on elsewhere in the forum tomorrow while staying OT.

I didn't learn much about the concept of Bitcoin itself. I was more preoccupied with just trying to determine if it was something worth devoting time to understanding. That's why I went in search of a verifiable source. Then after listening to Karen Hudes' presentation I went looking for more info concerning the primary topic she was focused on (worldwide financial corruption).

Oh yeah and dpd1 is correct to say proceed with caution. Just let common sense prevail.

Oh yeah and dpd1 is correct to say proceed with caution. Just let common sense prevail.

Agreed, please don't "invest" more in cryptocoins than you can afford to lose.