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re: My faith in Bitcoin just went out the window
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:19 pm to Waffle House
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:19 pm to Waffle House
quote:How much advantage is it if you know where not to look when you are mining? The founders could eliminate large search areas for themselves such that where anyone else might have a 1 in 50 trillion chance of an operation finding a bitcoin they have a 1 in 5 trillion chance. That is a sigificant advantage, and there is nothing that could have been done to protect against this.
Regarding the mining operations, IF (and I'm not saying they are, I'm just wondering if it is possible) one one the founders were inclined to game the system, couldn't they sporadically award their personal wallets with successful mined bitcoins and have it go unnoticed?
0
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:23 pm to boosiebadazz
quote:
i dont think the consumer confidence is there yet
i agree. and the bitcoin economy is so small that it is pretty much insignificant
It sure is fun to watch it grow, though.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:26 pm to WikiTiger
quote:
It sure is fun to watch it grow, though.
That's what Bernie Madoff's clients said.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:28 pm to Waffle House
quote:
but does that give you access to the current number of users? I assume that you could potentially see the number of wallets, but I think you also mentioned that users can spoof or create multiple wallets so I guess that would be inexact.
right. creating new key pairs is a trivial task that can be done in a single click. it is entirely possible for a single individual to have billions upon billions of bitcoin addresses if they so choose
so looking at the blockchain (i.e. the ledger) would not give an accurate estimate of users. i'm sure there are people out there trying to estimate that, but i don't know of any figures out there that are highly respected.
transaction volume, however, can be easily tracked. and i'd link you to that chart but blockchain.info is down right now for a server upgrade.
quote:
Regarding the mining operations, IF (and I'm not saying they are, I'm just wondering if it is possible) one one the founders were inclined to game the system, couldn't they sporadically award their personal wallets with successful mined bitcoins and have it go unnoticed? Ending up with 5% of awarded bitcoins would net them around $40M at the current value.
It just wouldn't be possible because it wouldn't be accepted by the network. if that was attempted, what it would essentially do is fork the blockchain and create a whole other currency, which of course no one would value, while leaving the existing bitcoin blockchain untouched.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:31 pm to WikiTiger
I gotta side with Russian here. As a financial expert, it feels like another tulip craze that will crash and burn eventually.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:32 pm to WikiTiger
quote:
but blockchain.info is down right now for a server upgrade.
"Nothing can go wrong....go wrong....go wrong....go wrong......"
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:32 pm to MetalTiger
quote:
It really is. Download and install Truecrypt. Then create an encrypted volume on a thumb drive or external hard drive Quick Tutorial. Now you have encrypted offline storage for private data.
Exactly!
Encryption is easy, and to be honest, something that EVERY computer user should be familiar with.
A lot of people in bitcoin threads always harp on security, but yet I bet most don't even encrypt their own data. If they are so concerned about security, you'd think they'd take the hour or two it takes to learn how to use encryption and do it.
That's why I can't take all these security arguments in these threads too seriously.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:36 pm to Broke
quote:
Broke
Hijack...
You're a watch guy, aren't you?
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:36 pm to LSURussian
A terrifying fact about Madoff, is that while he running his scheme, he was also smart enough to be earning $300Million a year LEGITIMATELY.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:36 pm to WikiTiger
I still fail to see any value in Bitcoin. Do companies not take the dollar online? Is this method safer? No. Is it quicker? No. Then what is it? Is it because it's anonymous or can be anonymous? If I send money, I want them to know where it came from.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:39 pm to foshizzle
quote:
medium of exchange
fair enough. we'll concentrate on that
quote:
I don't know why any American would care unless you want to store stuff you want to hide from the government. If you live in a country with a shaky financial system I think your point is valid. Similar comments apply to some of your other points I'm omitting here.
I just don't like this argument and don't think it's productive for us to even go down this path. It's basically a "if you have nothing to hide then why are you worried" argument, and I just don't buy into that mentality. I think financial privacy is a legitimate concern for any person, not just people with stuff to hide. But I know that opinion is not shared by everyone.
quote:
No, it's generally one business day. Maybe some people care about that, I don't.
Surely you can at least understand how transactional speed could be important to a lot of people, right?
quote:
I've never had this problem but can see where some might care.
Merchants typically like this feature because then they don't have to deal with chargeback fraud, or even legitimate chargebacks when a stolen credit card was used on their site.
The onus is on the bitcoin consumer to ensure that the company they are interacting with is reputable.
quote:
I get cash back by using my credit card, fwiw.
Credit card processors typically charge the merchant between 2-3% plus a set fee like $0.10 per swipe. bitcoin transactions can be done for a penny or less.
As a consumer you may not care because you don't see the costs directly, but I assure you that merchants pass on transaction fees to their customers in the form of higher prices.
quote:
Right now I don't see the appeal
And I don't blame you. But the bitcoin economy is growing.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:40 pm to WikiTiger
quote:=/=
Encryption is easy
quote:
take the hour or two it takes to learn how to use encryption
That's one of the reasons I don't take your opinions about bitcoin seriously.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:40 pm to Lsut81
quote:
You're a watch guy, aren't you?
THE watch guy
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:40 pm to WikiTiger
quote:
That's why I can't take all these security arguments in these threads too seriously.
The difference is insurance. Although it will cost some time and effort, there is little risk from a monetary standpoint to the consumer if his bank account is hacked. Bitcoins offer no inherent insurance. if it's stolen there is little you can do. That risk is huge. So I'll probably never use bitcoins for anything other than a medium of exchange whenever that comes about. People today using it primarily for an investment are taking a huge risk.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:41 pm to TigerDeBaiter
quote:
What do you predict will happen when all the coins are mined. ie "the gold rush is over"
Deflation
quote:
Why doesn't a supercomputer, say Watson, not just go snatch them all up? Why is it only (or seem to be) computer nerds trying to justify their bad arse rig they have?
I imagine IBM probably don't think it's worth it.
And remember, only 3600 are mined per day, and that will not change until nearly 2017 when it will be cut in half.
Bitcoin is still in its infancy. That probably explains why computer nerds are heavy into it.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:41 pm to Broke
quote:
THE watch guy
What are some of your favs? Looking to pick up a nice watch and I don't want to do Rolex, seems to cliche to me
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:43 pm to Lsut81
quote:
What are some of your favs? Looking to pick up a nice watch and I don't want to do Rolex, seems to cliche to me
If you go start a thread on the OT I will answer your questions. I don't want to ruin this thread.
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:44 pm to WikiTiger
quote:So 10,000,000 bitcoins yet to be mined X $44/bitcoin = $440,000,000 is not worth it?
I imagine IBM probably don't think it's worth it
Okay, got it....
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:44 pm to Broke
quote:
If you go start a thread on the OT I will answer your questions. I don't want to ruin this thread.
Mind if I just shoot you an email?
Posted on 3/8/13 at 1:45 pm to Lsut81
(no message)
This post was edited on 3/8/13 at 1:54 pm
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