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Message
re: Bitcoins were hacked yesterday?
Posted on 4/4/13 at 3:58 pm to joshnorris14
Posted on 4/4/13 at 3:58 pm to joshnorris14
quote:
Yes it does. It was programmed so that it is necessarily scarce.
Understood, but it was programmed that way. There is no law of the universe that says a bitcoin has to be scarce.
Gold is scare because of chemistry and the physical conditions needed to produce it. This can't be changed. Code can be.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:07 pm to Korkstand
quote:
Yet you question the viability of bitcoins as a store of value because they don't exist in the physical world.
No we question it because of it's ability to only buy drugs, hackers and pirates. And the fact that it will collapse in a train wreck of epic proportion at some time in the future.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:09 pm to Vols&Shaft83
quote:
Unicorn farts are going to be the national currency of The Republic of Blow-Job and Hot Wings Land.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:13 pm to ZereauxSum
quote:Is the idea valuable, or the implementation? The implementation is clearly valuable, but the "idea man" only gets paid if he implements it himself, or collects royalties forced by law. Anyway, the point of bringing up IP was to show that non-physical or virtual "things" can have value. I think that fact is self-evident.
I disagree. If I figure out how to build a machine that converts air into food, that idea has value wether I patent it or not. It will help people regardless of what patent laws exist.
quote:The rules placed on it make them necessarily scarce. And the rules are necessarily arbitrary. Neither of those change the fact that bitcoins are scarce. Whether it's by design or "natural" doesn't matter.
But a bitcoin doesn't necessarily have to be scarce or finite. The person(s) who developed it could have just as easily said that every prime number is a bitcoin. It may be math but its still arbitrary.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:15 pm to Vols&Shaft83
quote:
Which is as valuable as a currency from an imaginary nation.
Once again, anything can have value as long as someone else will accept it as payment.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:15 pm to Broke
quote:
No we question it because of it's ability to only buy drugs, hackers and pirates.
This is not true at all. You can buy many things with bitcoin.
LINK /
You can buy over 500,000 electronic items there and many at a discount.
This post was edited on 4/4/13 at 4:19 pm
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:20 pm to Broke
quote:You know it can buy more than that. But I get it, it's new and scary and you don't want to trust it. That's fine, I don't have any bitcoins either.
No we question it because of it's ability to only buy drugs, hackers and pirates.
quote:Entirely possible, if not extremely likely. The vast majority of ideas ever conceived or implemented, no matter how successful at one time, have collapsed. The only real question is how long it will take.
And the fact that it will collapse in a train wreck of epic proportion at some time in the future.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:23 pm to Korkstand
quote:
You know it can buy more than that. But I get it, it's new and scary and you don't want to trust it. That's fine, I don't have any bitcoins either.
Nor will I. I am a financial professional and a part time econ professor. I don't have any trust in bitcoin or what it's trying to be. I see failure. Not now, but eventually.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 4:29 pm to ZereauxSum
quote:
Understood, but it was programmed that way. There is no law of the universe that says a bitcoin has to be scarce. Gold is scare because of chemistry and the physical conditions needed to produce it. This can't be changed. Code can be.
This is my feeling as well. The brilliant thing about this scheme is the way they've stretched it out over time to recreate that scarcity/virtual gold.
And at least it's giving people jobs at exchanges and what not
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:19 pm to Korkstand
quote:
Is the idea valuable, or the implementation?
I think both are. You can enter into agreements even in the absence of law that reward the idea man, but I digress.
quote:
The rules placed on it make them necessarily scarce. And the rules are necessarily arbitrary.
I thought I read somewhere that the rules can be changed if the majority of machines on the network agreed (maybe I misunderstood).
quote:
Whether it's by design or "natural" doesn't matter.
If the rules can be changed it definitely matters.
But whether or not the scarcity is permanent, that still really doesn't explain why a bitcoin has value. There are plenty of things in the world that are both scarce and worthless.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:25 pm to Korkstand
quote:
The rules placed on it make them necessarily scarce
quote:
rules are necessarily arbitrary
quote:except for the fact that
Neither of those change the fact that bitcoins are scarce
quote:
rules are necessarily arbitrary
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:32 pm to tigerfoot
quote:quote:except for the fact that
Neither of those change the fact that bitcoins are scarcequote:
rules are necessarily arbitrary
The rules had to be arbitrary because there is no other way for a virtual currency to come into existence. Someone had to create the rules, that's just the way it is.
The rules also dictate that the rules themselves cannot be changed arbitrarily. This ensures the scarcity of bitcoins. I don't follow your logic.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:33 pm to tigerfoot
quote:
except for the fact that
or, except for the fact that the rules are not arbitrary
they are detailed, documented and enforced.
any changes result in a fork.
I've explained this at least 100 times on here. I don't know why y'all refuse to acknowledge and accept bitcoin basics.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:34 pm to Korkstand
quote:
The rules had to be arbitrary because there is no other way for a virtual currency to come into existence.
quote:
The rules also dictate that the rules themselves cannot be changed arbitrarily. This ensures the scarcity of bitcoins. I don't follow your logic.
oh, I see what you are saying
That was a very poor way of saying it, just IMO
Posted on 4/4/13 at 5:56 pm to ZereauxSum
quote:I agree with you, and my stance on the value of IP says the same.
I think both are. You can enter into agreements even in the absence of law that reward the idea man, but I digress.
quote:As far as I understand, yes, this can happen. Each participating machine builds upon the longest "blockchain". I believe forks in the chain happen occasionally, and both may be built upon until there is a clear "winner". The transactions in the losing chain are then verified again in the winning chain. If someone wanted to change the rules, they would have to put more computing effort into it than everyone else combined in order to win this race. I am not 100% on this, but I think what would happen at this point is that there would be 2 separate bitcoin networks fighting over which transactions are legit. I'm not sure if the legit network would eventually concede defeat, or if they would just exist together but separate, and people could go with either one and double-spend their coins. I just don't know enough about it, but whatever would happen it would be disruptive and probably destroy it.
I thought I read somewhere that the rules can be changed if the majority of machines on the network agreed (maybe I misunderstood).
quote:As I kind of talked through just now, an attempt to game the system would probably destroy it, and little to nothing would be gained. It's designed to make honest participation most beneficial to yourself and the network as a whole.
If the rules can be changed it definitely matters.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 6:04 pm to WikiTiger
quote:
That was a very poor way of saying it, just IMO
Someone else brought up the fact that the rules are arbitrary. But yes I was definitely struggling to say what I wanted to say.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 6:28 pm to Korkstand
What happens if someone hoards millions of bitcoins and then dies without anyone else knowing the private keys to those BTCs?
Are those coins forever locked away or is there a mechanism to claim or to release them?
Are those coins forever locked away or is there a mechanism to claim or to release them?
Posted on 4/4/13 at 6:30 pm to gizmoflak
quote:
What happens if someone hoards millions of bitcoins and then dies without anyone else knowing the private keys to those BTCs?
Are those coins forever locked away or is there a mechanism to claim or to release them?
They are lost forever.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 6:37 pm to Broke
quote:
I see failure. Not now, but eventually.
Broke, I must disagree with you here. As I've said elsewhere, bitcoin does fulfill a very particular need for semi-wealthy people who live in countries with questionable financial institutions, and also for those who wish to engage in transactions defined as criminal by various authorities.
I'm not defending the practices of either crowd, just pointing out that the market demand is there for reasons that I don't see going away.
Posted on 4/4/13 at 6:53 pm to gizmoflak
quote:
What happens if someone hoards millions of bitcoins and then dies without anyone else knowing the private keys to those BTCs?
Everyone else parties because their bitcoins just gained at least 5% in value.
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