Bitcoins

hander

citricsquid wrote: »

You could argue that the power required to support the Bitcoin network is not wasted because of the value that Bitcoin can provide to the world in financial "freedom" from the supposed corrupt / broken / ineffective banking system. The net gain from that would far out weigh the power used.

Well, yes, you could.

Personally, I think it's all part of progress in the astonishing 21st Century, however. In developing cryptocurrencies - which will be part of our daily lives within our lifetimes - we've got to make some mistakes. And the waste involved in BTC might be one of them.

[Deleted User]

Swafe wrote: »

What they say and what they think are 2 different things

Do you think the US senate really would prefer the world to use a system that is free, costs nothing and allows money to be sent without being traced?

They lose money, they lose control and opens up the door to criminals and gangs to run riot without them being able to gain any evidence of wrong doing, and therefore being unable to prevent money laundering on a massive scale.

I feel they have OK'd it in principle to bring it to attention so it doesn't go too far underground, but be clear they would prefer it not to exist in any shape or form.

You're completely misunderstanding how Bitcoin works. Bitcoin can be traced, Bitcoin is more traceable than cash! If you know my Bitcoin address you can see every transaction I've made from that address, the blockchain is a public transaction list! Every single transaction can be traced, this is far better for law enforcement than cash.

Swafe wrote: »

As for costs of small players being prohibitive already, I don't really know as I havn't investigated it thoroughly, but clearly any attempt to destabilise it at some point down the line, when crypts get harder and harder to crack (and therefore needing more computing power, and therefore higher costs to crack) will cause its price to crash, and then make it prohibitive for even big scale hashers.

If you don't know about the mining process, and you don't know about the blockchain, is it worth trying to discuss Bitcoin? You should spend some time reading the Bitcoin wiki, the subject is fascinating and you will gain far more value from these discussions if you understand the way Bitcoin works.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page

dryhat

Swafe wrote: »

What they say and what they think are 2 different things

Do you think the US senate really would prefer the world to use a system that is free, costs nothing and allows money to be sent without being traced?

They lose money, they lose control and opens up the door to criminals and gangs to run riot without them being able to gain any evidence of wrong doing, and therefore being unable to prevent money laundering on a massive scale.

I feel they have OK'd it in principle to bring it to attention so it doesn't go too far underground, but be clear they would prefer it not to exist in any shape or form.



As for costs of small players being prohibitive already, I don't really know as I havn't investigated it thoroughly, but clearly any attempt to destabilise it at some point down the line, when crypts get harder and harder to crack (and therefore needing more computing power, and therefore higher costs to crack) will cause its price to crash, and then make it prohibitive for even big scale hashers.

Bitcoin is borderless and beyond he control of governments.

The US, and just as importantly the rest of the world, knows this.

They can posture all they like in the US, the rest of the world will just ignore them and carry on regardless.

Swafe

hander wrote: »

Yes, there are numerous examples of complex maths being used in genetics. My wife's job is closely related to that. Will discuss with her. What shall we call the new currency? CureCoin?

But I don't get your second point (above).

People will run it, agreed, I have done it myself, but it will never get to the scale of the amount of computing power hashing bitcoins currently has - which no doubt will keep increasing. Reason for this is because the money element is driving people to invest in hashing boxes and dongles to mine for coins, there is no financial gain in your computing hashing out a cure for a rare diesese so, as nice as it is when there is an alternative that can make you money, the majority will do that instead... just the world we live in

csm888

Satoshi wrote: »

Everything you need to know about bitcoin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlJ6oh50hiI

This is funny, however
Many things in our society boil down to faith, and by that I mean 'belief without proof' (not religion). Money is no exception, the value of money is based on a belief that the token of power it represents will be honoured by another. There is no intrinsic value in any money any more. We simply accept on faith that we can spend it for stuff at a later date. Bitcoin is no different, at the moment some have faith others don't.
What is really key about Bitcoin is that it doesn't need everyone to believe. A subset of the world can give it value and use it as a store of value, and a method of payment because it is better and cheaper than other methods of doing this.

csm888

Today has been a wild ride
Last price: $730
High: $900
Low: $502

Let's see what China does overnight.

If Bitcoin is anything, its entertaining:)

MFW_ASAP

csm888 wrote: »

I know, I was just making the point... you really shouldn't disclose how much money you have, no good can come of it, and it doesn't really matter does it, this isn't a bragging contest, we are simply having fun and trying to educate each other.
If he say thats what he's done I'll believe him, if he's lying he's a fool, but its no problem to me.

I agree in principle. The issue I have is when he's on every thread (on the house crash board), ramping bitcoins like a man who has invested late and is getting desperate.

I don't see you guys spamming on non-relevant threads and non-relevant boards, hence why I'm not bothering you. Simples.

dryhat

I love these 2 videos...

Nobody undestands Bitcoin

John Cleese explains Bitcoin

dryhat

MFW_ASAP wrote: »

I agree in principle. The issue I have is when he's on every thread (on the house crash board), ramping bitcoins like a man who has invested late and is getting desperate.

I don't see you guys spamming on non-relevant threads and non-relevant boards, hence why I'm not bothering you. Simples.

This thread (where you posted your comments at me) is a thread entitled "Bitcoins" in case you hadn't noticed.

And I have been posting about buying bitcoins since March, so I'm hardly a late entrant.

MFW_ASAP

mystic_trev wrote: »

I guess you have proof of when you bought, how much you bought and what you have now, that you could post on here?

Yep, it's all listed on the dealing page of my HL account. I could blank out the account number and you'd be able to see the funds I'm invested in, the original amount paid, the amount it's worth now, the percentage gains and the purchase date. If you were really interested you could look at the historical process to see if the screen was made up.

If the details were accurate, you could say that I created it with photoshop, but the joke would be on me if I put that much effort into it just for a load of strangers on the internet.

Perhaps bitcoins are different and there isn't really that much to see and so it would be easy to photoshop evidence. However, the point would still stand that if it was fabricated, it's a higher level of sadness on the liars part to take the time to forge a screenshot than to just say they have a huge investment.

If it's true, then it's a 2 min job to prnt scrn, block out any identifying marks and put it on here. If false it's a 20 min job and so sad that even he forger would be slightly embarrassed with himself.