BITCOIN

Scottex99

He knows more than most maxis, haha

DannyCarey

On the surface he speaks with authority, but when you dig a little into the details there are clear gaps...

Blue_Sky

I've seen some of these crypto ATMs around but hadn't realised they were illegal, I wonder why it has taken the authorities so long to clamp down on them.
Watchdog and West Yorkshire police raid crypto ATM operators in UK first | Cryptocurrencies | The Guardian

Malthusian

The ATMs aren't illegal per se, but the fact the operators aren't registered with the FCA (because it's a money laundering outfit) is.
Crypto outfits operating in the UK have been required to register with the FCA to prevent money laundering since January 2020. So it's taken the FCA the lesser of three years or how long the ATMs have been there. Not that long in regulatory terms. According to a BBC article, before the operators were "raided", they were sent letters asking them if they wouldn't mind stopping their criminal activities (which were apparently ignored). All of that would have taken quite some time. The wheels of justice grind slowly when there is no immediate threat to life and limb (and often even then).
Raid is a slightly dramatic word; according to the FCA, all they did was "investigate" the sites. It sounds like all that has happened is that the machines were unplugged and taken away. No arrests have been reported.

Det Sgt Lindsey Brants, of West Yorkshire Police Force Cyber Team, said: "Having conducted intelligence-gathering work across West Yorkshire, we soon established the locations of several live crypto ATMs."

Intelligence-gathering work = Googling "Bitcoin ATMs in Leeds" and driving around? The whole point of these things is that they're out there on the street.

Frequentlyhere

Hi all, good to see this thread come about again, it's just been too long.

My recent discovery on this front, and perhaps you all knew this, is on just how revolutionary Lightning network is.

 I mean, I knew it wasn't really going to solve Bitcoin's ability to become useful money for a lot of people, but honestly I had no idea just how much it wasn't going to.

Until now, I had kind of thought that in theory at least, the LN could be some sort of solution but was a way off. My god, I was so wrong.

You can read this thread for yourselves, it's essentially genuinely trying to understand the ins and outs of how it works (despite yes being hosted on r/buttcoin)

TLDR, things I learned.

• You probably need a CS degree to get started using the LN - it requires configuring channels, sending confirmations, trial and error. Takes at least an hour.

• If a widespread number of people tried to use the LN, the Bitcoin network would practically collapse under the weight of trying to open channels. Closing channels also causes the network to be clogged.

• It's actually designed to fail a significant portion of the time (see thread) - about a third of the time for any transaction. 

• 99% of all transactions over $200 fail. Handy.

There are actually many - many - more things, believe it or not. Amazing. So whilst I'm sure I haven't explained this very well, I can certainly see why LN is always the answer of tomorrow and never today.

Frequentlyhere

My other general recent feelings about Bitcoin is that, for me, it's now moved to the same sort of space that Brexit occupies in my mind.

i.e. it used to be a hot topic of much debate about the merits and otherwise with a genuine sizeable number of people for and against or on the fence,  so I found it very interesting/engaging to debate.

But if you now think that Brexit is going great or that Bitcoin is the future of money, then I've little interest in engaging as I can't imagine what would ever convince you in the light of all available evidence thus far, and I'm largely going to give you the same wide berth as someone shouting secret messages at the sun in the street.

DannyCarey

If its on buttcoin, it must be true!

/s

Frequentlyhere

DannyCarey said:

If its on buttcoin, it must be true!

/s

Yeah, yeah I know but have you actually read it? Is anything they're saying particularly wrong? (If it is, would suggest chipping in there).

DannyCarey

It's not my job to reply to that huge pile of misinformation, convince you and "chip in". 

If you want to learn about LN, this is a good website: https://www.lopp.net/lightning-information.html

Malthusian

Do your own research bro. Ah, just like old times.
You don't get people to provide exit liquidity by saying "that's a massive amount of text [it wasn't] and I refuse to engage with it, here's an even bigger wall of text which I expect you to read".
I decided to break the habit of a lifetime and do some research. Being totally ignorant of Bitcoin and the ways it generates free generational wealth for everyone, I went with the link promisingly titled "Explain it like I'm 5".

Many people believe that Bitcoin is the future for our financial system. But there is a big issue standing in the way of this goal and that is scalability. 
Let me give an example: the payment provider VISA processes on average around 4,000 transactions per second and scale up to a maximum of 65,000. Bitcoin on the other hand can handle up to 7 transactions per second with the current block size of one megabyte... [continues]

Ok, we're four sentences in and there's already been a dozen key words that I wouldn't have understood when I was 5. Or 10. Have these people never met a 5 year old? 
And needless to say none of it disproved the assertions posted by Frequentlyhere. If somebody asserted that "VISA can only handle seven transactions per second" it would be easily disproved within moments by links to reputable sources.