Bitcoin discussion and news

[Idaho]

I don't see how you can approve of blockchain and be down on bitcoin. Bitcoin is the blockchain! It was the first experiment and has survived and proved the concept of permissionless blockchains. Now it's been shown to work and survive after being left in the wilds with all the crooks, hackers and ne'er do wells - all these banks are using the innovation to create permissioned blockchains...which are fairly ridiculous.

People who don't understand the difference, nor understand how blockchains and shared protocols work (many senior people in banking) are saying that bitcoin is over and their in-house permissioned blockchains are the future. It's like in the late 90s when a few misguided companies tried to create www2 addresses as "the new Internet" free of the grimy vices, incoherence and chaos of the early Internet.

 

[ffsear]

Because of the anonymity of bitcoin. Unless governments are prepared to drop anti-money laundering laws, banks and big business will never adopt it.

 

[Idaho]

It's not anonymous. It's pseudo anonymous.

 

[Riklet]

Come on, lets not kid ourselves, it is intrinsically linked to darkweb stuff, money laundering, tax avoidance, dodgy deals, hidden cash and anti-money/bank loonery.

Fair enough it may be useful for some, but bitcoin is never ever going to "catch on". Plenty of cash wrapped up in it but with the very high current prices and the ongoing investigations into Silk Road etc.etc it is going nowhere but down.

Why else has fricking Gibraltar got an ATM if it's not a fiddle? what normal person takes out tens out thousands from an ATM?

 

[ffsear]

ok, but what i'm saying is not to mistake Bitcoin with the blockchain as technology that banks are testing and potentially might incorporate at some point in the future. These are two different things since the blockchain they try to develop and eventually incorporate is something that is heavily centralised.

 

[Idaho]

Come on, lets not kid ourselves, it is intrinsically linked to darkweb stuff, money laundering, tax avoidance, dodgy deals, hidden cash and anti-money/bank loonery.

Fair enough it may be useful for some, but bitcoin is never ever going to "catch on". Plenty of cash wrapped up in it but with the very high current prices and the ongoing investigations into Silk Road etc.etc it is going nowhere but down.

Why else has fricking Gibraltar got an ATM if it's not a fiddle? what normal person takes out tens out thousands from an ATM?

How much of the early Internet innovation was driven by porn and/or star trek nerds?

 

[Idaho]

ok, but what i'm saying is not to mistake Bitcoin with the blockchain as technology that banks are testing and potentially might incorporate at some point in the future. These are two different things since the blockchain they try to develop and eventually incorporate is something that is heavily centralised.

Yes, and what I'm saying is that a centralised blockchain is like using wellies as slippers.

 

[ffsear]

Yes, and what I'm saying is that a centralised blockchain is like using wellies as slippers.

why?

 

[Idaho]

Because the genius of blockchains is that they are a "trustless" system. A way for people who don't need/want/able to trust each other to transact. They are designed to be a protocol for use in the wild. If you want an in house system - use a database.

 

[ffsear]

Because the genius of blockchains is that they are a "trustless" system. A way for people who don't need/want/able to trust each other to transact. They are designed to be a protocol for use in the wild. If you want an in house system - use a database.

Which backs up my point as to why Bitcoin will not become a mainstream currency.

 

[Idaho]

Which backs up my point as to why Bitcoin will not become a mainstream currency.

How many people in India or africa or China or Indonesia have a bank account? How can these people make electronic payments?

How can I make payments to you without a bank acting as intermediary?

 

[ffsear]

How many people in India or africa or China or Indonesia have a bank account? How can these people make electronic payments?

I'm sorry i don't follow. If someone doesn't have a bank account, then i don't see what use bitcoin is to them.

If i took away your bank account, and gave you £1,000,000 worth of bitcoin, do you think you'd be able to live on it for a year? Without changing any of it back into cash!?

 

[joustmaster]

I'm sorry i don't follow. If someone doesn't have a bank account, then i don't see what use bitcoin is to them.

If i took away your bank account, and gave you £1,000,000 worth of bitcoin, do you think you'd be able to live on it for a year? Without changing any of it back into cash!?

yes

 

[Ranbay]

I'm sorry i don't follow. If someone doesn't have a bank account, then i don't see what use bitcoin is to them.

If i took away your bank account, and gave you £1,000,000 worth of bitcoin, do you think you'd be able to live on it for a year? Without changing any of it back into cash!?

easy buy drugs swap drugs for food and other drugs.

 

[Idaho]

I'm sorry i don't follow. If someone doesn't have a bank account, then i don't see what use bitcoin is to them.

If i took away your bank account, and gave you £1,000,000 worth of bitcoin, do you think you'd be able to live on it for a year? Without changing any of it back into cash!?

Easy! I'll take a quarter of that and never complain!

 

[ffsear]

easy buy drugs swap drugs for food and other drugs.

. Fair play. Although I think I'd be flat broke after 6 months

 

[Idaho]

There are cross payment facilities. You can pay in btc and the intermediary pays the recipient in local.

 

[Riklet]

How much of the early Internet innovation was driven by porn and/or star trek nerds?

Point being?

We aren't in the late 80s.

Online web payments and money transfers are hardly alternative or unusual. Yes maybe im wrong and bitcoin will limp on for a bit longer, but what about in 10 years? Doubt it.

 

[Idaho]

Point being?

We aren't in the late 80s.

Online web payments and money transfers are hardly alternative or unusual. Yes maybe im wrong and bitcoin will limp on for a bit longer, but what about in 10 years? Doubt it.

I am less doubtful. I'm not certain - I think it's 50 - 50. Crypto currency in some form is here to stay.

 

[Riklet]

Would you put 4000 quid into a 50 50 venture tomorrow then?

I fucking wouldnt.

 

[BigTom]

Would you put 4000 quid into a 50 50 venture tomorrow then?

I fucking wouldnt.

If you had £4k to lose (lol), and the current price was £2.5k, then if you think there's a 50/50 chance of it getting to £5k to £10k, that's a good bet to make.

 

[Idaho]

Would you put 4000 quid into a 50 50 venture tomorrow then?

I fucking wouldnt.

As BigTom points out, a 50-50 chance of a outcome that pays out far above evens is a good bet. Like if I offered a heads or tails coin flip, but promised to pay out 3 times on any successful wager. You would get your 4000 and make the bet. Although ideally you would ask to break it into a series of bets at those odds.

 

[newbie]

I mean, I wish I had done that 5 years ago

why 5 years? this thread started in August 2016

 

[Idaho]

Very interesting times in the crypto world.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win" seems very apt at the moment. Crypto is starting to get generic industry attention - and now it's tilting from scorn/mockery to hostility. JP Morgan boss keeping up the assault while parts of his organisation buy bitcoin and his consultants work on their own blockchain currency. China is closing down exchanges... Or is it? Big crypto names are claiming that its big scale price manipulation by whales...

I think next year is going to be make or break - $0 or $20k.

 

[Idaho]

Really good synopsis of the scaling debate.



Crispy - you asked a few months back for some insight.

 

[Idaho]

Weird.. That link seems to have died weirdly.... And now working. Must have been me.

 

[Ranbay]

and it just broke 4k in £'s


Bitcoin to British Pound Rate — Bitcoin Live Converter — Preev

 

[Ranbay]

 

[Idaho]

The question is whether this is peak crazy, the start of crazy, or something else.

 

[brixtonblade]

Clearly peak crazy