Bitcoin

posted by Ironman92

This reminds me of the Friends episode where they are playing bamboozled

For the most part, wallet UX makes knowing most of nitty gritty details optional. But it’s not a bad idea to know how it all works. 

Just transferred roughly $3000 worth of value on the blockchain for 51¢ and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop me. I did not have to ask permission or wait several days for fund to clear. My transaction was confirmed within 15 minutes and recorded in the blockchain for eternity.

Uncensorable money that governments cannot debase through reckless monetary policy. 

I have no idea what any of that means.

posted by ernest_t_bass

I have no idea what any of that means.

Send money. Receive money. No one can stop you. 

Where exactly did I lose you? Still not clear on what blocks are and how they are mined?

posted by justincredible

Just transferred roughly $3000 worth of value on the blockchain for 51¢ and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop me. I did not have to ask permission or wait several days for fund to clear. My transaction was confirmed within 15 minutes and recorded in the blockchain for eternity.

Uncensorable money that governments cannot debase through reckless monetary policy. 

what did you buy with bitcoin? i haven't seen anything i want to buy, that can be bought with bitcoin. Not taking a shot, just stating a fact that i haven't been exposed to any "real" uses for crypto, and that is a large reason for my naivte.

posted by j_crazy

what did you buy with bitcoin? i haven't seen anything i want to buy, that can be bought with bitcoin. Not taking a shot, just stating a fact that i haven't been exposed to any "real" uses for crypto, and that is a large reason for my naivte.

I didn't buy anything, just transferred to a different address I control. There are plenty of places that accept bitcoin for goods and services, I'm just not interested in spending any at this point. It's an accumulation game for me at this point. Another reason to not spend is that it triggers a taxable event because the US government sucks and classifies it as property.

That said, long-term holding IS a real use. I believe that bitcoin becomes the word reserve currency within a decade or so. I do not have a great outlook for the future of humanity if bitcoin doesn't win. Digital currency is inevitable, and the State controlling it will be an authoritarian nightmare. 

A scarce, fully auditable, digitally native currency with a monetary policy set in stone that cannot be censored or taken from you sounds a lot better than a central bank digital currency that can be taken from your wallet without your consent, can be blocked from being spent anywhere they decide, can be set to expire after a certain date, etc.

posted by justincredible

Where exactly did I lose you? Still not clear on what blocks are and how they are mined?

Yes

posted by ernest_t_bass

Yes

I'll try again and simplify as much as I can.

A block is a collection of transactions added to the blockchain. A block is added to the blockchain through the process of mining. Mining is essentially a big guessing game, and the winner gets the reward (new bitcoin and fees) and adds the new block to the blockchain. This means the blockchain is just a historical record of all transactions that have happened within the network.

You're old enough to remember checkbooks. Think of a block sort of like a page in your checkbook register. It's just a list of transactions recorded into a ledger. I'm not sure it's the best comparison, but I think it's fine for simplicity.

Decent article on why bitcoin is important.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/lies-deception-and-unnatural-money

tl;dr version (last 3 paragraphs):

You can look at historical forms of good money as having a set of “rules” that the system is based on, until someone comes in and “cheats” the system for selfish gain. That money created by the cheater is unnatural and ruins the “game.” Bitcoin fixes this, because everyone and anyone is capable of running a full node to maintain their own exact copy of the Bitcoin ledger, which keeps everyone honest and prevents bad actors — especially when the nodes and miners are financially incentivized to do so!

Bitcoin is superior money compared to hyper-inflatable currency. It doesn’t bear the same problems that have come with forms of money in the past, and it prevents the issues mentioned above from happening again. History has shown that humanity has thrived when society had hard money, and the impacts of a currency that can never be hyperinflated look very promising. It has the potential to usher in a new Renaissance or Industrial Revolution.

And, last but not least, the Bitcoin network will never lie to you. It is open-source, meaning you can look at the code yourself, for free, right down to every last detail. BTC has an open ledger that lets you become your own bank, and the master of your money. With Bitcoin, you take back the power from the corrupted people you were blindly trusting.

This is a great site I just found out about a little bit ago. Spend 15 minutes looking around, it's a great starting point for beginners.

https://hellobitco.in/

posted by justincredible

Decent article on why bitcoin is important.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/lies-deception-and-unnatural-money

tl;dr version (last 3 paragraphs):

You can look at historical forms of good money as having a set of “rules” that the system is based on, until someone comes in and “cheats” the system for selfish gain. That money created by the cheater is unnatural and ruins the “game.” Bitcoin fixes this, because everyone and anyone is capable of running a full node to maintain their own exact copy of the Bitcoin ledger, which keeps everyone honest and prevents bad actors — especially when the nodes and miners are financially incentivized to do so!

Bitcoin is superior money compared to hyper-inflatable currency. It doesn’t bear the same problems that have come with forms of money in the past, and it prevents the issues mentioned above from happening again. History has shown that humanity has thrived when society had hard money, and the impacts of a currency that can never be hyperinflated look very promising. It has the potential to usher in a new Renaissance or Industrial Revolution.

And, last but not least, the Bitcoin network will never lie to you. It is open-source, meaning you can look at the code yourself, for free, right down to every last detail. BTC has an open ledger that lets you become your own bank, and the master of your money. With Bitcoin, you take back the power from the corrupted people you were blindly trusting.

Too long; don't waste your time on bullshit version: Blockchain is important.  Crypto is important.  An "investment" in Bitcoin is nothing more than speculation that it will continue to be popular, because it has no intrinsic value or productive use on its own.

Blockchain is open source.  No one has to use Bitcoin, or even any existing crypto, to use blockchain.

Who's the shill that wrote that article, anyway?  Usually authors with any kind of qualification & education have a link to their bio/cv.

We know your feelings, gut. You'll be one of the last to buy in and that makes me happy.

I'll say it again, no one can state with anything close to certainty that Bitcoin, or any other currently existing crypto, will come to be the dominant crypto in use.  The only argument for the survival of Bitcoin, truthfully, is first mover advantage.  But any good student of business/economics would tell you first-movers rarely end-up the winner.

So my advice is:

1) Don't buy into the hype.  It's a zero-sum game, so don't be the one left holding the bag.  A long-term buy & forget it strategy is plain stupid.  Not just because of it's extreme volatility, but because the most likely outcome for Bitcoin and hundreds of other cryptos currently out there is a value of 0.

2) Always manage a basket of crypto.  There could be dozens of mainstream cryptos to emerge (think computer makers, and remember the likes of IBM and Gateway), or there could be one dominant player (think Amazon).  "Investing" in crypto is speculation, betting on just Bitcoin is folly.

3) Come up with a trading strategy that seeks to always recover at least your investment.  Don't be the guy who watched his $1M paper gain go to $0 because he drank too much of the kool-aid.

This thread is bitcoin only, gut. 

posted by justincredible

We know your feelings, gut. You'll be one of the last to buy in and that makes me happy.

Not concerned about being last, or losing my money.  I'll take opportunities to take people's money if and when those emerge.

99% of the people invested in Bitcoin won't be smart enough or quick enough to see the crash and get out before it's too late. More than likely, all their money will go to institutional and professional investors who simply take advantage of trends, and are only in crypto to make money (and not because of some idealistic libertarian fantasy).

Gut doesn't see value in a completely decentralized money that governments cannot manipulate. The hardest money the world has ever seen. Money that cannot be inflated, counterfeited, handed out to cronies. Money that is 100% auditable by anyone in the world running a node. You're right, I'm sure it's nothing and will fail in the end.

posted by justincredible

This thread is bitcoin only, gut. 

Which of my posts aren't talking about Bitcoin?