Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#21

Post by mhluongo » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:44 AM UTC

roadbeats wrote: post #8

What strategy is the best for small investors ? Moving the money into altcoins or just pulling completely back ? Should we expect a soar on altcoins (e.g litecoin, ripple, antshares a.k.a neo) ?

The million dollar question. If you look back at what the Ethereum split did for the market, maybe it'll give you some ideas.

Remember though- if you don't have any Bitcoin under your own control (non-custodial wallet) you might not be able to trade between chains if there's a split. There are only two exchanges with announced pairs AFAIK- BitFinex and ViaBTC both have futures contracts set up.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#22

Post by hudon » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:47 AM UTC

Fej wrote: post #3

Do any significant number of people genuinely take Bitcoin to be the future of currency at this point?

Many people simply believe there is a need for a digital censorship resistant currency like physical cash.

I don't think it'll replace currencies, but I think it will serve a purpose as a means to transfer value when authorities don't want you to transfer value.

Not saying if this is a good or bad thing, but it is a real value proposition.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#23

Post by isubkhankulov » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:48 AM UTC

mhluongo wrote: post #18

isubkhankulov wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it could even be guerrilla marketing by trading exchanges...

Doubtful. Aside from bitcoin.org's history, if it were, you'd expect more exchanges announcing UASF / legacy / SegWit2x trading pairs.

hard to price unless a fork actually occurs. if a fork like ETH/ETC happens, exchanges do benefit.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#24

Post by mhluongo » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:49 AM UTC

jpatokal wrote: post #20

Well, that's a remarkably uninformative announcement. Here's an attempt at a neutral tl;dr from a Bitcoin amateur. Bitcoin is currently suffering from significant scaling problems, which lead to high transaction fees. Numerous proposals to fix the scaling issue have been proposed, the two main camps being "increase the block size" and "muddle through by discarding less useful data" (aka Segregated Witness/SegWit). Ho…

You skipped the option that's closest to consensus! SegWit2x has industry support and has a short enough window to lock-in before the Aug 1st UASF

EDIT: Quick reference https://medium.com/@wintercooled/the-road-to-segwit-activati...

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#25

Post by runeks » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:51 AM UTC

6nf wrote: post #11

frenchie4111 wrote: post #5

Can someone give me some context on what is causing this?

It's called User Activated Soft Fork or UASF for short. It could end up being nothing but it's worth noting the date. There are currently two main ideas on how to scale Bitcoin. One camp is the called Bitcoin Unlimited and it's a proposal that allows the miners to adjust the block size as needed. The other idea is called Segregated Witness or Segwit. This is a change in the way bitcoin transactions are counted toward…

> Some people in the Segwit camp are tired of waiting so they are attempting to force the issue without the support of most miners. The date they picked is Aug 1.

I don't understand why the bitcoin.org page sounds so alarmist. If the miners are not in on it why would some special Bitcoin blockchain (with alternative rules) matter, since miners could easily DoS this chain, if they wanted to, in case they don't support it?

Anyone can create their own chain with non-agreed-upon-rules (e.g. testnet3 or regtest), but that's just not Bitcoin precisely because it's practically ignored by miners (like a UASF).

Are bitcoin.org, themselves, supporters of this UASF?

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#26

Post by acjohnson55 » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 4:59 AM UTC

jpatokal wrote: post #20

Well, that's a remarkably uninformative announcement. Here's an attempt at a neutral tl;dr from a Bitcoin amateur. Bitcoin is currently suffering from significant scaling problems, which lead to high transaction fees. Numerous proposals to fix the scaling issue have been proposed, the two main camps being "increase the block size" and "muddle through by discarding less useful data" (aka Segregated Witness/SegWit). Ho…

That's a much more informative post than the link, and yet, I still don't really understand all the jargon.

But it also reinforces for me just how not ready for primetime BTC is, and it makes me think the appreciation over the past year is truly insane.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#27

Post by roadbeats » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 5:00 AM UTC

mhluongo wrote: post #21

roadbeats wrote: post #8

What strategy is the best for small investors ? Moving the money into altcoins or just pulling completely back ? Should we expect a soar on altcoins (e.g litecoin, ripple, antshares a.k.a neo) ?

The million dollar question. If you look back at what the Ethereum split did for the market, maybe it'll give you some ideas. Remember though- if you don't have any Bitcoin under your own control (non-custodial wallet) you might not be able to trade between chains if there's a split. There are only two exchanges with announced pairs AFAIK- BitFinex and ViaBTC both have futures contracts set up.

I actually moved to altcoins already but just curious if I should move out completely.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#28

Post by mhluongo » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 5:04 AM UTC

isubkhankulov wrote: post #23

mhluongo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful. Aside from bitcoin.org's history, if it were, you'd expect more exchanges announcing UASF / legacy / SegWit2x trading pairs.

hard to price unless a fork actually occurs. if a fork like ETH/ETC happens, exchanges do benefit.

True. Guess I'm surprised Kraken et al haven't already announced that they'll support all chains, though? I guess they're all quietly prepping in case more than one chain is viable.

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#29

Post by jpatokal » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 5:11 AM UTC

mhluongo wrote: post #24

jpatokal wrote: post #20

Well, that's a remarkably uninformative announcement. Here's an attempt at a neutral tl;dr from a Bitcoin amateur. Bitcoin is currently suffering from significant scaling problems, which lead to high transaction fees. Numerous proposals to fix the scaling issue have been proposed, the two main camps being "increase the block size" and "muddle through by discarding less useful data" (aka Segregated Witness/SegWit). Ho…

You skipped the option that's closest to consensus! SegWit2x has industry support and has a short enough window to lock-in before the Aug 1st UASF EDIT: Quick reference https://medium.com/@wintercooled/the-road-to-segwit-activati...

Unlike the UASF timebomb, SegWit2x won't activate unless there's 80%+ support, so it's not going to trigger a fork. (Well, technically it will, but if activated the non-SegWit2x rump will quickly be reduced to irrelevance.)

Re: Bitcoin – Potential Network Disruption on July 31st

#30

Post by isubkhankulov » Thu, Jul 13, 2017, 5:12 AM UTC

mhluongo wrote: post #28

isubkhankulov wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hard to price unless a fork actually occurs. if a fork like ETH/ETC happens, exchanges do benefit.

True. Guess I'm surprised Kraken et al haven't already announced that they'll support all chains, though? I guess they're all quietly prepping in case more than one chain is viable.

does kraken trade etc and eth?