Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're looking for a reliable exchange, might I humbly recommend my exchange? http://bitcoinsexchange.itmustbetrue.com
"BitcoinSexChange"
I'm going to sue you with my customers money!!
Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
141–150 of 150 posts
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
The internet native versions of previous offline technologies have a long history of revolutionising their respective industries. MP3, video codecs all internet/computer native versions of things that already existed offline but which have swallowed entire markets. I wouldn't bet against cryptocurrencies doing the same thing, that's not to say I know how they're going to do it.
The added value of having access to these things online seems obvious though. It just took a while until the infrastructure was here to allow it (good luck streaming 4k video in 1995). Bitcoin is mostly here already, it sorta works. And then what? Besides speculation, illegal activities or simple curiosity, why would I bother? What's the blockchain's Youtube, what's the killer app? What will it let me do that I can't…
Back in the day nobody could really build an actual profitable business out of mp3, but there's a bunch of industries that've come from mp3 eventually that nobody could quite forsee at the time. Who'd have thought people would give up owning music in exchange for streaming? Who could predict podcasting would grow into such a huge thing?
Nobody could tell you what to do with an mp3, nobody could tell you what you could or couldn't put in it or what you could play it on (licensing I know... but you take my point). Mp3 gave everyone the ability to experiment with audio and distribute it in a way that was incredibly difficult before.
Crypto currencies do the same I think for money, they are an internet native version of something and that "internet nativeness" implies a level of creativity, flexibility and speed of iteration/evolution that can't be matched by offline equivalents.
I understand the questions you're asking and really I have no answers, but I think the "internet nativeness" of something like crypto currencies is not to be underestimated and I think it's why there's so much interest in the area.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a hyperponzi. A ponzi combinator. As much as I find the actual technical details of blockchain technology interesting (it's basically nerd crack) - the severe lack of utility to general society and the constant price bubbles are really astounding. There are multiple levels of bubbles... the short term ethereum-led ICO bubble we are currently in, which is kind of overlaid on top of the long term bubble of cryptoc…
I think the blind spot in your analysis is that you assume the rest of the financial industry is not like this. Cryptocurrencies are just doing rapidly what other stores of value did gradually over the course of centuries. Gold for example gets almost all of its value from speculative interest. This extends to some degree to the collector art and rare wine markets as well. I also think you're failing to appreciate th…
>A third of people born today do not have government identification
I think that number is closer to 100%. Most babies do not obtain government IDs on their date of birth.
Do you mean a third of people on earth? A third of people over a certain age?
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a very one-dimensional view of things. Blockchain technology carries with it the possibility to change how we think about and use money. Bitcoin is a zero-trust system that still manages to hold $41 billion dollar in value. However, I agree that almost all ICOs are cash-grabs. In my opinion we already have coins for all verticals that matter.
You know, the words "zero-trust" and "money" don't go along well with each other. The current value of BTC comes from trust. It's just not the kind you were expecting it to be.
What exactly do you mean that the value of BTC comes from trust? The only ones I put "trust" in are the owners of giant mining farms that have the possibility to cross the 50% hashing threshold and break Bitcoin. I also understand that this is not in their best interest.
The value in Bitcoin doesn't come from trust in people, it comes from trust in crypto.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know, the words "zero-trust" and "money" don't go along well with each other. The current value of BTC comes from trust. It's just not the kind you were expecting it to be.
What exactly do you mean that the value of BTC comes from trust? The only ones I put "trust" in are the owners of giant mining farms that have the possibility to cross the 50% hashing threshold and break Bitcoin. I also understand that this is not in their best interest. The value in Bitcoin doesn't come from trust in people, it comes from trust in crypto.
You are trusting the miners, yes. You are also trusting that somebody will come and buy those coins back from you (with either products or some other kind of money), and you are trusting that your government won't just decide to take it from you.
Money is just another kind of trust.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#146It's hard not to think of tulips at this stage
As someone who wrote a newspaper column for the Chicago Tribune in 2013 titled "Why Bitcoins aren't Tulips" this particular argument is starting to get a bit tiresome at this point. Fine- Let's just call them "tulips" so we can all go home and enjoy the sunny weather today.
The arguments you make there for the intrinsic value of Bitcoin are not incompatible with the perception that the ICO market is overheated at this point.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#147So cryptocurrency is the new Gold Rush. As the story goes, the only people who reliably made money during the original gold rush was the people who sold the spades. What are the "spades" here?
Coinbase?
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the blind spot in your analysis is that you assume the rest of the financial industry is not like this. Cryptocurrencies are just doing rapidly what other stores of value did gradually over the course of centuries. Gold for example gets almost all of its value from speculative interest. This extends to some degree to the collector art and rare wine markets as well. I also think you're failing to appreciate th…
>A third of people born today do not have government identification I think that number is closer to 100%. Most babies do not obtain government IDs on their date of birth. Do you mean a third of people on earth? A third of people over a certain age?
The Tweet I cited links to an article that goes into detail on this point. A third of babies born will not have their births registered.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#149It's hard not to think of tulips at this stage
As someone who wrote a newspaper column for the Chicago Tribune in 2013 titled "Why Bitcoins aren't Tulips" this particular argument is starting to get a bit tiresome at this point. Fine- Let's just call them "tulips" so we can all go home and enjoy the sunny weather today.
The main argument (tulips have substitutes) is very light. Just by looking at the number of alternative blockchains flying around, it's hard to treat bitcoin as something unique. And that's what makes me extremely sceptical.
Might be an interesting cryptographic concept. An asset class? Nope.
Re: Bankers Ditch Fat Salaries to Chase Digital Currency Riches
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
> who benefits from encryption that even law enforcement cannot break? People who live in countries with regressive regimes where law enforcement can be legitimately dangerous?
> People who live in countries with regressive regimes where law enforcement can be legitimately dangerous? Depending on who you are, one could argue the United States is one such country. If it can apply to the US - it can likely apply everywhere.
I would definitely agree with that line of argument, especially in 2017.