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Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

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Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#61

Post by snappyTertle »

earlz wrote: post #22

I think that the cryptocurrency/blockchain space is the next big thing in the world on-par with the internet. But it still has a long way to go. In the late 90s you could say "X on the internet" and get tons of investment. Now it's the same but with "X on the blockchain". We are going through growing pains now, and there definitely needs to be some regulation introduced to curb the many scams. My personal hope though…

People should take responsibility for their own actions. A lot of ICOs are fluff and high risk. People should be aware of that before they invest. If they don't do their research, they shouldn't blame lack of regulation for their laziness. How would regulation fix this?

Who would enforce regulations? You would necessarily have to centralize things and hand over power to an authority. This would defeat the purpose of a dencentralized blockchain.

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#62

Post by gnu8 »

TheLilHipster wrote: post #3

Most cryptos are definitely pump and dump ponzis designed to eat your money, there is definitely a technocracy-like barrier for entry if you want to join the crypto bandwagon. Focus your time and energy on BTC, ETH and an anonymous coin like XMR. Any other offering should be met with skepticism.

The other ones are pump and dump ponzi schemes, but definitely not mine.

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#63

Post by Animats »

Well, we're about to find out if the Bitcoin exchanges in China have all the assets they should. The PBOC told them to stop trading, turn over copies of their records to the PBOC, and refund the balances of their customers. We should know within days which exchanges were stealing customer assets.

The exchange executives were told not to try to leave China.

(Remember Big Vern? Paul Vernon, CEO of Cryptsy. Took the money and fled to Liaoning, China. Started a Bitcoin exchange in China. Wanted in the US. Might be a good time to push through diplomatic channels for the government of China to find and return him. The PBOC investigators may have found him by now.)

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#64

Post by pg314 »

woogiewonka wrote: post #32
mahyarm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also useful for cheaper & faster cross border remittances for the common person. For the common person paypal's %3+ currency exchange fees is more expensive than the equivalent %0.5-%1 in fees you get from a 2 bitcoin exchanges. And it's far faster since everything moves at the speed of local deposits & withdraws.

Transferwise is pretty friendly and uses real exchange rate + reasonable fees Usually around 1% or less. With Bitcoin, I can send the same transfer for 0.03% - which puts Transferwise to shame and makes PayPal look like an absurd joke. Granted there's much more involved with current volatility of bitcoin but once that gets more stable all of the other options will be a total joke. People who cant't understand the fut…

You assume that current remittance providers can't lower their fees. That seems dubious.

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#65

Post by xwvvvvwx »

snappyTertle wrote: post #61
earlz wrote: post #22

I think that the cryptocurrency/blockchain space is the next big thing in the world on-par with the internet. But it still has a long way to go. In the late 90s you could say "X on the internet" and get tons of investment. Now it's the same but with "X on the blockchain". We are going through growing pains now, and there definitely needs to be some regulation introduced to curb the many scams. My personal hope though…

People should take responsibility for their own actions. A lot of ICOs are fluff and high risk. People should be aware of that before they invest. If they don't do their research, they shouldn't blame lack of regulation for their laziness. How would regulation fix this? Who would enforce regulations? You would necessarily have to centralize things and hand over power to an authority. This would defeat the purpose of…

I'm very interested to see how far things can be decentralised.

I have no real ideas what this would look like but I wonder if there are decentralised approaches to regulation that would work (community decides together who the bad actors are?)

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#66

Post by darawk »

Most of the author's points are silly. I was a customer of Bitfinex, and I lost a significant sum of money in the hack, but they paid me back. I couldn't be happier with their handling of it. I'm upset that their poor security practices led them to get hacked in the first place, but once it happened, their handling was pretty ideal. I don't know anyone who was a customer of theirs and doesn't approve of how they handled it, and I know several others that were impacted by the hack.

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#67

Post by calcifer »

darawk wrote: post #66

Most of the author's points are silly. I was a customer of Bitfinex, and I lost a significant sum of money in the hack, but they paid me back. I couldn't be happier with their handling of it. I'm upset that their poor security practices led them to get hacked in the first place, but once it happened, their handling was pretty ideal. I don't know anyone who was a customer of theirs and doesn't approve of how they hand…

So you think the author's very intricately written, detailed arguments are "silly" and all you can offer in retort is an anecdote about how you weren't effected by the Bitfinex hack (which was a tiny part of the author's argument).

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#68

Post by prostoalex »

aianus wrote: post #44
goatsi wrote: post #4

I'm not sure what the author wants bitcoin to be. They are correct in pointing out the various scams that litter bitcoin, but they also seem to want to shut out crime (silkroad et al) with better analysis tools and centralization. Without the various scams pumping the price criminals are the only ones who would be using bitcoin, as they are locked out of the much simpler & easier to use alternatives that any normal p…

Actually there are quite a few legal applications that are well-served by irreversible internet cash. Things like porn, sex toys, gambling in many jurisdictions, selling expensive items like gold bars or cash online, selling cross-border to sketchy areas like Nigeria or Romania, etc. Traditional reversible payment methods are very expensive or unavailable for these applications because the chargeback rates are off th…

> selling expensive items like gold bars or cash online

So as a consumer I finally have the opportunity to buy an expensive item over the Internet, get swindled by an unscrupulous seller sending me an empty box (if anything), and have absolutely no recourse? Is that the value proposition here?

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#69

Post by prostoalex »

frakr wrote: post #51
AgentME wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Focus your time and energy on BTC, ETH and an anonymous coin like XMR. Any other offering should be met with skepticism. To elaborate/explain on this point for those less familiar: those three cryptocurrencies actually are based on real technical innovation, and have developer communities producing more technical innovation. There are many other cryptocurrencies that have zero technical innovation (or completely non…

What functional technical innovation is there in ETH that is currently available for use? Some real, usable product that people actively utilize today that's unique and has tangible value?

All ICOs and tokens are on Ethereum. While Bitcoin has had a script capability for quite a bit, it didn't get much traction.

Re: Things cryptocurrency enthusiasts probably won't tell you

#70

Post by prostoalex »

darawk wrote: post #66

Most of the author's points are silly. I was a customer of Bitfinex, and I lost a significant sum of money in the hack, but they paid me back. I couldn't be happier with their handling of it. I'm upset that their poor security practices led them to get hacked in the first place, but once it happened, their handling was pretty ideal. I don't know anyone who was a customer of theirs and doesn't approve of how they hand…

Are your funds still at Bitfinex or did you successfully exit?
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