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Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

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Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#301

Post by acjohnson55 »

110011 wrote: post #229

It's scary to see so much faith in bitcoin given it's horrendously wasteful proof-of-work scheme to avoid double spending. There are better alternatives that minimize latency nearly a hundred-fold and avoid proof-of-work altogether. Example: Algorand ( https://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/gilad-algorand-... ) Even if this new cryptocurrency is "just" a proof of concept there are many others like it that are m…

I keep being told that Bitcoin will eventually adopt something less wasteful, but given how rocky recent evolutions of the protocol have been, I don't see why I should believe that, versus an altcoin supplanting it.

People seem to like Bitcoin as a gold alternative precisely because it doesn't evolve. But I don't see how that jives with the fact that its energy consumption is completely unsustainable.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#302

Post by whoisninja9 »

nikolay wrote: post #277
nikcub wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity Cost me over $4 to send Monero transactions last month. Cost me about $3 to send a Bitcoin transaction this morning. The average and median transaction fees between the two networks have been pretty close for a while I like Monero but it has some way to go - it needs a light client, multisig completed, and hasn't really had to confront any scaling iss…

I see hundreds of my friends sending money free with Venmo each month. I know nobody having any slightest interest in Bitcoin or the likes. Once in a while, somebody would ask me if it makes sense for them to invest some cash into Bitcoin as they've heard about some crazy growth, but when I explain to them some, they all decide it's too risky, and those who are the anarchist type stick to gold.

transactions with fiat is fine, good luck storing all of your wealth in fiat (specially with worldwide QE, fiat is more pumped than anything can be) : http://www.fiatfate.com/

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#303

Post by acjohnson55 »

bitmapbrother wrote: post #298

I recall being downvoted when I replied to someone asking if it was too late to invest in Bitcoin when it was at $4000. In my reply I quoted Roger Ver by saying that it was never too late to invest in Bitcoin. I also decided to walk the talk and buy some at $4000 with money I could afford to lose. Glad I did.

That's crazy thinking though. It's only "never too late" if it never stops going up. Just because it went up from $4k doesn't mean that you won. Unless you sell now and walk away.

Point is, it's impossible to know if you're leaving money on the table.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#304

Post by DennisP »

john_alan wrote: post #272
nikcub wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity Cost me over $4 to send Monero transactions last month. Cost me about $3 to send a Bitcoin transaction this morning. The average and median transaction fees between the two networks have been pretty close for a while I like Monero but it has some way to go - it needs a light client, multisig completed, and hasn't really had to confront any scaling iss…

A) XMR Tx set to low priority will usually ship in next block (within 2 mins) with 5 ring size at fee of 30cent. Not sure what you were doing. B) ZKSnarks will never deprecate XMR, they bring the caveats of trusted being required, inability to audit coin supply and inherently DO NOT provide fungibility. It’s no wonder xmr price is in the doldrums. Even the smart guys on HN are misinformed about it.

Fwiw, ring signatures are also getting implemented on Ethereum. (But I do think Monero makes a good case for their "mandatory privacy" stance.)

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#305

Post by RoboTeddy »

110011 wrote: post #229

It's scary to see so much faith in bitcoin given it's horrendously wasteful proof-of-work scheme to avoid double spending. There are better alternatives that minimize latency nearly a hundred-fold and avoid proof-of-work altogether. Example: Algorand ( https://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/gilad-algorand-... ) Even if this new cryptocurrency is "just" a proof of concept there are many others like it that are m…

Wasteful by what standard? Right now each day it consumes ~$1m worth of electricity in order to protect ~$1.5 billion of new payments. Economically, this "electricity safety fee" works out to less than a tenth of a percent.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#306

Post by kgwgk »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #300
kgwgk wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even holding it in a bank for low interest is investing. Using it as a store of value would be keeping it in your wallet or in a safe (as you would do with gold, for example).

Not really....not at these rates anyways. There isn’t much difference between putting your money in the bank or under your mattress, well, except for convenience and safety issues.

Yes, it is. If you keep the money physically it yields exactly zero and nobody is using it. If you lend the money (to a bank or someone else) you get some interest (or not, in some countries interest rates are negative) AND there is someone else who can use that money. Bank deposits are fundamentally different from “hoarding” gold or bitcoins.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#307

Post by RoboTeddy »

nickjj wrote: post #35
d__k wrote: post #21

I think the behaviour of Bitcoin price (not the technology) reflects some social phenomenon rather than the real economy. And it is precisely why it is interesting.

Yeah, it's pretty much what happened 500 years ago when people were selling everything they owned (including houses) to buy tulip bulbs[0]. Maybe it's not that bad yet, but it's looking to get that way. Spoiler alert: It ended really badly, but the people who got out early enough did make a lot of money. Plot twist: I did invest in bitcoins back when they were hovering around 2k and sold them for a small profit (~10%…

There's a reason society eventually settled on gold instead of tulips or pinecones. Good monies have certain attributes. Bitcoin's direct technological antecedent was called bitgold, and it was created by Nick Szabo who is a scholar of the origins of money (e.g. http://nakamotoinstitute.org/shelling-out/)

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#308

Post by BLanen »

3pt14159 wrote: post #242
duiker101 wrote: post #51

I don't know much about bitcoin i'll admit. And I was surpised the other day to read some comments where the poster was saying that the transaction price is somewhere in between 5$ - 20$. Isn't that like... a LOT? I thought the idea of Bitcoins was how easy it would be to make transactions but with a price like that I can image most smaller transactions are discouraged. Also, after the initial hype I haven't really s…

Here is what will happen in the long run: Lightning networks will allow common people to transact and will semi-centralize the blockchain across a couple partners, kinda like banks. Over time and for the people that don't really need to be on chain, these banks will start taking over the transactions between each other and just broadcasting signatures from their bitcoin keys to match deposits vs obligations so that p…

Every time bitcoin is proven to be bad at something, people start saying "actually, it's not even going to be used for x, it's going to be used for y".

Lightning network is a joke that doesn't work.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#309

Post by diggan »

tfha wrote: post #187
randallsquared wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has no stake in any of these, it seems to me that Ethereum has a big PR problem no matter how technically superior it is: it's inextricably tied to the story about the DAO, where those who played the game by the rules had their Ethereum redistributed by the developers because said developers didn't like the outcome. (I know that this isn't a neutral phrasing, but it's the perception I'm talking about..…

People who believe that ethereum is technically superior have not studied cryptocurrencies in depth. Ethereum made a lot of reckless design decisions, trading long term stability and security for advantages that only exist over bitcoin in the short term. Their short block time is a sloppy choice. Their focus on gpu mining is a boneheaded mistake. Their scripting system is embarrassing. Proof of stake is nonviable. Mu…

Thanks for leaving your opinion but I think I'm not alone when I say that I prefer more elaborate feedback. You're saying that a lot of things are bad, but not really why. "Sloppy choice", "boneheaded mistake", "emberrassing", "nonviable", "code is garbage and won't scale" but neither of these things have any reasoning behind them (maybe you do, but you didn't take the time to actually write it down) which makes your comment relatively useless.

Re: Bitcoin Surges Past $7,000 to Extend Record Rally

#310

Post by deletia »

joefourier wrote: post #31

Notice how almost all news of Bitcoin now are about its price. Bitcoin used to be exciting in both technical and economical aspects, but has now become just a store of value entirely driven by speculation. Other technically superior cryptocurrencies (e.g. Monero, Ethereum) have replaced most of its usecases, boasting much faster and cheaper transactions and real anonymity in the case of Monero. Bitcoin takes more tha…

> It may or may not continue to increase in value long-term, but it has little uses outside of being worth a lot of money.

So at worst: bitcoin > gold?

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