Bitcoin breaks above $20k • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#141

Post by hirako2000 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #116

hirako2000 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is arguably far less value for most fiat curencies, at least for future use, maybe we still have a working fiat system today. Let's assume bitcoin becomes the dominant currency for payments down the road. At its max supply, each bitcoin would be worth well over 10 million USD (in today's value of USD). And it would keep increasing in "value" because of its deflation scheme (unless of course conscencius vote for…

> Let's assume bitcoin becomes the dominant currency for payments down the road. What if we don't assume that?

The exact opposite would be that bitcoin value eventually drops to zero. No use, no value.

It's a possibility. And I don't have a crystal ball. People will make that choice. Fiat currencies may solve its deficiencies and we will happily with them. Given how global and digital the world is becoming, crypto currencies would most likely be somewhat popular anyways, unless something better comes along.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#142

Post by jayd16 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

yters wrote: post #49

_hdap wrote: post #15

I am NOT a fan of Bitcoin, but... Watch a real-time visualization of the global Bitcoin transaction flow, as it is happening right now: https://dailyblockchain.github.io/ Each square is a bitcoin address (like a cryptographic public key) Each graph component is a transaction. The components appear as transactions are broadcast into the bitcoin P2P network (but before they are verified and committed to the blockchain)…

I see a number of transactions that pay out to a large number, or aggregate a large number. Not sure the meaning of the big graph components.

Are those the money laundering services that hide transactions in group payouts?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#143

Post by nikolay » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

They just caught the biggest electricity thieves in the Bulgaria - Bitcoin miners in a rural area, stealing electricity straight from the lines and using as much as 4,000 households. And it was a small-scale operation!

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#144

Post by phoinix » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:25 PM UTC

Someone has to feel sorry for Btc. Many people are going to lose money. Bitcoin has value. It is only Btc people that took a very nice technology and crippled it. The put a cap in it's block size, and they removed instructions of the Bitcoin Script language.

Bitcoin's usage lies in it's use as an immutable ledger, that no one can change the past. We can put other information inside it,alongside with the money transactions, and we can be absolutely sure that no one messed with that information. An infinite number of use cases.

For example say a cop makes an arrest. How can we be sure that the arrest was legitimate? A random person with a video camera may record the arrest, go to his home, edit it however he likes, upload it to the internet, and boom huge civil unrest! The solution lies with the cop recording the arrest by himself, uploading the information right away to the blockchain, and no person on the planet, no state, no goverment, can mess up with that information. The timestamp of the arrest is important too!

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#145

Post by JxLS-cpgbe0 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:25 PM UTC

nikolay wrote: post #136

It's always goes how around the end of the year and crashes in the beginning of the next. Where's the news?

"Institutional investment and mining are at an all-time high, indicating this may not be a bubble" is where the news is.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#146

Post by three_seagrass » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:25 PM UTC

JxLS-cpgbe0 wrote: post #138

three_seagrass wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A decade latter and it's still a hobby currency. Price is not a sole indicator of faith in a currency.

ETFs are a hobby?

>ETFs are a hobby?

Bitcoin is not a bundle of securities, nor is an ETF a currency. Why would you confuse the two?

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#147

Post by shakezula » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

tectonic wrote: post #2

What's the carbon footprint of BTC like these days? Has any progress been made on mitigating this fundamental design issue?

ETH2 is moving towards Proof of Stake and that should be a major step forward in reducing the energy consumption without making any major security trade offs.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#148

Post by varajelle » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:26 PM UTC

nwah1 wrote: post #100

varajelle wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no trusted intermediary in lightning. If an intermediary is not behaving, the worst that can happen is that your found are blocked for a small amount of time.

https://themoneymongers.com/lightning-network-watchtowers/

1) You don't need trust the watch tower, they can't steel your money. 2) you can host a watch tower yourself on your server.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#149

Post by cj » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

arithma wrote: post #87

Just a question, isn't all criticism against bitcoin applicable to gold? Money/Currency/Value in general can't be reduced or derived from first principles. You always have to take into account human nature, economic activity, and most unfortunately: psychology. So all criticism about how bitcoin inherently being pointless, sounds like off-tune. I want good reasons to/NOT-to buy in. First-world country citizens kind o…

Gold is something that exists IRL.

It has value even in the absence of a market to buy/sell it. It can be melted down and formed into jewelry, as a simple example.

The reason I won't buy into crypto is it's impossible to make informed investment decisions because, as an investment, the price is driven too highly by unknown market forces (at least unknown to me...).

Perhaps it's a good investment if you truly feel you understand what drives the price of bitcoin, or have insider knowledge that you know will affect its price that others don't.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#150

Post by 627467 » Wed, Dec 16, 2020, 5:27 PM UTC

_sm6n wrote: post #94

It's kinda sad that the pricing or market capitalization is the only thing that is being talked about in the "cryptocurrency community", instead of focussing on how the technology can be useful for society. Like for example if you look at /r/Bitcoin, there's a sidebar with "Submit text/link NOT about price", yet virtually every post is about price, even if just indirectly (Paypal joins the cryptocurrency bandwagon an…

I don't think its fair to say it's "the only thing", although I'll give it that its the most popular aspect that it's talked about.

The truth is excitement and hype around price is the lowest common denominator for people interested in cryptocurrency so naturally it would be the most visible topic.

Tech around this is still very... technical, young non-vital, niche.

I understand why people worry and even discard the value of price-obsession, but (at least for bitcoin) price of the token (along with other variables that indicate adoption) is crucial for security and growth of the platform.

Even Satoshi recognized that hype-cycles would be important for adoption of bitcoin.