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Bitcoin breaks above $20k

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Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#331

Post by nemo1618 »

valarauko wrote: post #127

Slight deviation: does anybody have recommendations for hardware wallets? Pros/Cons?

Really depends on your priorities.

If you just want to HODL as securely as possible, then you don't need a hardware wallet. Just generate a BIP39 seed from a high-quality source of entropy and derive an address from it. Then lock the seed away somewhere very safe. (My recommendation is to generate the seed by hashing a reasonably-long passphrase together with one word that you never write down anywhere. Then store the passphrase in a few places: password manager, piece of paper in a safety deposit box, etc.) When it comes time to finally withdraw, you can buy a hardware wallet then, or use cold wallet software on an airgapped laptop.

If you need to withdraw from your wallet regularly, then a hardware wallet makes more sense. Any of the big names are fine, honestly, unless your threat model includes "evil maids" (sophisticated attackers who have physical access to your device). AFAIK the only viable attacks against major hardware wallets are evil maid attacks, wherein someone either tampers with the device, or measures its power consumption while you're using it, or replaces the client software on your computer/phone with a malicious version. So if you're worried about that, you should spring for the most paranoid option that's still user-friendly, which in my opinion is the Passport.

Two more things to note. First, you probably don't want to be using your hardware wallet for most crypto transactions. Instead, set up a second, lower-security wallet (e.g. an account on cash.app) with a maximum balance, and top it up with withdrawals from your hardware wallet as needed. Importantly, this means you'll never have to carry your hardware wallet around with you; it can sit safely at home. Second, if your hardware wallet breaks, you're screwed, so you still need to back up your seed somewhere secure. That's why if you just want to HODL I recommend not bothering with the hardware wallet -- it won't save you much effort.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#332

Post by spurgu »

rodiger wrote: post #271
ogogmad wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got it the wrong way round. Deflation means when prices are dropping. The price of computers has fallen over time predictably and exponentially, and yet that hasn't stopped people from buying them. The Keynesian argument against deflation is that it disincentivizes people from spending money as they expect prices to drop. This disincentive hasn't prevented the computer industry from being a huge success. The fact…

Kinda unintuitive, but if you look at processing power as a currency, it is actually undergoing hyperinflation (number of computers + processing power increases every year). Meaning you buy a computer, assuming its value will drop (due to the inflationary nature).

> if you look at processing power as a currency, it is actually undergoing hyperinflation

So in relation (for this particular scenario) the USD is undergoing hyperdeflation..?

Whatever you call it the psychological effect with computers is the same as with a rising bitcoin price - you get more bang for the buck the longer you hold off on your purchase.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#333

Post by johnyzee »

mrlala wrote: post #90
JoshTko wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the single most important use case that most people miss. Bitcoin doesn't need to do anything else.

Sigh. I 100% understand what you are saying but I also 100% disagree with it. This is all greed with no substance. Wealthy people and those who desire to be wealthy are doing everything they can to arbitrarily prop up something which does not really have value. And they seem to be winning- which is everything that is wrong with the world right now.

The world wants and needs a medium of exchange, otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins. All the medium of exchange needs, is to be scarce - people have used conch shells when it served the purpose.

Right now, bitcoin is the best medium of exchange for the modern world. It beats physical stuff like gold, because it can be transferred digitally, across physical boundaries. It beats sovereign currencies, because you don't have to depend on the policies of arbitrary governments.

Bitcoin's scarcity is artificial, but that is a red herring. Bitcoin has the value that it has because the scarcity is real and believable. No one in a position to manipulate the network or protocol (a position that it is doubtful anyone could ever achieve at this point) would stand to gain from 'hacking' it, since that would instantly destroy it.

All that said, yeah, the price rises are probably driven to a large extent by greed and ignorance. But so is a lot of the stock market and other investment vehicles.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#334

Post by Taek »

batmanthehorse wrote: post #126
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…

the energy consumption is my biggest criticism, so the answer is "no" (even though you try to sidestep that). buying a pack of gum with bitcoin could power a whole house for 2 months, that's awful and irresponsible.

The main purpose of Bitcoin is not to buy a pack of gum, it's to provide a sovereign store of value with a stable monetary policy.

Bitcoin's energy bills are paid for by its users via transaction fees and inflation. It's a weird form of gatekeeping to single out Bitcoin as 'a waste' when plenty of people create economic waste buying large houses, buying makeup, buying meat instead of grains, etc etc.

If you are concerned about the environment, regulate the creation of energy, not the use of energy. Restricting Bitcoin on environmental concerns will just result in people using more energy elsewhere. But if you mandate that power plants must be X efficient and Y sustainable, the market will naturally figure out how to best allocate the limited energy.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#335

Post by iforgottherest »

tudelo wrote: post #24
_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)…

What do you notice? Not sure what you are trying to allude to.

Plenty of individual transactions (at least on this recording time scale) and not a flow as an economy would daily. Plus some odd transactions where money is allocated to several wallets at the same time.

I wish it had the relative size included in the visualization.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#336

Post by webinvest »

albntomat0 wrote: post #3

What's the current thoughts on Tether, and how its speculated potential collapse will affect the rest of the ecosystem? Also, what's the latest on scaling? The last time I looked into it, Lightening was a thing, but I don't follow it closely.

I think Tether is being replaced by USDC. Also I think if Tether was going to collapse, it would’ve done so years ago. Banks live fine with a 90% lending ratio and Tether was likely lending out only 20% of it’s assets. The general person doesn’t understand how a bank works.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#337

Post by DennisP »

dontTango wrote: post #115
Entwickler wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest following ethereum and it's founder Vitalik. He's explicitly said things like, "If all that we accomplish is lambo memes and immature puns about "sharting", then I WILL leave. Though I still have a lot of hope that the community can steer in the right direction." He has worked with the UN world food program, and posts a lot of material on voting, economic fairness, and social aspects of blockchain in gene…

Ethereum removed the 100M soft cap on EIP 669. This was quietly slipped through with no debate. ETH shouldn't be trusted.

EIP669 was a difficulty bomb delay. The difficulty bomb was never intended to make monetary policy. The point was to keep upgrades from failing to deploy due to node operator complacency. The difficulty bomb forces them to upgrade their code in some way, either to the upgraded version, or to the same old version with a bomb delay.

Issuance right now is 2 ETH/block. The white paper just promised 5 ETH/block forever.

https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#338

Post by cryptica »

WanderPanda wrote: post #320
cryptica wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're using man-made global warming as story to justify their unjust inflationary policies which are in fact all about control and centralization of wealth and power. Global warming could just be rhetoric to convince those people who can see the injustice of what's happening to justify why it needs to happen in this unjust way. It's a way to justify why we should all be playing the game of musical chairs instead of…

„Don‘t ascribe to malice what can be ascribed to stupidity“ (stupidity and short term, well intentioned, but in the end egoistic thinking, I would add)

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice" - Grey's Law.

You just need a handful of people to independently see a few opportunities to profit from different activities (which are related in non-obvious ways) and together they can effect great malice without any single individual being aware of their collective malice.

The Upton Sinclair principle ensures that the perpetrators of malice are not aware of it: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Only the victims of malice can see it as such, the perpetrators are the last to see it.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#339

Post by ant6n »

Auracle wrote: post #192
3pt14159 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, as soon as I read through the whitepaper I knew it was going to be valuable at least for a time. My primary reason for selling most of my Bitcoins at $200 a coin was that I thought it was obvious that the US would ban it. I made out like a bandit, don't get me wrong, but the fact that it's an accepted investment still boggles my mind. They shutdown eGold but not Bitcoin?! Crazypants. In retrospect, I think th…

I bought in late (at $79, so..) and not nearly enough because I knew eGold’s history as well. I then later lost some on btce. I suppose I should be happy that’s my biggest regret in life but this year in particular it really hurts every time I think of it. My business was hit hard by COVID and my wife and I started IVF after 3 years of trying. It’s crazy how a bit of knowledge can drastically alter your life.

Yeah, it’s fun too think about how many bits of information being sent back in time to yourself would be needed to become a billionaire. The message should be understandable to your Younger self, and you also need to convince them.

Re: Bitcoin breaks above $20k

#340

Post by mywittyname »

hiq wrote: post #202
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.

How do you distinguish a proper currency from a hobby currency? I can think of these criteria on the top of my head: * trading volume * number of shops where it's accepted * whether you can pay taxes with it Did you have something like that in mind? Or something else? What would lead you to say "this is not just a hobby currency anymore"?

Proper currencies are used to pay your bills: anything else is speculative.

You might think this is a silly definition, because it means that the determination of how "proper" a currency is depends on where that person lives. And that's absolutely correct.

I have no functional use for Turkish Lira. The only reason I would possess any is because I'm speculating that the value of Lira will increase relative to the currency I use to pay for my needs.

Using that definition, one could create a Proper Currency Score by taking the number of people or businesses that use each currency and multiply it by the gross value of transactions performed in the currency (excluding currency exchange). This definition is at least reasonable on the surface, as the top currencies would be USD, EUR, and RMB.

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