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One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

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Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#91
post #2

Now if I understand correctly, unless someone inherits a private key of his, his bitcoins are effectively dead now, right? I wonder how this will impact the economics of cryptocurrencies over time: I'm starting to see more and more reminders to congratulate dead people on work anniversaries on LinkedIn, and it feels quite morbid.

If he didn't have a backup plan in place to be accessible by his estate, then yes, the coins are dead. The coins dying with him are actually the best case scenario for all other holders. "Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone." - Satoshi Nakamoto

If everyone's net worth goes up, it's about the same as no change at all.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Na, that's stupid with cash because we can arbitrarily print more of it. Any cash burning event would be of marginal collective contribution. It actually matters with bitcoin because of the hard supply cap. Every lost coin shrinks the pie.

“We” can arbitrarily print more Bitcoin or dollars. In either case you just need consensus among the correct group of people.

Technically true, but the big difference is that if someone hard forks bitcoin to start printing more, holders will see their coins fork with the chains. You'll have both the old, hard money and the new diluted money, and the market will decide which one is more valuable. This doesn't happen with fiat.

Which one would you choose?

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#93
Well. That certainly makes this post of his quite funny to read.

Warning: NSFW/Nudity

https://web.archive.org/web/20210420205839/http://trilema.co...

Straight from his typing fingers... "The ocean takes"

Fitting end for a narcissistic sociopathic rapist who is the embodiment of a hat tipping supreme gentleman who thinks he's quite swell at making fun of supreme gentlemen while somehow not having the slightest shred of self awareness to realize he is infact one of said supreme gentlemen.

Man, what a weirdo.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#94
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somebody went to the trouble of creating a completely new throwaway account just to drop a bunch of insults. That's not "uncovering knowledge".

so we'll just sweep the CS PhDs sex(?)(sex prose?) cult under the rug because grandparent wanted anonymity and was a bit harsh in expressing reality? What should be brought up is why does GP have such strong feelings towards the guy? And why does he have this strange following? http://web.archive.org/web/20200922180636if_/http://trilema.... http://ossasepia.com/2021/06/24/severed

No, we will sweep it because insulting dead is not strictly within HN guidelines. There are better places if your aim is to just insult other people, alive or dead.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#95
post #3
post #2

Now if I understand correctly, unless someone inherits a private key of his, his bitcoins are effectively dead now, right? I wonder how this will impact the economics of cryptocurrencies over time: I'm starting to see more and more reminders to congratulate dead people on work anniversaries on LinkedIn, and it feels quite morbid.

social recovery wallets [1] may be a solution to this problem. [1] https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/11/recovery.html

That's not a solution, that's another layer of abstraction to try to solve the problems of blockchain/decentralization for money with a new layer of issues.

Eg. The hashed list of emails. It's going to be a hard reality check if some of your "friends" don't have access to their emails anymore or just aren't friends anymore after x years. The amount he suggests is 7, which is insanely much. Even people have issues with their parents with money alone.

It's a nice fantasy though, but not workable in reality.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some libertarian crank (I forget who) said that the best charity a person could do is to cash out their fortune and burn the paper dollars. This is a deflationary event and does just what you mention--gives everybody a little gift. Somehow a cynical suggestion like that is considered serious now. Because it is high-tech I guess.

Na, that's stupid with cash because we can arbitrarily print more of it. Any cash burning event would be of marginal collective contribution. It actually matters with bitcoin because of the hard supply cap. Every lost coin shrinks the pie.

It doesn't matter with any currency. You don't price things by how many dollars exist. You price things at what people will pay. If the billions weren't being spent, its about the same as if they're never spent.

Printing money and giving it away causes inflation because people can use it to buy things but having money printed but locked away does nothing. If this money was locked up then its not much of a change.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#97
post #93

Well. That certainly makes this post of his quite funny to read. Warning: NSFW/Nudity https://web.archive.org/web/20210420205839/http://trilema.co... Straight from his typing fingers... "The ocean takes" Fitting end for a narcissistic sociopathic rapist who is the embodiment of a hat tipping supreme gentleman who thinks he's quite swell at making fun of supreme gentlemen while somehow not having the slightest shred o…

What's really interesting is the cult following of highly educated women he had!

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#98
post #83
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you go on vacation for a week and your email server goes down?

okay well s/week/month/ or s/week/quarter/ Adjust it to something reasonable.

Still seems kind of risky in a lot of ways. Like, you get in a car accident, and are out for some period of time. I don't want to publish my obituary too early.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#99
post #24
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is introducing a mechanism to allow access to certain data after passing: https://www.cultofmac.com/744814/apple-digital-legacy/ . It would be great to see more tools and services provide ways to pass on digital information so we don’t have too many haunted digital graveyards not too much digital treasure lying in waste.

As much as I hope nothing happens to me, I've always thought about writing a "dead man switch" piece of code that sends all my keys and passwords to a couple of trusted people if multiple signals all suggest that the unfortunate has happened. For example, all of the following must be true: * Zero Github commits in a week * Zero Facebook or Instagram posts in a week * Zero e-mail outbox messages in a week * Zero smart…

I've thought about this but I just don't trust myself enough to not mess it up and send an alarming and embarrassing email to my loved ones. I'm reminded of the accidental HBO email that got sent out a couple weeks ago.

Re: One of the largest owners of Bitcoin, reportedly held over 1B dead at 41

#100

The craziest thing about this is the beach he died at. Playa Hermosa is pretty well known for mad riptides and not being such a fun place to surf or swim as a result. What the hell was he doing there swimming around casually? There's warning flags everywhere... you can see them in the local news article regarding this https://www.teletica.com/sucesos/extranjero-de-41-anos-murio... "Los hechos se dieron a eso de las 8…

If you read the link I've posted in another comment, along with anything else he's posted on his blog, you'll soon realize he quite literally thought he was a demigod reincarnated and that such mad riptides surely couldn't affect him due to all of the pure manliness he exuded.
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