41–50 of 98 posts
What percentage of that funding is just buying and holding Bitcoins? Many of these large rounds have that business model baked into the amount they raise. There's much more profit to be had from buying at current prices and selling at a consumer inflection point than there is in actually building a Bitcoin service.
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It would be very difficult to get another coin to the level of adoption that bitcoin has. Many have tried, and none have come close.
They possibly could if they create a more secure cryptocurrency
Are there ways to reduce the size of the block chain? Or will we get to the point where only large service providers can hold the block chain? I ask because I was maintaining my own wallet for awhile but stopped because the block chain database was getting unwieldy - it would take up to a week to resync if I ever turned my wallet software off for a significant amount of time. You know though... I actually don't care.…
Are there ways to reduce the size of the block chain? Or will we get to the point where only large service providers can hold the block chain? I ask because I was maintaining my own wallet for awhile but stopped because the block chain database was getting unwieldy - it would take up to a week to resync if I ever turned my wallet software off for a significant amount of time. You know though... I actually don't care.…
I'm in India and I can't even buy it easily. Paypal hates it, as does India's Reserve Bank. Too much effort for too little reward. Right now, the only thing I'd actually want to buy with BTC is illegal stuff off the darknet. There is virtually nothing else I need that bad that normal cash can't do.
If they raised over $100M, why do they need Bitcoin? I'd assume they intend to have their own coin. Fewer headaches.
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> Define "properly secured wallet"? Cold Storage[0] done right, that's a properly secured wallet. I think this is the best, and cheapest security (minus fiat currency conversion expenses) available atm. > And whose responsible for securing wallets? With cold storage, you are. [0] https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage
This is a digression though. The subject came up in the context of a claim that bitcoins were "just as convenient as credit cards". Cold storage is essentially isomorphic to keeping treasure in a safe, and needless to say very much not equivalent to making a credit card transaction.
Two things make currency work: usability and security. How can this be a digression?
> Cold storage is essentially isomorphic to keeping treasure in a safe
I'll admit the wiki is a bit tl;dr .. (I guess you didn't read it). Using your "keeping treasure in a safe" quote: Cold storage is like keeping a treasure in a safe, at the bottom of the deepest ocean of another earth-like planet in a solar system which we cannot even assume (knowing about it is impossible;) that exists.
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> actually using bitcoin (that you already have) to buy things is a better experience than using credit cards It's just not. It's not easier than swiping a magnetic strip and signing something, or typing in sixteen digits (or using autofill or the site's previously saved CC info) and pressing buy. It's not good that I can't demand a return or have recourse in the event of fraud. And it's not a benefit that with bitco…
> It's just not. It's not easier than swiping a magnetic strip and signing something, or typing in sixteen digits (or using autofill or the site's previously saved CC info) and pressing buy. It's much easier to take your phone, open an app, and scan a QR code, than to take out your credit card, transcribe a 16 digit number, check the expiration date, and enter the CSC (or is it CVC?). Sure, for websites where your in…
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> It's just not. It's not easier than swiping a magnetic strip and signing something, or typing in sixteen digits (or using autofill or the site's previously saved CC info) and pressing buy. It's much easier to take your phone, open an app, and scan a QR code, than to take out your credit card, transcribe a 16 digit number, check the expiration date, and enter the CSC (or is it CVC?). Sure, for websites where your in…
> It's much easier to take your phone, open an app, and scan a QR code, than to take out your credit card, transcribe a 16 digit number, check the expiration date, and enter the CSC (or is it CVC?). > Sure, for websites where your information is already saved, or if you leave all your credit card information saved in the browser, then this isn't easier, but they're still pretty comparable in my opinion. Even if it wa…
"beyond simple", really? A lot of people would disagree with you. The inconvenience of typing in the CC billing info is the number one reason why fewer sales take place on mobile than on desktop.
And it is one of the main reasons why people stick with a store they know have their CC saved (eg. Amazon) as opposed to buying on some random site where they know it is going to be a PITA to type in all the billing info.
Bitcoin solves this payment friction for a first-time shopper at a given shop, and that's a big deal. You should know this. This is why you yourself admit preferring using Paypal over CC because Paypal also solves first-time shopping friction.
The biggest question in my mind is whether or not they have developed a realistic revenue model. The whole point of the Bitcoin protocol is to relinquish control of the blockchain to the network's participants, which makes it hard to monetize. They could license whatever software/hardware they manage to build for various applications of the technology (voting, research, etc), but $116 million seems like a big bet on a company building solutions on top of open source software.
Edit: It appears that they are building both software and hardware, and more interstingly, intend to operate their own datacenters. One of the job descriptions from https://21.co/#jobs :
"21 is seeking a Datacenter Operations Engineer to travel to our datacenters and keep them up and running smoothly. You should like big iron, cutting edge equipment, and firmware. The job description says you will be responsible for "day-to-day operations of 10,000+ server installations". I guess we know where $116M is going.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a digression though. The subject came up in the context of a claim that bitcoins were "just as convenient as credit cards". Cold storage is essentially isomorphic to keeping treasure in a safe, and needless to say very much not equivalent to making a credit card transaction.
> This is a digression Two things make currency work: usability and security. How can this be a digression? > Cold storage is essentially isomorphic to keeping treasure in a safe I'll admit the wiki is a bit tl;dr .. (I guess you didn't read it). Using your "keeping treasure in a safe" quote: Cold storage is like keeping a treasure in a safe, at the bottom of the deepest ocean of another earth-like planet in a solar…
It's true that it's inaccessible to the internet. It's not true that it's more secure than physical storage, because ultimately it is physical storage.
I await your "But you can memorize a key such that the attacker can't use it!" response and am presently googling the XKCD link to zing you with.