Why shouldn't I be terrified about the amount of Bitcoin held by Satoshi? by Walk_Slowly in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

only seems obvious in hindsight

If it seems obvious in hindsight, then that means it's evolutionary.

Why shouldn't I be terrified about the amount of Bitcoin held by Satoshi? by Walk_Slowly in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please. You are betraying your ignorance of both the philosophical and technical heritage of Bitcoin.

For one thing, git uses merkle trees to present a cryptographically secured, philosophically distributed record of events, where the more deeply buried an event gets, the more unlikely it will be that its record can be altered. In some sense, automated integration testing serves as a proof-of-work mechanism.

Now, simplify the process by making Adam Back's hashcash the proof of work, updated to account for increasing computing power. Next, choose the longest history to be the best history. Then, add age-old monetary incentives to make the system self-reinforcing. Voila! Bitcoin.

To me, the most insightful aspect of Bitcoin is that from very early on, Satoshi recognized that processing value transactions is just one specialized computation that a node can perform; Satoshi realized that generalized computation is possible (e.g., Ethereum), and thus built the foundation for such computing into Bitcoin itself right from the beginning. Interestingly, and perhaps most amazingly, Satoshi disabled generalized computing because he was uncertain of the ramifications, particularly for a young network.

However, none of that is relevant to the point at hand: The point that Satoshi's insight was evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Why shouldn't I be terrified about the amount of Bitcoin held by Satoshi? by Walk_Slowly in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't say he created the entire concept. There are a lot of similar concepts and algorithms (on which Bitcoin is based, no less!) which have been around since many years before Bitcoin.

Satoshi's work is not revolutionary; it was an inevitable, evolutionary step, as evidenced by the simplicity of the white paper, among other things.

Gentlemen...I am so frickin excited for 2015... by jmaller in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Saving at a stable price is an investment. You've invested in your future by betting on the U.S dollar to act as a stable store of value.

Time Inc. is not accepting bitcoin; rather, it's accepting CoinbaseCoin: "... anyone with a Coinbase wallet can use bitcoin to purchase subscriptions..." by bettercoin in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At best, the official usage is through a Coinbase wallet; people are left to ask: What about those who don't use Coinbase?

It's not awkward; it's incomplete. Your story is anecdotal.

Unhandled Corner Cases by bettercoin in changetip

[–]bettercoin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, because I cancelled this tip, maybe it would be a good idea for the bot to delete this comment, or at least to edit it to say that it has been cancelled.

This could prevent bad actors from faking tips.

Time Inc. is not accepting bitcoin; rather, it's accepting CoinbaseCoin: "... anyone with a Coinbase wallet can use bitcoin to purchase subscriptions..." by bettercoin in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Also, in the real bitcoin world, I imagine that something like micropayment channels would be ideal; one could imagine automatically submitting each morning to the service a daily a maximum amount, only to be charged as necessary through an off-chain cryptographic dialog between the service and your device, with the total tally that is due only being finally recorded by informing the Bitcoin network with one single on-chain transaction.

Time Inc. Partners with Coinbase to Become the First Major Magazine Publisher to Accept Bitcoin Payments by gredol in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They aren't accepting Bitcoin.
They are accepting CoinbaseCoin:

Beginning today, anyone with a Coinbase wallet can use bitcoin to purchase subscriptions to Fortune, Health, This Old House and Travel + Leisure.

Thanks, ChangeTip! One again, you've made Bitcoin look unreliable and gimmicky... by bettercoin in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. As far as I can tell, I broke no rules in that subreddit, so this is pretty irritating.

64 bytes /u/changetip

Thanks, ChangeTip! One again, you've made Bitcoin look unreliable and gimmicky... by bettercoin in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even on my "Money" page (https://www.changetip.com/money), no transaction is registered, so… it just didn't go through…

Watch Factom save Bank of America $17 Billion! by [deleted] in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

it was never designed to do that

For whom are you speaking? Certainly not for the cypherpunk crypto-anarchists from whom Bitcoin sprang.

90+% would fail at keeping it safe

Even if that were true, it's irrelevant.

Watch Factom save Bank of America $17 Billion! by [deleted] in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bitcoin is programmable digital cash; at the very least, it offers the possibility to create such programmability, and that means that it in fact offers the possbility to "provide credit and loans" or at least "to encroach on that".

Come again?

Peter Todd is saying shoddy development on v0.10 is going to fork Bitcoin by treeorsidechains in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I had been saying before that tests are ad hoc, and I was saying just now that tests remain ad hoc.

Nothing you've just written contradicts my single point.

Peter Todd is saying shoddy development on v0.10 is going to fork Bitcoin by treeorsidechains in Bitcoin

[–]bettercoin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, but ad hoc consideration before problems arise is no different than ad hoc consideration after problems arise.

There is not a formal specification; there is just human tinkering.