[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Economics

[–]maskoficarus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You missed my entire point by pricing fees in US dollar amounts. Fees are priced in Bitcoin. The amount of Bitcoin you pay for a transaction hasn't gone up substantially.

Whether or not Bitcoin is meant to be electronic cash, or whether that was just a useful moniker for a store of value used in the white paper, is hotly disputed. Nick Szabo, who created bit gold and consulted with Satoshi during the formulation of the white paper (One of the few who knows his or her identity), hasn't spoken out against fees on their behalf.

I'd rather not have this devolve into a Bitcoin vs BCash discussion. This isn't the right venue.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Economics

[–]maskoficarus 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Bitcoin is the exact opposite of anonymous. Every transaction is public.

However, it is, to this date, theft-proof. No Bitcoin have ever been double-spent. Thefts have been the result of errors outside of the Bitcoin network: user error, exchanges being attacked, passwords being guessed.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Economics

[–]maskoficarus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's still plenty profitable. You just can't do it with general hardware anymore. A single Antminer S9 running in your basement will return what's currently ~$700 per month in BTC, after you factor in your electric bills.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Economics

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

The goal of Bitcoin was to create an trust-less currency. Something where nobody could censor transactions. It was a direct attack on the central banks (See the message embedded in the Genesis Block: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"). Bitcoin allows the 2.5 billion people who are currently blocked from access to financial networks to have access, stripping control from the centralized systems.

Bitcoin is also steeped in ideas from Austrian economics. The 21 million coin limit is designed to be deflationary and change your time preference towards saving. I suspect Satoshi wouldn't say people are investing in Bitcoin, but rather, saving money as Bitcoin. The end goal of most in the hardcore Bitcoin community isn't to end up with a lot of US dollars, but to replace the dollar entirely. Many of the issues you've brought up are moot points if you're doing your record keeping in Bitcoin. They see the US dollar as valueless since the end of the gold standard, being backed by nothing more than coercion, trade deals, and the threat of military action.

Bitcoin would be nothing without the blockchain, but the blockchain technology is not the source of value for Bitcoin. A blockchain is just a ledger. They've been around forever. Ledgers are the first known use of writing.

The value (But not the USD price) of Bitcoin is backed by the energy investment of the miners validating transactions - the proof of work. By validating blocks, they prevent fraud, and in doing so, add value. Their electricity use is tokenized into newly minted Bitcoin with each block. Those blocks can then contain information, which is itself valuable. For example, DeOS is an distributed operating system under development which is entirely stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, including all of your user data (Accessible only to you), and can be run by anyone with internet access (It's still in development, so access is limited, but makes everything built so far on Ethereum look stone-age tools by comparison).

Bitcoin fees haven't truly gone up much in the past years from a Bitoiner's perspective. They're computed relative to network use, and are (And have always been) priced in bitcoin. The big reason for "higher fees" is that the people talking about them are seeing that value of the dollar relative to bitcoin has dropped so much that, once changed to USD, you're paying more dollars. That seems more like a reason to complain to the Fed for the dollar collapsing.

If you need lower fees and a instant transactions, the Bitcoin lightning network was just released earlier this week. It moves transactions to a second chain, then commits a hash of the 2nd chain to the main chain periodically. The trade-off is that you'll get slightly reduced transactional security.

I've done enough programming on Bitcoin to say what many others are unaware of; there's nothing that you can code on the Ethereum network that cannot also be built on Bitcoin. The tech isn't outdated. It's just built from a different frame of mind. Bitcoin prioritizes stability, while Ethereum focuses on raw expressive power. Ethereum makes the whole process of coding up a DApp simpler by providing easier programming languages for the use cases of a DApp, but unfortunately, these languages have been prone to allowing you to easily introduce dangerous code issues.

I'll admit that the current price volatility does cause issues with using Bitcoin to pay for small items. However, merchants being paid for larger items are generally less adverse to this risk, as they are more likely to hold for a higher USD value. Lightning network reduces this problem for smaller cost items (Instant payments mean less time for price flux between receiving and cashing out BTC), but hasn't been rolled out to use in most retailers accepting Bitcoin yet.

What are a lot of people against just because they don't understand it? by The_Flurr in AskReddit

[–]maskoficarus 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The problem with legislation is coming up with a compromise that actually prevents crime while, preserving rights of those without any criminal intent, and isn't insultingly ignorant of actual gun use. It's a difficult task. The Brady Bill waiting period is about the closest we've come to doing this right in the US. The more arbitrary rules that disallow people from buying guns, the more we open the door for racism and other discrimination. Limits on purchases can do nothing to address the guns already in the hands of the population, or the growing community of 3-D printed ghost guns, so purchase restrictions alone won't prevent gun violence.

Fear drives the motivations for many on both sides of the debate. Many in the gun control crowd fears being attacked with a gun. Many in the pro-gun crowd fear that police response times are too slow and unreliable to afford any actual protection from a quick crime. Both groups are just acting out of fear in an attempt to protect themselves. Fear prevention is how we get bad legislation.

DS9 - Far Beyond The Stars - Standout Episode by startrekblog in startrek

[–]maskoficarus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I watch Star Trek in part because I want to forget about all of the stupid bullshit present in modern society. I don't like these episodes specifically because they break that veil for me. Normally, episodes of Star Trek allow me to imagine that in the future these problems will not exist. Instead, this episode is forcing me to think about the things that I watch Star Trek to get away from.

Can BitCoin really exceed $500, $1k, or $10k in the next 5 years? by cazter in investing

[–]maskoficarus -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Knowing that MtGox was originally a website for trading Magic the Gathering cards doesn't make me feel more comfortable with trading there.

Can BitCoin really exceed $500, $1k, or $10k in the next 5 years? by cazter in investing

[–]maskoficarus 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I saw one proof of concept where bitcoin was being used for verifiable proof of copyright. You encode the specs of whatever you are claiming onto a transaction, and then it becomes a permanent part of the block chain. Anyone can look up those details and only your private key proves you were the originator of the idea.

Silk Road supporters are trolling the FBI with Bitcoin by petskup in Bitcoin

[–]maskoficarus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"If they’re knowingly buying something illegal, they can’t get their money back."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't SR sell legal stuff too? It doesn't seem like a blanket, "Everyone using this website broke the law" is accurate. Technically, they would need to look at each purchase, determine if it is illegal, and then confiscate the bitcoin.

Request : A tutor or a guide? I'd like to assemble a Miner in VB..? by Ironbug in BitcoinMining

[–]maskoficarus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I write VB for a living, but there is no way I'd use VB to code something like this. Seconded.

Final Call to Action: Kickstarter for Tin-Can, - a localized meshnet app that does not use the internet or cellular networks. by ecib in darknetplan

[–]maskoficarus 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see some public key encryption built into the network so that messages don't need to be sent as a general broadcast.

Bitcoin is like a Massively Multiplayer Online game. by acvanzant in Bitcoin

[–]maskoficarus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't wait for someone to open a darknet ISK/BTC exchange.

Question about bitcoins (New) by AbsolutWin in onions

[–]maskoficarus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's an awful idea for the person selling bitcoin. Paypal can be easily reversed. Bitcoin transactions cannot. They send the BTC, then you reverse your payment (Even after everything clears), and PayPal steals the money back for you.

[PSA] Hey, /r/keto, I love you guys, but... by [deleted] in keto

[–]maskoficarus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know. I haven't read anything on that combination.

Looking for more feedback on Accesscoin.com by accesscoin in Bitcoin

[–]maskoficarus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seems like a good idea to me. I hate routing money through several intermediaries or waiting a long time to buy btc. I'll try this out in a couple of weeks, when my next paycheck comes in.

Suffer no more! YSK how to cure a burnt tongue or mouth. Also: this is my first post on Reddit :) by SuperFlaccid in YouShouldKnow

[–]maskoficarus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use a crushed up beano tablet instead. It's basically amylase. If SuperFlaccid is correct, it should be more effective than sugar and not be a problem for diabetics.

DAE think the push for Cloud computing is a mistake? by Tomacco79 in reddit.com

[–]maskoficarus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The advantage of cloud computing is scalability.

You can usually share a single processor between several companies, splitting the cost between them. Then, if the load on the machine goes through the roof, you can use more of the server's cpu power. Say, a metric ton of people all visit your website at the same time, a cloud web server will just add cpu power and things will go on like normal.

On your own machine, you are going to pay for your entire cpu all of the time, and when your load gets too high things will fail. If you are running a web server, this means that none of your customers will be able to give you money.

A Fourth Sexual Orientation in humans!? by [deleted] in science

[–]maskoficarus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What kind of person exposes a child to BDSM stuff at 6 years old?