http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/03/29/as-bitcoin-becomes-billion-dollar-market-america-moves-for-crackdown/
― Look, Brian, about the afro wig... (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 30 March 2013 23:03 (ten years ago) link
where do u think they come from, pal. bitcoin trees???
In a way, yeah?
Like, How much is this sack of mushrooms? Well, it's 35 B$. Ok, in my world a sack of mushrooms is fifty bucks, so the exchange for me is 7-10, but in Saudi Arabia, it's $200, so the value of my $35 is worth $200 Saudi dollars.
I didn't really think it all out, sure. Kinda got stuck on that sack of mushrooms, tbh.
― pplains, Saturday, 30 March 2013 23:41 (ten years ago) link
Bitcoins aren't a fiat currency, really, it's just that each coin is representative of a unit of work completed. Unfortunately, that work only created a bitcoin.
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Saturday, 30 March 2013 23:59 (ten years ago) link
do you have any idea how much work went into mining this ounce of gold
― 乒乓, Sunday, 31 March 2013 00:03 (ten years ago) link
bitcoins are fiat-like tho arrnt thry
― 乒乓, Sunday, 31 March 2013 00:04 (ten years ago) link
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Saturday, March 30, 2013 7:59 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark
Howard: Well, there's no other explanation, mister. Gold itself ain't good for nothing except making jewelry with and gold teeth.
― zero dark (s1ocki), Sunday, 31 March 2013 03:14 (ten years ago) link
smiles
― ☠ ☃ ☠ (mh), Sunday, 31 March 2013 03:25 (ten years ago) link
http://i42.tinypic.com/16583p.jpg
― am0n, Monday, 1 April 2013 16:17 (ten years ago) link
i thought this was really interesting, from the other bitcoin thread:
http://eprint.iacr.org/2012/584
Abstract: The Bitcoin scheme is a rare example of a large scale global payment system in which all the transactions are publicly accessible (but in an anonymous way). We downloaded the full history of this scheme, and analyzed many statistical properties of its associated transaction graph. In this paper we answer for the first time a variety of interesting questions about the typical behavior of users, how they acquire and how they spend their bitcoins, the balance of bitcoins they keep in their accounts, and how they move bitcoins between their various accounts in order to better protect their privacy. In addition, we isolated all the large transactions in the system, and discovered that almost all of them are closely related to a single large transaction that took place in November 2010, even though the associated users apparently tried to hide this fact with many strange looking long chains and fork-merge structures in the transaction graph.
― ciderpress, Monday, 1 April 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
Unreal hockey stick
― Brakhage, Tuesday, 2 April 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link
Bitcoin’s programming ensures there can never be more than 21m coins in existence. Part of the “bubble” effect, no doubt, is linked to a realisation that we are quickly approaching that limit. According to the latest data from Bitcoin charts, for example, there are currently 10,986,175 bitcoins in issuance. Yes, we still have some room to go, but given exponential dynamics, the fact that we’ve reached the “half-way point” in supply is no doubt meaningful.
Wait, what? I've been reading about these things for a while and never knew this
― Brakhage, Thursday, 4 April 2013 20:30 (ten years ago) link
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bitcoin-encryption-standard.jpg
― am0n, Friday, 5 April 2013 14:34 (ten years ago) link
can someone explain to me the purpose of the mining thing? Does someone benefit from all these computers being used to "solve puzzles" or whatever?
― --808 542137 (Hurting 2), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:40 (ten years ago) link
the person who does the mining benefits? or am i misunderstanding you
― just sayin, Friday, 5 April 2013 14:42 (ten years ago) link
i mean they get bitcoins for doing it
the mining is a way to limit the supply of bitcoins, making it more like gold or something, i think? btw please scrub my 'fiat' post from upthread i was confused there momentarily
― 乒乓, Friday, 5 April 2013 14:43 (ten years ago) link
So even if they had one each, the maximum number of Bitcoin users is 11m or something at the moment? Seems quite limited for an international currency.
― Des Fusils Pour Banter (ShariVari), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:46 (ten years ago) link
the supply is limited by the fact of what a bitcoin is -- a value that can only be found by an intensive algorithmic process that takes a lot of computing power to complete. The bitcoins that "exist" aren't all found, yet, but due to the nature of the algorithm it's known how many will be found.
Imagine there's a mineral that we know for sure only exists in one mountain on the planet, and we know how it's distributed within the mountain, and the exact amount of it in there. Instead of abstract quantities, it's found in exact units that can't be broken down. The computers crunching numbers are like excavators, slowly strip mining the mountain. There's no shortcut to get directly to the mineral, and a particular amount of land has to be moved each time. The amount of land is greater, but the excavators will get more efficient over time, so there's somewhat of a balance.
― I, rrational (mh), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:51 (ten years ago) link
And yeah, 11m bitcoins is rather limited
most of them are held by criminals, though
would it be correct to compare it to seeders in a torrent network? except that unlike torrents, you're not copying files but exchanging them?
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:52 (ten years ago) link
oh noes criminals
― am0n, Friday, 5 April 2013 14:52 (ten years ago) link
yeah, the currency exchange is somewhat like that
― I, rrational (mh), Friday, 5 April 2013 14:53 (ten years ago) link
http://maxkeiser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Screen-shot-2013-04-04-at-17.40.44.png
― buzza, Friday, 5 April 2013 15:08 (ten years ago) link
"pretty cool" - al gore
― am0n, Friday, 5 April 2013 15:13 (ten years ago) link
coinbase leaks users name and email: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=site:https://coinbase.com/checkouts/
― diamonddave85, Friday, 5 April 2013 15:53 (ten years ago) link
Your search - site:https://coinbase.com/checkouts - did not match any documents.
Suggestions:
Make sure all words are spelled correctly.Try different keywords.Try more general keywords.
― am0n, Friday, 5 April 2013 22:35 (ten years ago) link
There is a limited number of bit coins but that's not an issue as they can be used in decimal values. If it becomes huge you'll see prices or whatever like .00013 bit coins
― Jibe, Saturday, 6 April 2013 05:34 (ten years ago) link
OMG SO CHEAP ONLY POINT OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH THIRTEEN OF A BITCOIN
― Let's Make Laugh II (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 6 April 2013 09:21 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I think at the moment you've got 8 decimal places ('satoshis') to play with (even though some places aren't set up to take small fractions as payment). If it gets below that the protocol's got to be changed to allow it, as far as I can tell. Since ฿ is modelled on the way gold works, it attracts goldbug types, but it's essentially a speculative investment vehicle rather than a 'real' currency
The major problem as I see it is fractional reserve banking - if you can't create ฿s you can't loan them easily. So loans would have to be strictly transfers, unlike how it works now
Not a very noise post but I find this whole thing so fascinating
― Brakhage, Saturday, 6 April 2013 15:54 (ten years ago) link
so loaning now isn't a transfer based business?
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Saturday, 6 April 2013 16:03 (ten years ago) link
WE DO NOT INVEST IN OUTDATED FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: REAL ESTATE, COMMODITIES, BONDS, STOCKS
― Brakhage, Saturday, 6 April 2013 16:05 (ten years ago) link
As far as I know, fractional reserve lending actually *creates* money which is then loaned - so I have cash in the bank at the same time that cash is travelling around. Some good comment threads around this
Here's a 'lender' right here - which I'd imagine is a transfer house rather than an actual lender
― Brakhage, Saturday, 6 April 2013 16:10 (ten years ago) link
Just a reminder, fellas: Mother's Day is May 12.
― del griffith, Saturday, 6 April 2013 18:18 (ten years ago) link
lots of loans aren't fractional reserve actually! if i'm a private lender funding some business with a private loan, there's no fractional reserve component. fractional reserve isn't about loans (which involve actual cash transfer one way, then back the other) at all.
fractional reserve is about bank deposits and that's it. i deposit $100 in a bank. that bank then loans out e.g 90$. I still account for myself as having 100$, and the person that borrowed 90$ also now has 90$. They also have an obligation to pay that back in the future, but that doesn't net out from total money supply. So now there are $190 dollars circulating, effectively, since I can spend my money at any time, and the person with the 90$ can spend it too. This works because not everyone with deposits in a bank will be spending them at once. (sorry, econ 101 here). The same effect happens with any loan in fact. The difference is that if I hold a $90 IOU we don't count that as circulating currency, but my 90$ in the bank does count as such (because it is more fungible) even though effectively in both cases I don't have the actual physical cash but some financial obligation representing it. If I leant to a party whose IOU scrip was as good as currency, and freely exchangeable, then the same effect would occur with or without any government intervention or magic or anything. The crazies mystify the process so much that lots of misconceptions fly around regarding it.
There's no reason bitcoin is better or worse than dollars or gold or w/e else in being able to be banked fractional-reserve style.
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:21 (ten years ago) link
Anyone could start a fractional reserve bitcoin bank tomorrow. The only problem is that people would have to trust them.
― Chuck E was a hero to most (s.clover), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:22 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/WYNgcYP.png
― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:10 (ten years ago) link
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NMag6mhoh90/Te7LUEniH8I/AAAAAAAAfcg/WFAey0N8FBA/s640/BitCoin+vs.+Future+of+Online+Currency+1.jpg
― pplains, Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:53 (ten years ago) link
http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Layout_BitInstant_Card-640x787.png
http://printcoins.com/images/gallery/ron_paul_bill.jpg
― pplains, Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:54 (ten years ago) link
back on track
― I, rrational (mh), Sunday, 7 April 2013 03:20 (ten years ago) link
http://www.listentobitcoin.com/
― I offer about as much diversity as a saltine cracker. (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 7 April 2013 20:05 (ten years ago) link
Felix Salmon on the bitcoin bubble: says bitcoin's effectively a commodity, not really a currency
https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb
― dow, Sunday, 7 April 2013 23:01 (ten years ago) link
"Early last week the value of Bitcoins soared past $100 each. This week, it went past $200. If you want a Bitcoin today, it will cost you about $235, and if you wait till tomorrow, it will be more."
http://bitcoinpride.com/media/queldorei/shopper/logo.png
― witepriv and i (buzza), Wednesday, 10 April 2013 15:29 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/b2w7tzR.png
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link
buh-oh
― zero dark (s1ocki), Wednesday, 10 April 2013 19:10 (ten years ago) link
the 10,000 BTC pizza order
― diamonddave85, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 19:15 (ten years ago) link
print edition header of the chicago tribune business section today has a huge bitcoin symbol on it, will try and snap a pic
― jokestoldforu (gr8080), Wednesday, 10 April 2013 19:16 (ten years ago) link
1.4 million dollar pizza order in today's bitcoin: http://blockchain.info/address/17SkEw2md5avVNyYgj6RiXuQKNwkXaxFyQ
― diamonddave85, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 19:17 (ten years ago) link
Financial Times calls this '#000000 Wednesday'
― Brakhage, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 20:50 (ten years ago) link
that is really funny
― frogbs, Wednesday, 10 April 2013 20:57 (ten years ago) link