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Bitcoin / Bitcoin Discussion / Re: US Marshalls auction SilkRoad bitcoins
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on: July 06, 2014, 03:35:10 PM
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Reading the weird messages from the dust transactions to the address is entertaining That's another great advantage of bitcoin over the obsolete payment systems. You would never get such fun as spam, hate mail, and mockery on you bank account statement. Anonymous messages that you cannot erase and everybody can read. Way to go, bitcoin.
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322
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Other / Alternate cryptocurrencies / Re: rpietila Altcoin Observer
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on: July 06, 2014, 01:54:42 PM
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Intra- and inter-cellular biological systems like humans, signalling is effectively PoW. When this is circumvented, you get cancer or other cellular malfunctions. [ ... ] These things are all intertwined with the very nature of entropy and causality and the universe itself, and cannot be circumvented, no matter how warm and fuzzy a "greener" (or more frightful still, "fairer") proof system makes one feel. In fact, any time a non-PoW system is used as if it were a PoW system, it will be less "green" in the long run, although it may deceive cells or people in the short run if they are not immune to the deception.
Very weird conclusion... But in fact signalling and signal-processing systems, natural and artificial, have always evolved towards using as little energy and matter as possible; and this has often been the most important criterion, more than speed. Thus we have DNA, an information storage system that uses only a dozen atoms per bit; the nerve fiber, that uses much less energy than a copper wire of the same length, and wastes no energy in the form of external electromagnetic fields; and insect pheromones, that can trigger a response miles away with only one or two molecules. A more energy-efficient solution to achieve a needed goal is an obvious advantage in natural selection, and in a free market as well. For that reason, the necessary waste of energy and resources called for by the PoW crypto protocols is a serious weakness of the concept. The mutual recognition of individuals and the creation of trust bonds between them is an innate human trait, older than humans themselves. Getting rid of trusted intermediaries in payments is not a human necessity by itself; it is only a proposed strategy to avoid certain perceived bad consequences of the current intermediaries (banks and governments) under current laws and institutions. If there is a cheaper way to avoid or diminish those bad consequences, without necessarily junking the trusted intermediaries, society will prefer it to PoW distributed cryptos. Ditto if those bad consequences end up being less serious than the cost of the proposed remedy.
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323
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Other / Off-topic / Re: Answer the question above with a question.
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on: July 06, 2014, 01:10:29 PM
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only if your proof is pasted on a vodka bottle and I have to pay for the proof do I need to pay for it and how much are the shipping fees?
Didn't you know that vodka is more expensive than water because it is a 40-proof liquor, which means that proof is much more often found pasted on vodka bottles than in math books?
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326
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Economy / Speculation / Re: Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion
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on: July 06, 2014, 11:23:12 AM
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The chance is about as high as the possibility for the Bitcoin adoption to start going in reverse. Well, it has never happened before with any winning technology but yeah, not an impossibility. You never know Betamax comes to mind... Although it is a bit of a tautology: how can we tell that the technology is a "winning" one, if it is not adopted? For things that people can choose and use independently of others, such as microwave ovens and fly-swatters, better technology is an important advantage (although advertising and other factors are important too). But for things that depend on a network, like money or document formats or email protocols, inertia often trumps technology. (That of course is the main argument that Bitcoin supporters use to predict the demise of Litecoin and other competitors.)
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328
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Bitcoin / Bitcoin Discussion / Re: US Marshall's Bitcoin Auction Results
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on: July 06, 2014, 10:10:07 AM
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Any word on FOIA requests? I wonder if that could get the price public.
Someone claimed somewhere on this forum that he submitted one. Got a canned reply "we got your request and we are processing it, be prepared to pay up to 25$".
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330
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Economy / Speculation / Re: Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion
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on: July 06, 2014, 12:09:43 AM
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Orchestrated by gox inhouse bots Read the willyreport. Can't refute facts. Er, the facts (if we believe the leaked database) are only that "Markus" and "Willy" bought a lot of coins, and those buys caused the price to rise at MtGOX. The Report claims that those buys were the cause of the October-November bubble, but that is not a clear conclusion. My interpretation of the charts is that the October pre-bubble rise (from 120$ to 200$) was caused by a surge in demand at BTC-China, and the November bubble proper (from 200$ to 1200$) by a bigger surge of demand at Huobi, OKCoin, and BTC-China (and possibly at other Chinese exchanges whose history is still unavailable). In that case "Markus" and "Willy" were not driving the bubble, but only bringing it to MtGOX, by doing arbitrage: buying coins at MtGOX (possibly with non-existent money) and selling them in the Chinese exchanges.
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331
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Other / Off-topic / Re: Answer the question above with a question.
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on: July 05, 2014, 04:46:38 PM
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I think it just happened but how long will it continue to happen?
Until the end of time or until the end of bitcoin?
Magazines like Time won't last a century, while a religion may last for millennia; could bitcoin be a religion? I spelled time with a small t meaning for time as the time we measure with calendars,watches etc. not Time, bitcoin is a religion we worship the mighty Satoshi so he does not smite us with his mighty smite You my Bitcoin-san, do you believe in our lord and saviour the Satoshi? Ignoring the fact that you also spelled Bitcoin with a demeaning lower case 'b', which would excuse my assumption that you wrote Time that way only because you were a fan of e e cummings, aren't you bothered by the fact that 'Satoshi Nakamoto' is an anagram of 'Satan has oskimoto', even though we don't know what 'oskimoto' could mean?
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332
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Other / Off-topic / Re: Answer the question above with a question.
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on: July 05, 2014, 04:32:01 PM
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I think it just happened but how long will it continue to happen?
Until the end of time or until the end of bitcoin?
Magazines like Time won't last a century, while a religion may last for millennia; could bitcoin be a religion?
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334
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Other / Alternate cryptocurrencies / Re: rpietila Altcoin Observer
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on: July 05, 2014, 03:21:23 PM
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Could a PoS miner "rent" coins from a hoarder to simulate that he has the required stake, without actually having it?
Pure PoS coins don't have miners in the conventional way, perhaps you know this but I am struggling to therefore see the point of the question. Why would a "hoarder" rent his coins to someone else to stake unless they were paying more than he would make by staking his coins? To that end then, why would a "renter" rent coins from someone to make less than they would by buying some? Thanks, it was a stupid question, sorry.
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337
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Economy / Economics / Re: How profitable are exchanges?
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on: July 05, 2014, 07:31:33 AM
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The point is that there have been periods when the purchasing power of 1 BTC dropped by more than 50%.
You could pick two arbitrary points in time and could make a negative point about any currency or any investment. You are not going to find any financial unit of measurement that will go up in a straight line. Hm, when was the last 6-month period where the purchase power of the dollar fell 50%? The Brazilian real did that in 1996 (days after the reelection of the president whose only campaign point was its stability). Since then it has fallen gradually by another 30% perhaps. Over long periods of time the purchasing power of bitcoin has increased.
Indeed, anyone who bought bitcoin at any time before November 1st, 2013 has seen about 1000% increase per year on average. BUT those who bought after that moment have had a much mixed returns, from very good gains (if they bought in May, for example) to very bad losses (if they bought in January, or after mid-November). So bitcoin is a good hedge against inflation only for those lucky ones who have a time machine in their attic that allows them to buy their coins in 2013 to sell now. For those who are forced to buy now to sell in the future, it is not an investment: it is a gamble in a lottery with unknown prize and unknown odds.
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338
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Other / Off-topic / Re: Answer the question above with a question.
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on: July 05, 2014, 07:24:51 AM
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If we must pay for one's pizza, can one pay using Bitcoin?
Yes, but how much did the first bitcoin pizza sell for? But, wouldn't a pizza by any other coin taste as good? Maybe. But didn't you just ignore his primary question? Didn't he ignore the other guy's primary question as well? Donīt you think it was ignored because it did not make any sense?
I didn't see your question in time, would you accept my apologies for that?
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339
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Other / Off-topic / Re: Answer the question above with a question.
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on: July 05, 2014, 07:22:18 AM
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If we must pay for one's pizza, can one pay using Bitcoin?
Yes, but how much did the first bitcoin pizza sell for? But, wouldn't a pizza by any other coin taste as good? Maybe. But didn't you just ignore his primary question? Didn't he ignore the other guy's primary question as well?
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