Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Press => Topic started by: flix on April 15, 2013, 08:53:55 AM



Title: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: flix on April 15, 2013, 08:53:55 AM
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513661/bitcoin-isnt-the-only-cryptocurrency-in-town

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Currencies designed to fix perceived flaws in Bitcoin could lead to competition that makes the idea of digital “cryptocurrency” stick.


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: flix on April 15, 2013, 08:56:36 AM
It mentions a new paper by George Selgin, author of "Good Money", a book that is definitely recommended reading for all bitcoiners. It's on the history of private currency in 18th and 19th century England.

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Money-Birmingham-Beginnings-1775-1821/dp/1598130439

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yFov997rL._SY380_.jpg


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: Stephen Gornick on April 15, 2013, 11:41:12 AM
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513661/bitcoin-isnt-the-only-cryptocurrency-in-town

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Currencies designed to fix perceived flaws in Bitcoin could lead to competition that makes the idea of digital “cryptocurrency” stick.

I commented in the article:

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Litecoin is a proof-of-work based currency just as Bitcoin is.  That means it is also vulnerable to a 51% attack, just like bitcoin is. 

However, to reach 51% of hashing capacity with Bitcoin you need tens of millions of dollars worth of GPUs and FPGAs (ASICs would work too and cost less even but every one produced is already allocated to buyers and thus delivery is not available).

For Litecoin, that number necessary is much less, a fraction of a million dollars, or much less even due to Litecoin pools not being mature and able to remain up during a DDoS attack.

The steel door of a bank vault needs to be just as thick whether it stores inside just one million dollars of funds or two billion dollars.    The same scenario is at play here.

So Litecoin simply is not simply a less costly sibling that using a different hashing method, it is a completely different animal when you consider the risk profile.


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: Stephen Gornick on April 15, 2013, 11:42:39 AM
And there was a Tweet:

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@jonmatonis @techreview PPCoin is a premined scam coin~King has mined more coins in 1st week than all time since: http://bit.ly/10bPYvy

 - https://twitter.com/flibbr/status/323718244210982912
by Flibbr Marketplace ‏@flibbr


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: nebulus on April 15, 2013, 12:36:57 PM

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Currencies designed to fix perceived flaws in Bitcoin could lead to competition that makes the idea of digital “cryptocurrency” stick.

This should read "currencies designed to imitate early success of Bitcoin and to enrich the army of their supposedly "in-the-know" designers".


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: kjlimo on April 16, 2013, 04:50:58 AM
Well this certainly explains why My $100 investment has become worth over $10k now, haha.

Go PPC!

https://vircurex.com/welcome/index?referral_id=801-154

Get yours now!

Has the proof of stake concept been implemented yet?


Title: Re: 2013-04-15 Bitcoin Isn’t the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Post by: Rygon on April 16, 2013, 01:38:51 PM
Although Bitcoin is by no means stable or well liquidated, it's order of magnitudes better than any of the alt-currencies. And the alt-currencies are riding on the coattails of bitcoin right now. With the exception of PPC, none of the other cryptocurrencies are significantly different from Bitcoin. Plus, Bitcoin was out the gate first, which is a huge advantage.