'The people' do not yet control monetary matters. I mean, they do, but they don't realize the power they (we) have. As such, central banks will determine the fate of gold for the foreseeable future.

What central banks can't control is the whirlwind that will be the inevitable result from the stupid policies adopted back in the 1910-1913 timeframe. All they will be able to do is react to the debt-fueled collapse of the world economic system.

But the world has endured monetary shocks in the past. And while painful, they don't necessarily portend armageddon. The... ::*ahem*:: honorable, learned, and wise leaders find a way to restart the party - usually at the expense of setting in motion yet another larger shock some years or decades into the future. Even in the central banking era, we've gotten through Bretton Woods, the Nixon gold shock, and other such events - each of which was a complete rearchitecting of the world's monetary system.

tl;dr: Worldwide monetary shock is coming; it won't be TEOTWAWKI; and central banks will guide us through to the other side.

Which is all just prefatory to saying that both mindrust's and JJG's number estimates are woefully low.

Central banks, by and large, own gold. Large stocks of gold. And those whose economies have advanced past their gold holdings are buying gold hand over fist. (There is a notable exception of Great Britain).

When the shit hits the fan, about the only tool the central banks have is a repricing of gold. Not by 4x, but by some double-digit multiple. I followed the figures at one time -- Rickards has a handle on the precise number -- but it's a damned sight higher than 4x.

If the monetary collapse happens within the next decade (a fair possibility), there is no way in hell the response will be Bitcoin. Ain't gonna happen. Those currently in power will not cede it to a ragtag bunch of innernet nerds. Sure - if the people writ large rise up and force the issue, it could happen. But they wont.

So no. Chance of gold being massively increased in value is a damn sight higher than 5%, and the increment in such an event will be a damn sight higher than 4x.

Now I'm not saying Bitcoin will be a lagging investment in comparison. Nay, even with the scenario outlined above, I expect Bitcoin to handily outperform PMs. But in discussing alt assets, let's at least be real.

Just for the sake of argument, assuming that: CSW does indeed own such patent; it is valid in jurisdictions where JPM wants to use their crypto thingy; he has the resources to prosecute and defend that patent against that infringement; he prevails; JPM offers gigabucks, and; CSW thumbs his nose at JPM's offer, leaving them with no recourse other than to build their thingy atop some bitcoin....

Would you still call him a loser?

I think I hear Alanis warming up again.

News about Bitmain's other major product line. Diversification. Hunh? This is courtesy of the Linley Report.

"Hey - what are you looking at?!"

"Ummm... noooooththiiiiing..."

The baseline doesn't change. Sell X coins every Y increase in price, buy X coins every Y decrease in price. When the bankroll starts getting small, change the buys to X-epsilon.

Of course, this can be modified by bulk sells to fund interesting things. I'm likely to sell a couple percent when it gets to $25k or $50k or somesuch.

But mostly hodl. Always be hodling. You don't want to feel like a chump when it 10x's from your exit point, and you ain't got nothing but a semi-big pile of stinky fiat.

There ain't nothing broken 'bout SV except the price. Which is  indeed regrettable. But is driven solely by individual perception aggregated as market sentiment.


MmmHmmm... And when the next wave of FOMO comes, BTC inevitably being throttled by on chain tx limitations and soaring fees, people's perceptions of the wisdom behind bigger blocks will recalibrate.

The UTXO set size is also kind-of only bound by the number of people who hold bitcoin.


Indeed, capping the block size is an effective way of capping the number of participants in the Bitcoin system.

I provided the details some years ago in this very thread. Like, as in, a link to his actual statement. I can't be assed to go dig for it at the moment. But once all y'all get shrill in your denials, I'll likely be unable to resist throwing it in your face.

But in the meantime, JJG is 'sure'. Apropos of nothing.

Still there. We'll be here 'til Saturday.

On the west side now - near Rincon. Nice, but windy. While in Fajardo, we went down the southeast corner. As one goes 'round the bend from the east to the south, it gets flatter and to me less interesting. Of course, we only traveled west along the south coast as far as Salinas. Might get attractive by Ponce or further west.

Still don't feel I have a sense of the place. Without interactive activities scheduled, it's kind of hard to know the lay of the land.

OTOH, I've never felt unwelcome or with confused traveler syndrome. The wife and I are both thinking we'll continue entertaining the idea of becoming residents. So far, the area of Rio Grande or Luquillo might be a good place to settle down.

More roaming this week. And we'll be back in March, bringing the kids, their spousal units, and the grandkids - staying at a lovely compound inside the El Yunque rainforest. That'll be less investigation, more simple tourism. Maybe last chance to all get together before oldest grandkid starts adult life of her own.

There is the 'Blockchain Unbound' conference in March as well in Condado - I'm trying to figure out how to tack that onto the end of another trip that abuts the dates. It would be a good chance to meet some local crypto folk. We shall see.

Well, JJG is 'sure'. I guess that settles that.

It ain't just a river in Egypt.

Well, I don't know the current situation, but some years ago, gmax stated that core no longer verifies back to the genesis block, relying instead upon a centralized checkpoint as 'good enough'. Still downloaded, just not verified. Weird.

Same place as you, mon frere.


All the justification needed. How soon you forget: Censorless. Permissionless.


Absolute twaddle.


Which, of course, is why they needed to be purged from public discourse by the high priests of the Bitcoin information venues.

Dashjr has been spewing his insane 'smaller blocks' schpiel since years. It dovetails neatly right between his insistence that the sun circles the earth, and his conviction that it is not immoral to summarily execute every human that does not believe his exact picture of magic sky fairy.

^^^ FTFY.

Evidence?

Oh... And... We all see that you evaded answering Bob's question.

Imagine how I must feel reading this response. Funny world, Bob.

Funny, funny world.

Funny definition of 'logical'. With 300kB blocks, it would take on the order of a half of a millennium in order to onboard the world to LN.

How long do you expect each channel to lock funds via HTLC?

Ummm... You realize that the Bitcoin protocol as embodied within SV is completely and utterly unencumbered by any such patents, right?

The continual trotting out of existing patents for services that may be built atop the base protocol, as if they affect the protocol itself, is heinously dishonest.

Or did you not even understand that fact to begin with?