We need to wait and see whether other places do this as well as it's just as likely to be an excuse for them to drop a market they haven't made the best of. If others follow suit that reflects very badly on ETH.

You can't expect to be the 'world's computer' if you need the permission of a mega corporation running a node to use it.

The ETH forks aren't money grabs, they're technical kludges and can kicking.

I can see why exchanges in particular can't be bothered with that shit any more. Running a proper ETH node sounds like a seriously demanding task. It would no doubt be worth it if they were making money from it but Coinfloor have never really taken off.

For other chains that fork or splinter or just get weaker over time exchanges are the ones who'll be targeted with double spends. To combat that they have to introduce tons of confirmations which is turn pisses off their customers.

I remember someone who pledged their willy to BSV, money button whatever that is, saying soon they couldn't afford to run a node any more and that was one of BSV's thimbleful of real services. When sizeable crypto businesses themselves can't run nodes then you know you've fucked it.

I don't know if they're still doing it but Coinbase were giving you free crypto for doing some mindless crypto surveys. You can exchange the shitcoins they pay out for BTC.

Looks like it is still going - https://www.coinbase.com/earn

They pay out more if you do some successful referrals but keeping it to yourself gives you a bit too. I presume you need to be fully signed up and verified with them to do it.

I think it'll probably equal out in terms of popularity versus outrage. It must really annoy the newcomers who are trying to see absolute fucking deadbeats lording over them.

The sooner anything with a financial incentive that requires an indication of your worthiness switches 100% to earned merit rather than rank the healthier this forum will be. Plenty of campaign managers already do this but the total removal of the rank factor would help.

So one miner, $20,000 nodes and repeated claims that it'll swallow all 19 inches of knotty, swollen government phallus.

Sounds exactly like the original intention to.a.tee.

I can get why some people don't like the direction Bitcoin has taken. What I don't get is how they can get behind something that's an even bigger greener flobbed in one's face.

This year I spent some BTC on a gift for MYSELF because I'm very attracted to me and I can't think of anyone else who could possibly deserve it more.

I attempt to make Xmas revenue neutral so spend whatever comes back my way over the season. It's way more fun setting a budget, going somewhere cheap and emerging with whatever you can find. There are usually some surprising results.

Presumably you've got something between your legs which means someone somewhere on the internet will pay you to fiddle with what's down there on camera. Job jobbed.

I can't speak for the US but that's not how it works in the UK. If I buy a car with Bitcoin and that Bitcoin was bought for less than the value I'm realising that car sale is subject to capital gains on the difference in price. It's classed as a disposal just the same as selling it directly.

Since alt to alt trades are now treated that way in the US it's probably the same set up for any type of purchase but don't quote me.

We have an allowance that I don't think exists in the US so you can spend freely up to that amount with no tax on the gain.

The American tax situation sounds like a right pain up the arse so I have no doubt it does turn off potential users.

But the people who do stick it out will lord over the markets in an unassailable manner. It's their lack of vision that I find most bizarre. That's what VCs should be all about. That's why they exist.

Once upon a time I had a few meetings with TV companies regarding scriptwriting. They told me that if I got one thing made that would earn me a five year window where it didn't really matter what shit I came out with. Having one thing made was enough to separate me from the contemptible hordes until I categorically proved I was absolutely goddamn useless and that was a fluke.

I get the same feeling with VC land but the time scales are much more stretched out. It seems you can burn untold billions for decades and no one will show you the door because whatever tiny flicker of early promise you demonstrated was enough to get you through the door.

In Circle's case I'm struggling to think what they've got left that might end up hitting the jackpot. I guess it's USDC so that'll be next to go. Then they'll auction their intellectual rights on here and it'll sell for 0.0000001 BSV.

I absolutely think all airdropped merit should be removed.

I wouldn't be bothered if the legacy ranks remained but if you wanted to move up a rank you should have to start from a zero airdrop count just like a newbie. If you have contributed little to nothing of note in two long years then you shouldn't get a free leg up. You'll still be a good rank.

To go further you'll need to prove you've still got what it takes, not that most of them had it in the first place. Most were account farmers. I don't really regard ranks earned under the old system as in any way legitimate. All you had to was not get banned and shitpost once a day for 2-3 years to be a legend. But if it stays it stays.

If you became a legend before but have disappeared then you will remain a legend in our hearts and on the page but your merit score, or total lack thereof, will quickly illuminate your present status.

Every vote being binding would likely be impossible. There's a ton of good suggestions here that never get implemented. I'm sure plenty are straightforwardly ignored for no convincing reason but we don't know how hard some others are to put into action. What seems a piece of piss on the surface might be a site breaker. Someone has to put the notion into actual action.

And since crypto is so tribal and mindless there's a strong chance of one tribe descending and shouting down all the others. Then again you could play with a forum equivalent of proof of stake. If the seniority of your rank gave your vote a greater weight it would go a long way towards making it saner.

NEM uses proof of importance. The accounts with the greatest weight in decision making are the ones considered most active and useful to the network rather than the biggest ones.

You could have something similar to the Swiss referendum system where if enough signatures are obtained you're obliged to hold one by law which would cut down on the plainly crap proposals.

Could make for a very interesting experiment and if it was designed carefully enough it could be fully sustainable without the need for a heavy hand.

Of the people I know most are hand to mouth but some have assets they could get rid of if necessary. I doubt many of them could survive a major hit or being without work for more than a few weeks.

The Man wants you to dig yourself into a hole so deep you'll never quite be able to get out of it but also not become a full on burden and many are happy to oblige. I've never been that way myself and would rather go without than stretch myself. 

You should also be adblocking the shit out of everything. That'll stop the adwords results that attempt to con you. It will also often save you from being put through to compromised sites if your actual browser doesn't. I'm amazed there's anyone out there who doesn't do it.

Of all the established exchanges I'd be least surprised if Kraken turned out to be the slackest. You don't hear very much at all about their regulatory efforts compared to places like Gemini and Coinbase.

If this bloke was alleging the same about Coinbase I'd consider it total bilge. It doesn't feel outside the bounds of reality for Kraken. But still I'll believe it when I see it.

By 2040 the incentive to modify Bitcoin to something that protects it from quantum computing, that's if it's an actual problem and getting a definitive answer to that seems rather hard, will be overwhelming.

I'll be back in nappies by then so won't care either way. No doubt there'll be huge scraps over every aspect of it.

There's no end to the crap an embittered ex employee will pull and they'll be fully conscious of the effect stories like this will have on anything crypto related.

All the same no one has the slightest clue what goes behind the scenes at a crypto exchange so it could be unimaginably worse for all we know.

I'll continue dipping in to Kraken when necessary and running away as quickly as possible.

Next ten years are the key ones. As Satoshi himself said in 2010 ish in twenty years volume will either be enormous or nothing. If it's bigger than ever in 2030 then I don't believe it's going anywhere for the rest of our lifetimes at least.

The real challenges in capacity, mining sustainability and uptake are yet to come.

A 'boring' Bitcoin means it's become fucking humongous. By that point even if there's no new blood it will still be one of the very best places to park your value as it will continue to appreciate against the depreciating money most people are paid in.

It will also be immune to the unimaginable kludges that are coming to attempt to keep the regular economies twitching. We ain't seen nothing yet.

People who think like the average peabrain here with the patience and perspective of a toddler who announce doom because they got fucked on Bitmex today will be long gone and long broken. Those who stick around will have rather different feelings eventually.

Most bullish sign today - https://blog.kraken.com/post/3355/kraken-otc-acquires-circle-trade/

Circle got rid of their consumer-facing service just a few short months before the bull run kicked off. Now they've gotten rid of their whale service too.