I post about my swanky new hat... and then over like 8 hours... only 3 posts. All bottoms. A triple... a DOUBLE triple.  And then...  Lord, help us.


It was a quiet afternoon/evening in here... is that bullish or bearish?

Well, then have another stack of 'em.

Best ever.  Be soaked in merits...

Seems to me Grayscale is the way billionaires are hedging via BTC.  The recent Laura Shin (meh) interview with Chamath was wonderful... Especially in his viewpoints on "shitcoins".  Very simple and powerful.  But he does not seem to mind paying the premium so he does not have to mess with custody.  Like it or not it seems to be that that is exactly what Grayscale is doing/becomming.

https://unchainedpodcast.com/chamath-palihapitiya-why-bitcoin-will-be-the-category-winner/

I didn't say throw it AWAY!  I said throw it in the wash! It's kinda smelly by now.

Bitcoin custody is exactly the opposite of risk free.   Can you imagine the vectors being tried as we type to get at their networks, emails, etc?

A lot of us are ashamed of our hair loss from years of crazy bitcoin price swings, but not silly enough to try a combover.

I feel like my hat needs an update... hmm maybe it just needs to be thrown in the wash?

This is one of those things that is inevitable, and complex enough in it's implications that it just makes me extremely uneasy.  And not in a simple way like: ISIS BAD!!! NO, MONERO!!!

This ABSOLUTELY proves Monero's unique use case.  And to be honest, if I was one of the hyper maximalists (Think Saifedean) this would give me tremendous heartburn.  Because there is a REASON that Monero is beginning to catch up to BTC on the dark web, and why a group like ISIS would eventually see it's usefulness.  

I am a maximalst insofar as I believe that (almost) no shitcoin does anything to IMPROVE on Bitcoin.  And even the functionality of a network like ETH can not only be replicated on Bitcoin, but possibly even in a way that offers a better set of tradeoffs.  Simplicity and Rootstock are being built on TOP of the highly secure BTC network without attempting to cram the computation on the base layer itself.  It is already evident, but it will continue to be, in my opinion, that the layered approach to adding features is the correct, and inevitable approach.

But base layer privacy is not something you can just do atop BTC.

I have been saying for years that Monero is unique among the myriad shitcoins in that it actually really does something Bitcoin, not only can't, but possibly SHOULD NOT do.  Privacy on the base layer has an EXTREMELY compelling and easily understood use case.  And it also comes with it's own set of costs and tradeoffs.  There is NO DOUBT about that.  The Saifedean types have criticized Monero claiming that the private base layer makes it difficult, or impossible to audit, and means that an inflation bug could be happening even now and be being exploited unnoticed.

But privacy on the base layer is SUCH a powerful and useful concept that even *if* XMR was currently suffering from an inflation bug, it's usefulness could arguably still outweigh the cost.  Back in the day Fluffypony used to say, Do NOT BUY Monero, USE it.  And that is the meaning I always took from what he is saying.  Monero is not really going for the "digital gold" moniker.  Even though there are arguments that privacy could be important there as well.  But Monero is going for the digital CASH crown.  It has taken it's seat at the table as THE DEFACTO fungible cryptocurrency.  PERIOD.  No amount of marketing on the part of Dash can change that.  No amount of butterflies and bubbles shit out by Zooko can overcome the privicy THEATER that ZCash is.  And Monero holds the network effect prize as well.

But... I am afraid all the above is going to make Monero too famous, too fast.  In the (parting) words of a wise man:


This is going to paint a HUGE blinking target on the back of Monero.  And I have to be realistic.  No amount of pie in the sky idealism will change the fact that even though EVERYONE wants what Monero gives us... VERY POWERFUL world governments are NOT going to look on this news cheerfully.

At least it's interesting!

GO MONERO!

The magic of him... and I hate to say it out loud, is that he has an INCREDIBLE track record of being a reverse indicator.  He has called tops and bottoms by his appearance extremely accurately (or dis-accuracy depending on how you look at it).

Is this not satire?  The first hand... every decision the literal worst that can be made... I LOVE this guy.

That is some of the most fucked up bullshit I have ever read you write, and there's plenty.

I think BLM is a fairly terrible organization but they don't hold a candle to your level of extreme bullshit.

Seriously you have a really bad problem.  People's color, or culture are ridiculously bad reasons to hate someone even if you disagree with the values of their culture.  But YOU on the other hand are an inspiration and poster boy for the fact that despising someone for their ideals INDIVIDUALLY is sometimes the exact right thing to do.

Before I ignore you I would like to publicly condemn you and the bullshit you said above.  It is intolerable, and is the VERY RARE sort of speech that is not acceptable as you are ACTUALLY advocating genocide.  If there is anyone who's mouth should be forcibly shut it's yours.

What an absolute douche.

Ignored.

They spend a lot of time getting the settings right on the TA-1VP. 

Aren't you getting the horse before the cart there?  How are noncoiners going to buy anything with Bitcoin if they don't have any?  And why wouldn't this be the first step for paypal?

The purists are not going to like it (hell, I suppose i fit that bill to an extent), but this is where the majority of "Layer 2" is going to be.  This, Cash app, etc.  Eventually PayPal and Cash app will both be settling on chains like liquid while they provide centralized layer-2 solutions for their end users. 

They have finally realized that they can be to the banks what Netflix was to cable.

And they will be.

Soon.

We are about to enter a fairly accelerated mode here, IMHO.

Big.

I am not a pot smoker, nor do I drink much anymore (that was kinda hard), but i would take issue with "more addicting".  It is not even CLOSE.  Alcohol is one of the most addicting drugs in existence.  Marijuana, on the other hand, one of the least.  You can build a tolerance to THC, but quitting is not hard for the vast majority of folks.  Nor does it usually cause destructive behavior in it's users.  You cannot say the same at all for alcohol.  It causes loads of damage. 

The herd often does exactly the opposite of what is prudent, and at best is behind the curve on good ideas...  It is just gonna take a little time.

You are one of the most positive people I know!

Hmm I have a bad feeling...   Like something around the corner.  Hope I'm wrong.

In my opinion it is dangerous to believe bullshit like this.  I can tell you for a FACT that the covid units built in the hospital system I work for are REAL, and the fact they are up ~100% over the last week is also REAL.  And people who end up intubated stand a real chance of dying.

Now, is our social response to the disease overblown?  Perhaps.  Time will tell.  And at this moment that time is not that long.  It looks to me like the disease is NOT very deadly, but it is crazy contagious.  This means that it is true to say most people will not succumb to it, and it also means it may be true that our hospital systems can become overwhelmed.

Beware of people spinning this to the extreme in either direction, in my humble opinion.