|
AFAIK historically, some ATM's have been manufactured by shell corps owned by organized crime and used to conduct money laundering.
ATM machines are also one of the places thieves stakeout to steal pin numbers and credit card data.
Other than those small issues, hell yeah. I would totes use a bitcoin atm.
|
|
|
|
|
Dumps increase volitility.
One might say volitility is what traders rely on to produce profits.
BTC's price fluctuating up and down is easier to trade and profit from than a flat line with small percentage movements.
More dumps could translate to more volitility(and possibly more volume), which in turn translates to btc and altcoins being more attractive to trade for investors.
This could be a good thing, which could imply dumps are good in terms of being volitility inducing.
|
|
|
|
|
If nothing else, I hope the controversy with bitcoin opens peoples eyes to how far people will go to control things like governments, banks, economies and financial systems.
It might be important for things like banks and governments to be decentralized to make them resistant to control.
The same way one might say bitcoin being decentralized, makes it more difficult to manipulate by those with hidden agendas.
|
|
|
|
I wonder if bitcoin holders are diversifying their "portfolio" & preparing for worst case scenarios. Would that be a prudent strategy with fork concerns, or would it be moreso paranoia? What types of things would the typical bitcoin holder use to diversify?  |
|
|
|
Reminds me of this quotation by Henry Ford.  And this biblical quotation.  "My people perish for lack of knowledge" could describe deficits, healthcare and every other issue the world faces. Every issue and problem crypto faces, also. |
|
|
|
If that was true, you would be suggesting improvements to layer 1, not adding simplistic attack vectors that beget more simplistic attack vectors. Everyone knows how blocksize increases will play out: - increase blocksize
- new blocksize gets spammed
- tx fees are then the same as they were before
- increase blocksize
- new blocksize gets spammed
- tx fees are then the same as they were before
If you want to argue "let's have an upper limit then!"... Then why mess around, just set an upper limit, we'll end up at that limit anyway It seems as if block size is irrelevent. No matter how large blocks are, they will always succumb to DDOS style, deliberately spammed transactions. Its in miners own self interest to spam the network to raise transaction fees higher & boost profits. It is possible we could have 1GB blocks and they'd still spam to raise transaction fees. Increasing block size won't change anything, because block size was never the problem to begin with? |
|
|
|
|
One thing that stands out in OP's youtube video, is Roger Ver saying he wants bitcoin to compete with credit cards in terms of transaction speed and fees so that "everyone can use it".
That's kind of like saying he wants to make encrypted WIFI fast enough to play video games as well as an FIOS hardline.
He doesn't seem to have a plan or idea on how to achieve this.
He doesn't seem to understand encryption based technologies like bitcoin will never be as fast as credit cards, for the same reasons that encrypted WIFI will always be much slower than using an unencrypted hardline for gaming.
He seems to think that if he continues to increase block size, he'll eventually reach a point where bitcoin can execute thousands of transactions per second, like credit cards do.
It seems like a bad plan created by a person who lacks the technical background to be involved with making key bitcoin design decisions.
|
|
|
|
He's risking bitcoin's stability & credibility without quantifying what type of real world gains a 2MB block size could yield. That's like buying a refrigerator without measuring to see if it fits in your kitchen 1st. This guy is supposed to be smart?  |
|
|
|
|
The SEC is owned and run by bankers.
They're not an independent organization free from conflicts of interest.
The same can be said of credit rating agencies and any regulation of financial and banking sectors.
What the SEC says is merely a reflection of what bankers tell them to say.
If the SEC was a real regulatory agency, the 2008 bank crisis would never have happened.
If the SEC was a real regulatory agency, banks wouldn't have trillions in derivatives exposure.
There's a revolving door history of politicians and executives from the banking industry filling SEC posts and vice versa.
|
|
|
|
Block size isn't important. What is important, is how many transactions per second 2MB and larger block sizes can yield. And whether those gains outweigh the added vulnerability & other negatives associated with them? Am I right in thinking this? I still don't understand why people cite "2MB blocks" as if that by itself is self justifying. If the N64 having a 64 bit bus didn't make it superior to the original playstation, which was a 32 bit machine. Should I assume 2MB blocks (without other supporting stats and data) will solve every problem bitcoin faces? |
|
|
|
|
How bitcoin is traded on exchanges hs the biggest impact on price.
News stories have the biggest impact on how crypto is traded on exchanges.
Mining difficulty isn't something that factors into the price of btc much.
Bitcoin traded on exchanges is a double edged sword.
On one hand it allows the price of bitcoin to go from $15 to $1,000 within the span of 5 years or so.
On the other hand, in times of uncertainty like the current doubt & fear with forks, the price can also decline.
|
|
|
|
|
Bitcoin is a good investment now, because...
Whatever problems bitcoin might have with unconfirmed transactions, fees and forks.
Those problems are easier to solve than the us dollars problem of being issued by a government that is $20 trillion dollars in debt.
|
|
|
|
Those interested in mars, might like this. NASA proposes building artificial magnetic field to restore Mars’ atmosphereThe Mars of today is a cold, dry husk with no life as far as we can tell. Even if there is still some hearty microorganism living on the Red Planet, it’s not suitable for human habitation without a great deal of protective equipment. A NASA talk given at the recent Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop presented a potential way to make Mars more habitable by giving it an artificial magnetic field. This could protect human residents from radiation and bring back some of the planet’s ancient oceans. Data from missions like NASA’s MAVEN and the ESA’s Mars Express supports the idea that Mars was once more Earth-like. A few billion years ago, Mars had a magnetic field (like Earth does) that shielded it from radiation and the solar wind. Then, the magnetic field died out roughly 4.2 billion years ago, and the Martian atmosphere as slowly stripped away over the next 500 million years. Gone was the warm, wet Mars of the past. If we want to colonize the planet, we need to bring that Mars back. Even if we were to dump more atmosphere into Mars, it would just be stripped away again. It’s not clear how we would go about restoring Mars’ magnetic field, but we might be able to build an artificial one. According to NASA Planetary Science Division director Jim Green, a powerful magnetic dipole positioned at the Mars L1 Lagrange Point could potentially deflect the solar wind like a natural magnetic field. The L1 Lagrange Point is a location of gravitational equilibrium that ensures the structure remains between Mars and the sun. Green notes that advances coming out of plasma physics could allow for the future development of inflatable structures that can generate a magnetic dipole of 1 or 2 tesla. That could en enough to shield Mars against the solar wind, and it wouldn’t need to be anything near as large as the planet itself. The Planetary Science Division worked with scientists from Ames Research Center, the Goddard Space Flight Center, and a number of universities to run simulations of this scenario (PDF). The team found that a magnetic shield would allow Mars’ atmosphere to find a new equilibrium. Currently, it has stabilized at roughly 1% the density of Earth’s atmosphere, thanks to the release of gases from internal pockets. With the shield, that could increase by several times and allow the surface temperature to rise to an average of 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit). The thicker, warmer atmosphere could release the frozen carbon dioxide in the Martian ice caps, leading to even more temperature increases from the greenhouse effect. The frozen water hiding under the surface could also thaw and fill some of those ancient basins. Not only would Mars be warmer, but human residents wouldn’t have to worry about high radiation levels, or, you know, suffocating the instant they step outside. Green and his colleagues admit this idea is “fanciful,” but it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility. We might have the ability to build a magnetic shield for Mars in the next few decades. https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/245369-nasa-proposes-building-artificial-magnetic-field-restore-mars-atmosphere?source=Extreme Summary: They're proposing putting an electromagnetic shield in mars orbit to block solar radiation & prevent the solar wind from stripping mars of its atmosphere in order to terraform the planet and cultivate an earth like atmosphere. |
|
|
|
|
Value of commodities like food, water, electricity and shelter might increase.
Luxuries like gold, diamonds, paper money & bitcoins might decline.
BTW - If indians really did trade manhattan for $24 worth of beads and trinkets, I could be totally wrong about that.
|
|
|
|
Reminds me of those news stories about h4x0rs stealing wireless credit card data from people on the street.  An implant would probably be the most convenient and fastest way to pay for things. But perhaps like 2MB block sizes, the fast and convenient way, isn't always the best. |
|
|
|
|
I would still like to see benchmarks on speed advantages segwit claims, over core.
I don't like the way segwit and bitcoin unlimited turn this into a debate about "block size", rather than quantifying what type of real world performance advantages can be obtained by larger blocks. They're avoiding points that would allow people to do legitimate pro versus con breakdowns on the topic.
This reminds me of old school console wars when the sony playstation was a 32 bit console and nintendo tried to convince everyone their console was superior because parts of its hardware architecture were 64 bits.
Bigger isn't necessarily better.
|
|
|
|
|
Some believe quantum computers will represent a major breakthrough in terms of how many operations per second computers can achieve.
If that happens, all cryptographic functions could be vulnerable as they rely on computers lacking the computing power to break them in a reasonable amount of time.
It won't necessarily mean bitcoin will be vulnerable, bitcoin could upgrade to some form of quantum level encryption to be secure once again.
|
|
|
|
|
"Panic selling."
I wonder about that, too.
If the price of BTC and other securities/commodities is set by the most paranoid person, willing to sell the most.
Because they assume if they don't sell, some other paranoid person will beat them to it.
And no one wants to be the last seller stuck holding the bill.
|
|
|
|
|
Historians and textbooks never seem to divulge information that helps people understand what real history is.
During World War I, one of the generals had an opportunity to attack a mining facility one of the armies relied on to produce munitions. If they attacked they could have ended the war years earlier. Their superiors ordered them to stand down. When one country was low on iron or gunpowder, sometimes, they would be provided with the resources they needed to continue the war by a country they were at war with.
The same thing happens today, the united states is at war with the taliban in afghanistan. The war could have been over years ago, if the united states attacked taliban opium fields which the taliban rely on to buy weapons and pay soldiers. Instead US soldiers are guarding taliban opium fields, & opium production is way up.
After the great depression a set of laws called glass steagall were implemented to prevent that type of crisis from happening again in the future. Around 1999, under Bill Clinton's administration, glass steagall was repealed. Only took about 9 years later for the same thing that happened during the great depression to happen again in 2008. People probably don't see a problem with glass steagall being repealed. Textbooks and historians don't teach the reason for how glass steagall and similar measures prevent crisis.
The history & textbooks taught in schools seem like they could be a lie created to leave people vulnerable and make it easy to prey upon their lack of knowledge. That seems like it could be an issue facing society.
|
|
|
|
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, wants to colonize Mars. He has shown his support for the cryptocurrency declaring, “Bitcoin is a good thing.”
Another bitcoin-friendly company focusing on space tourism is Virgin Galactic, which is expanding its operations. According to its website, “Effective today [March 2, 2017], our family of space companies numbers three. As with before, Virgin Galactic will be our commercial human spaceflight services provider, and The Spaceship Company will continue to offer design, manufacturing and testing services to build vehicles for Virgin Galactic. And our small satellite Launcherone team will become our newest company: Virgin Orbit.”
Sir Richard Branson, the founder of these companies, believes that “Bitcoin is working.” Branson has announced that space tourists will be able to pay for their tours in bitcoins.
In this regard, Sean Patterson, PR Manager of Worldcore, wrote, “Now, Bitcoin holders can get a chance to join the future passengers of SpaceShip II, and the price of a round trip is approximately 340 BTC.” Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson and Sean Patterson endorsing bitcoin. Round trip to the moon on SpaceShip II only 340 BTC.  This is a lot to take in. I would tend to think mars would have some type of barter system, initially. The economy might not be fair if some people had zero bitcoin and others had 500 btc to start. The beginning would probably be trading equipment for other pieces of equipment or services. Then maybe later mars would implement its own altcoin or currency, something mars residents would have control of, rather than something controlled by outsiders. |
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
