$55 Million for Blockstream to build out Bitcoin!

[Bit_Happy]

Corporate backing for bitcoin/Bitcoin developers. No one else sees a problem with this?

Huge problems, we need trusted, community based methods to keep the code free and independent.

[1714921037]

1714921037

[thejaytiesto]

Things are moving in the right direction, as expected when people have to put money where their mouth is, they will go for the talent and for the time tested developer team (Core team) and not the other wannabes that have proven nothing of value worth making them the leaders of the project (Classic, XT).

Already stacking up on this cheap Bitcoin before the halving.

[LiteCoinGuy]

It's unclear exactly what Blockstream's business plan is supposed to be; however, we can infer that it involves private blockchains and consultations on blockchain technology. R3 (Hearn's employer) is also working on private blockchains, so Blockstream must be evil, right?

The difference is that Blockstream's solution can tie these private blockchains directly to Bitcoin via 2‑way pegs; this makes BTC an extremely valuable common medium of exchange amongst all the private systems that wish to be so connected—in fact, it's better than that; because of the guiding principles of robust decentralization above all else, it serves as a refuge to store value when there's doubt in the rest of the system.

Blockstream's solution makes Bitcoin the backbone of an Internet of Money.

The transactions of the world are not uniform in their requirements; there are various profiles of risk and cost and speed and payload—and any other property you can think of! Indeed, there is more trust in the world than Bitcoin assumes, and that trust can be used by some profiles in order to benefit everyone.

No single system can simultaneously cater to all profiles.

The profile that Bitcoin was designed to serve entails decentralized, trustless processing of "small casual transactions"—and of these properties, decentralization is paramount; after all, you can construct an inexpensive high-volume transaction system on top of a decentralized core system of nearly any sort, but you cannot construct a decentralized system on top of a centralized core system of any sort.

The Core of the ecosystem needs to be correct.

Above all else, the Core of the Bitcoin ecosystem must provide decentralized, trustless processing of transactions; once that goal has been met, an overlay network (like the Lightning Network) can be used to construct Bitcoin transactions in a way that is smarter than simply using Bitcoin directly. Furthermore, Bitcoin's token, BTC, can be pegged to the tokens of other systems that cater to all manner of different profiles.

In this way, every possible profile can be serviced and yet tied together with a common token, BTC; when there is doubt in the ecosystem, users can retreat to the safety of the cold, heartless, trustlesss core that is Bitcoin.

This makes Bitcoin the Core of an Internet of Money.

[avikz]

Great news!! $55 Million is not a joke and it's huge amount to invest in a technology. That shows the trust of the loyal fans of bitcoin and also shows the future potential is huge. Good news indeed!

[LiteCoinGuy]

https://blockstream.com/2016/02/02/blockstream-new-investors-55-million-series-a/

[franky1]

Take the anti-capitalist paranoia back to your Bernie Sanders MeetUp; we don't need it here.

when a blockstream shill who has tried portraying himself as an anti-capitalist, then goes and tells anti-capitalists to shoo off.. you know for certain that blockstream really is capitalist, and the cover of secrecy is finally being unveiled

[bargainbin]

https://blockstream.com/2016/02/02/blockstream-buys-bitcoin-for-55-million/

I, for one, welcome our Blockstream overlords.

[iCEBREAKER]

Take the anti-capitalist paranoia back to your Bernie Sanders MeetUp; we don't need it here.

when a blockstream shill who has tried portraying himself as an anti-capitalist, then goes and tells anti-capitalists to shoo off.. you know for certain that blockstream really is capitalist, and the cover of secrecy is finally being unveiled

Where did I portray myself as anti-capitalist?  Anti crony-capitalist to be sure, but I'm no pinko.

You are so far off base you might get captured by the Taliban.   

Only the code matters.

Do you disagree, or have you found a way to indict the code with your paranoid guilt-by-association conspiracy theories?

[Quantus]

Where is this money coming from? nvm oh venture capital firms and banks?
And how will the money be used? oh 'targeted toward the bitcoin network'

This sounds like great news, they sound like they want to build out the Bitcoin network so these parasitic in nature service providers can run their services on top of our network, using us for security.
This is an improvement over the old strategies of dividing the community and tricking the community into forking the code into oblivion.

I'm fine with parasites using the blockchain for security as long as they keep the bulk of the data they want to protect off the main chain and pay fees like the rest of us.

[Bit_Happy]

Not sure about the money, but here is the "tech stuff":

Read the whitepaper, Enabling Blockchain Innovations with Pegged Sidechains, to understand the science.
https://blockstream.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sidechains.pdf

[croTek4]

Take the anti-capitalist paranoia back to your Bernie Sanders MeetUp; we don't need it here.

when a blockstream shill who has tried portraying himself as an anti-capitalist, then goes and tells anti-capitalists to shoo off.. you know for certain that blockstream really is capitalist, and the cover of secrecy is finally being unveiled

Where did I portray myself as anti-capitalist?  Anti crony-capitalist to be sure, but I'm no pinko.

You are so far off base you might get captured by the Taliban.  

Only the code matters.

Do you disagree, or have you found a way to indict the code with your paranoid guilt-by-association conspiracy theories?

Only the code matters. Who is writing the code? We know this information. Who is influencing the people writing the code, and what are their intentions? To not question this would be stupid. To say that +$50 million has no influence would also be stupid.

[owm123]

Its great news indeed!The $55 million funding raised,will it be in bitcoins or fiat.I'm sure the core developers would like to have it in bitcoins.Finally some reward to the developers.Hope it doesn't turn as a sellout to the commercial streams which may dissolve decentralization,I'm afraid.

How this is good news, that a bitcoin development is virtually controlled by one commercial company? Do you think that the investors gave the 55 mils now, as a charity? They will expect return on their investment. Blockstream will be doing what's best for the investors and itself to make a profit for them.

Bitcoin is no longer about free, community driven and community centric development, free of any financial bs like this. No surprise Satoshi left, if he forsee this coming.

[iCEBREAKER]

Only the code matters.

Good point!  I agree.

Who is writing the code?

I don't care.  Only the code matters.

Who is influencing the people writing the code, and what are their intentions?

I don't care; that's none of my business.  Only the code matters.

[croTek4]

Only the code matters.

Good point!  I agree.

Who is writing the code?

I don't care.  Only the code matters.

Who is influencing the people writing the code, and what are their intentions?

I don't care; that's none of my business.  Only the code matters.

So you're just blindly following a company? That is opposite of what bitcoin is.

[owm123]

Only the code matters.

Good point!  I agree.

Who is writing the code?

I don't care.  Only the code matters.

Who is influencing the people writing the code, and what are their intentions?

I don't care; that's none of my business.  Only the code matters.

So you're just blindly following a company? That is opposite of what bitcoin is.

I think the answers were sarcastic.

[Minecache]

Wish this block size debate could be put to sleep for good. So tiresome.

[bargainbin]

Wish this block size debate could be put to sleep for good. So tiresome.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing

[iCEBREAKER]

Wish this block size debate could be put to sleep for good. So tiresome.

Sorry, the debate isn't just going to disappear because you "wish" it would.

If you are tired, try taking a nap.

[Amadues]

Congratz for Blockstream and the Core Devs.
http://www.coindesk.com/blockstream-55-million-series-a/

Blockstream has raised $55m in Series A funding to continue its work expanding the bitcoin code base for commercial use.

With the news, Blockstream's total funding rises to $76m over two investment rounds. To date, the company's signature technology has been its sidechains offering, currently in testing, which enables the creation of blockchains that can validate data from, and transfer assets to, other blockchains.

I'm pretty sure the big block/Classic supporters will not like this news.

selling with the news!

The commercial use of blockchain could expand the user base and the value of bitcoin!

I think this could be a strong news! 

[bargainbin]

The commercial use of blockchain could expand the user base and the value of bitcoin!

I think this could be a strong news! 

Only down ~$6 today. Meh.