Army Ranger goes Balls Deep into Crypto-Sphere

[ChefBoyardeez]

Hello Everyone,

I am a former Army Ranger, and started collecting BTC about a year and a half ago.  I am very happy to be part of this movement even though I feel so out of touch with most of the people in this community because of my very noticeable lack of understanding and comprehension of the technology. 

I look back on my 10-year career in the U.S. Army, leading troops/teams in austere locations and it is hard to think I got it wrong back then, but I see the things you all are doing and how much you all are really changing the world and I wonder what I really achieved in that time that you all are doing every day.  Did it help me? Overall it did wonders for my perspective, drive, determination its true...But sometimes I look back and I wish I went into software design and development and especially cryptocurrency.  Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) I wish I was more nerd and less barrel chest.

Some things about me? I love to cook and eat food.  It is probably one of my favorite things to do is cook a good meal and feed friends and family.  Not for the praise, but because some of the best conversations can be held around a dinner table.  Some of the worst conversations also but I try to steer clear of inflammatory conversations. 

I also love to snowboard, practice mixed martial arts, and have had 4 amateur fights.   I know right?  I could easily be considered a meat-head jock although I don't think I fit that stereotype, it would seem a fair label based on the things I do in my spare time. 

I am writing this thread because I am hoping to meet some smart people here that can help me when it comes to things like:

How to find good programmers/developers for cryptocurrency?

How to know if an altcoin is worth it's salt (by way of it's development team of course but how to judge their ability)?

How to be more crypto and tech savy?  (I want to be a nerd, please help)

How to think like you all and where to go to learn from the best. 


Some of the questions I will be researching (and asking if they have not been asked before):


Distributed vs. Decentralized - What are the real definitions?  A Distributed system can be Centralized or Decentralized right? So why are the 1960 graphical representations defining them as separate things categories? 

Is Bitcoin really a currency or a store of value or both?  Why? 

Is BTC really the king?  Why or why not?

Lightning Network solution, is it really any different than the current system we have in place already with banks and intermediaries or is there something new here I am not seeing?

Ripple, we all hate it...Or do we? We do right?  What is the future landscape of centralized coins?  Is having all the power in the hands of miners or the few who stake coins the best way of doing business or just the current way of doing business? What about a trusted centralized authority in order to protect the integrity of the coin and products or services behind it?

PoW vs. PoS is there really not a better solution? Either way, it seems they both have faults?  What about Proof of Activity as a combo to both? Is that becoming a thing or is it just a pipe dream?

BTC Colored Coins...What are they and will they be the future of BTC? What about contending with ETH and its ERC20 tokens?

What is the real deal behind BCH and BTC? Searched a lot on this one and seems the evidence points at BCH as being the original but maybe that is just all of the hype and money behind it?

What is the best way to build a coin? Start from scratch or fork someone else's work? If you use their work how do you appropriately reward their work if your coin goes big league and theirs is still struggling?

Is it the best idea to have blockchains accessible to all or is permission chaining the future?



I encourage anyone reading this to please feel free to DM me if they want to chat.  I do happily send token BTC amounts to, especially helpful people.  Time is money and experts should be rewarded for their expertise.  Looking forward to meeting and chatting with you and hope to be providing helpful content in the future on this forum!

Have a good weekend!!!

ChefBoyardeez

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[codewench]

Lightning Network solution, is it really any different than the current system we have in place already with banks and intermediaries or is there something new here I am not seeing?

In my mind, Lightning Network is very similar to Hawala: If you can't pay the recipient directly, you can get your friend, or friend's friend to make the payment.

What is the real deal behind BCH and BTC? Searched a lot on this one and seems the evidence points at BCH as being the original but maybe that is just all of the hype and money behind it?

BTC was approaching a fork in the road - it needed to scale to handle more transactions. BCH forked off first with the plan of scaling via bigger blocks. BTC forked off later with changes to enable scaling via a second layer network (Lightning Network.) Neither coin is the original. In short, BCH chose the simple short term fix, BTC chose the complex long term fix.

[figmentofmyass]

Lightning Network solution, is it really any different than the current system we have in place already with banks and intermediaries or is there something new here I am not seeing?

In my mind, Lightning Network is very similar to Hawala: If you can't pay the recipient directly, you can get your friend, or friend's friend to make the payment.

that's an interesting take. since money isn't moving on the BTC network when LN payments are made, it's similar to a hawala arrangement. however, it's not your friend (or his friend) making the payment. LN works because lightning hash pre-images can be pushed to the BTC mainnet if necessary; therefore they are fungible with BTC. so, money is actually moving on the lightning network. everyone transacting on LN needs to have BTC locked in custody, so it's not like hawala, where one person cashing in means another person cashing out.

[ChefBoyardeez]

Lightning Network solution, is it really any different than the current system we have in place already with banks and intermediaries or is there something new here I am not seeing?

In my mind, Lightning Network is very similar to Hawala: If you can't pay the recipient directly, you can get your friend, or friend's friend to make the payment.

What is the real deal behind BCH and BTC? Searched a lot on this one and seems the evidence points at BCH as being the original but maybe that is just all of the hype and money behind it?

BTC was approaching a fork in the road - it needed to scale to handle more transactions. BCH forked off first with the plan of scaling via bigger blocks. BTC forked off later with changes to enable scaling via a second layer network (Lightning Network.) Neither coin is the original. In short, BCH chose the simple short-term fix, BTC chose the complex long-term fix.

THIS IS AWESOME! I Know Hawala! I lived in Kuwait for three years and learned all about this system of payment as well as what WASTA is! Haha.  In the middle east, knowing people, especially powerful people, and having a good relationship with them is itself a payment system.  You can do so much with WASTA.  IF you have none you will have a tough time. 

Also, the fork in the road issue is very interesting to me.  This community is full of people solving problems but then it seems as if once the money was being made everyone forked off in their own direction to grab the cash.  Correct me if you feel that is not the right way to think about it but it seems like all this forking really dissolved the credibility of the forked products and the core. 

In the end, the one that will succeed is the one that can fit the all the stakeholders' demands/requirements.  One of the biggest to concern oneself with is that of the governments of the world.  Governments exist for reasons beyond the comprehension of most people, not the least of which would be the necessity.  Every try managing a team of 5?  Most have not.  Now consider 500 million or 5 billion...There is a need for government as there is a need for currency.  I am excited to see how it all plays out.

Will the long-term fix come out ahead or will it be the short term fix!

[ChefBoyardeez]

Lightning Network solution, is it really any different than the current system we have in place already with banks and intermediaries or is there something new here I am not seeing?

In my mind, Lightning Network is very similar to Hawala: If you can't pay the recipient directly, you can get your friend, or friend's friend to make the payment.

that's an interesting take. since money isn't moving on the BTC network when LN payments are made, it's similar to a hawala arrangement. however, it's not your friend (or his friend) making the payment. LN works because lightning hash pre-images can be pushed to the BTC mainnet if necessary; therefore they are fungible with BTC. so, money is actually moving on the lightning network. everyone transacting on LN needs to have BTC locked in custody, so it's not like hawala, where one person cashing in means another person cashing out.

Nice to meet another person who knows of the Hawala system.  To me it is such an incredible phenomena having lived over in the Middle East and learning of Hawala.  It was totally alien to me thinking such a system could survive but the idea of violating the trust in the Hawala system was so alien to the people using it they looked at me like an idiot when I asked them how it could work. 

It is like WASTA over there also.  Another form of TRUST that has to do with the trust acquired with people in relationships.  If you need something done you will have to have WASTA or it is unlikely you will ever get anything done in the bureaucracy of the middle east when it comes to government shops and offices. 

Love the idea of incorporating some of that trust into a currency digitally.  The time for trust, but verify, is here!

[Kakmakr]

Welcome to the forum.

I think you will get a wide variety of responses from this forum, from the polite <Thank you for your service> to the private hate mail in your PM. <We have a mix group of mongrels on this forum, but one thing we have in common is BITCOIN>

One thing that I might suggest is for you to calm down and to split your questions into separate threads. It is a bit overwhelming for people to read a wall of text and to answer multiple questions in one thread. ^smile^

On this forum Blockheads and Nerds are friends and we make no distinction between jocks and Geeks. A lot of people here are also Libertarians and anti-government, so be warned. 

I will answer one of your questions for now.  " Is Bitcoin really a currency or a store of value or both?  Why? "

Bitcoin is what you want it to be. It does not fit the mould for any specific definition. It's definition is closely linked to it's use case. If you bought bitcoins as a long-term investment, you possibly saw some potential for it to be a store of value. Some people buy bitcoins to trade and they use it as a commodity.

A lot of people bought bitcoins to use as a medium of payment, because they lost faith in centralized payment methods. <Credit cards are hacked and accounts are compromised with other payment options, like PayPal> In this instance, Bitcoin will be the alternative "currency" to these payment options.

I hope this answers one of your questions. ^smile^

[ChefBoyardeez]

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you very much.  I have been reading non-stop.  So many smart people with such good answers.  The hardest part is deciding who is right between two highly-informed and well-spoken case makers. 

Welcome to the forum.

On this forum Blockheads and Nerds are friends and we make no distinction between jocks and Geeks. A lot of people here are also Libertarians and anti-government, so be warned. 

I appreciate that and will return the favor by not giving virtual swirlies and digital melvins.  LOL! Totally kidding.  I appreciate your assuaging my fears.  I never was a good jock anyway.

I will answer one of your questions for now.  " Is Bitcoin really a currency or a store of value or both?  Why? "

Bitcoin is what you want it to be. It does not fit the mould for any specific definition. It's definition is closely linked to it's use case. If you bought bitcoins as a long-term investment, you possibly saw some potential for it to be a store of value. Some people buy bitcoins to trade and they use it as a commodity.

A lot of people bought bitcoins to use as a medium of payment because they lost faith in centralized payment methods. <Credit cards are hacked and accounts are compromised with other payment options, like PayPal> In this instance, Bitcoin will be the alternative "currency" to these payment options.

Yes, I bought it for a long-term investment and it seems now that it may be feasible for it to work as a payment.  So it may end up being both for me!