What are the chances BTC is replaced by something better soon?

[Bobsurplus]

A better coin would need a multi-billion dollar infrastructure to overcome Bitcoin's network effects. This forum is currently swarming with losers who think they can turn back the clock and become early adopters with their own alt-coins. Will. not. happen.  Money is accepted because people think it is money. People will think it is money because it is accepted as money. The ultimate network effect.  I paid $10/BTC for coins that were mined for pennies and I was happy to do it. Now they are worth hundreds. There is no more early adopter money to be made, but there is still VC money, wall-street money and mainstream money to be made. Quit crying over lost opportunities and take advantage of the opportunities you still have.

With only 21 million coins ever, the early adopter stage has not even begun. 

when all 7 billion people on earth are using btc, that's when no more early adopter money will be made.


were still early adopters.

[1714937786]

1714937786

[bitpop]

Litecoin is going to become VERY centralized when the first asics hit and that will destroy it

Care to explain this nonsense in detail?

The asics are going to be very complex and expensive and not many companies will be able to develop them like simple sha256 units. The few people that can afford them will own Litecoin and put every single other miner out of business instantly.

[Bobsurplus]

Litecoin is going to become VERY centralized when the first asics hit and that will destroy it

Care to explain this nonsense in detail?

The asics are going to be very complex and expensive and not many companies will be able to develop them like simple sha256 units. The few people that can afford them will own Litecoin and put every single other miner out of business instantly.

I don't know about all that doomsday stuff but I don't think you know what your talking about.

I cant imagine the scrypt chip is that much more cash intensive then sha 256.

Asics came around for bitcoin and everyone said the same shit your saying now. Granted its much more costly to mine btc now, but its still fully decentralized.

I happen to be getting some of those first gen scrypt asics and I take it personally when you make a comment like you did.

I'm all for decentralization.

[bitpop]

There's 2 differences. There's open source sha circuit layouts that's why it was so fast and competitive. Also if a sha asic is half bad, it can still run. A scrypt asic can't have any errors especially in the ram. Ram is very complex and very expensive right now.

[Bobsurplus]

There's 2 differences. There's open source sha circuit layouts that's why it was so fast and competitive. Also if a sha asic is half bad, it can still run. A scrypt asic can't have any errors especially in the ram. Ram is very complex and very expensive right now.

Well I surely hope you're wrong.

[bitpop]

There's 2 differences. There's open source sha circuit layouts that's why it was so fast and competitive. Also if a sha asic is half bad, it can still run. A scrypt asic can't have any errors especially in the ram. Ram is very complex and very expensive right now.

Well I surely hope you're wrong.

Great time to switch to btc then get back in later.

[freedomno1]

Given a 100 year view is almost mathematically certain that (a) INR will not exist, and that (b) Bitcoin will exist in some form (although likely there will be lots of competition).
The fact is almost no gov controlled currency has survived for more than 150 years or so....all gov currencies eventually disappear.
Secondly, in essence Bitcoin is just math - specifically large prime number factorization. It also happens to be quantum resistant thanks to its use of Elliptical Curve....Further its not a product or a company...as long as 2 people exist that agree to use the protocol then its still has value.

[toy4lov3rs]

A better coin would need a multi-billion dollar infrastructure to overcome Bitcoin's network effects. This forum is currently swarming with losers who think they can turn back the clock and become early adopters with their own alt-coins. Will. not. happen.  Money is accepted because people think it is money. People will think it is money because it is accepted as money. The ultimate network effect.  I paid $10/BTC for coins that were mined for pennies and I was happy to do it. Now they are worth hundreds. There is no more early adopter money to be made, but there is still VC money, wall-street money and mainstream money to be made. Quit crying over lost opportunities and take advantage of the opportunities you still have.

With only 21 million coins ever, the early adopter stage has not even begun. 

when all 7 billion people on earth are using btc, that's when no more early adopter money will be made.


were still early adopters.

Payment network can not get 100% market share, just look on visa/mastercards or paypal. A lot of people simply dont use it.

[davedx]

3) A large big name brand comes up with their own decentralized currency, sure it would be a bit more centralized than bitcoin but imagine if someone like google came along with their own open source dencentralized currency.  That big name brand alone could likely cause a lot of everyday folks and businesses to hop on board, especially if it solves some of the "problems" bitcoin has.

It would not surprise me at all if we see a GooglCoin in the near future.

Charles Lee, the creator of Litecoin, used to work at Google. It wouldn't surprise me if they have a number of experts already in-house, if not already building a cryptocurrency.

Despite not being the innovation powerhouse of years gone-by, Google is still pretty creative with technology. This would be right up their street.

A GooglCoin would have lots of synergy with existing products, like Google Wallet, Android Play, AdWords/AdSense.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised they've not made a move already.

Hah. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1vvfxz/google_confirms_their_payments_team_is_working_to/

[lightyear69]

Fuck ripple and some guy holding your gold. I'll use bullion vault if I want gold

Same can be said to bitcoin and guys holding our money on it!!!

Digital currency is used by people for limitless transaction and I am sure you cannot move with your bullion in vault. But certainly i can if i reside in the UK and want my bullion delivered in the US, I can do it quiet comfortably with NoFiatCoin | XNF.

With Bitcoin I hold my Bitcoins

You can hold NoFiatCoin | XNF as well. This is traded on Ripple network. People having a bit knowledge of Ripple can say that Ripple is the most fast and robust currency network. Please follow the link http://www.nofiatcoin.com/ to find it all yourself.

Nope Ripple is a joke. They've only released such a small % of XRP onto the market. There's like what 20-50X inflation still to come?
Fiat will be less inflationary than ripple.

You can see by looking at how small the daily traded volume is, 2 Billion Market cap my ass, the numbers point to something more in $25 Million market cap range.

No Ripple is not a joke but people are so fascinated by some binary codes (bitcoin) that they forget that it has no backing. Do not talk about inflation of XRP but do look at the price volatility of bitcoins. Even bitcoin offcial website warns not keeping money in bitcoins as price can fall down sharply and people can lose all their money.

With NoFiatCoin | XNF people have some tangible and real backing in form of gold and silver which they can redeem at any time at anywhere at thier comfort. What is Bitcoin and Litecoins backed buy? 1010101010101010101010 (binarycode)

Bitcoin is already tested and accepted. Crypto currency market has recently seen types of coins and many of them are biting dust. Merely having bullion backup does not make anything credible.

[whtchocla7e]

Given a 100 year view is almost mathematically certain that (a) INR will not exist, and that (b) Bitcoin will exist in some form (although likely there will be lots of competition).
The fact is almost no gov controlled currency has survived for more than 150 years or so....all gov currencies eventually disappear.
Secondly, in essence Bitcoin is just math - specifically large prime number factorization. It also happens to be quantum resistant thanks to its use of Elliptical Curve....Further its not a product or a company...as long as 2 people exist that agree to use the protocol then its still has value.

Assuming that the current encryption scheme will last another 100 years is pretty bold.
Quantum computing itself may become obsolete in 100 years.

[lightyear69]

@lightyear69,

Look, I understand there is no specific formula for success. It is achieved by collective efforts or winning combination. Reasons for bitcoin success were something but does not stop other crypto currencies from getting success. Now, I guess that the creators of NoFiatCoin-XNF are trying to tap on people who looks for some kind of credibilty attached with them. What makes $ widely accepted? because the government of the USA is standing behind it. You got the point?

I get the point but there is a basic difference between the $$ and the company XNF. As you said, The US govt is standing behind $$ to make it work but drawing parallel between the US govt. and NoFiatCoin is justified? Can we believe company behind XNF would not run away with gold?

[keithers]

Google will probably end up coming out with a google coin that will be another alternative to bitcoin.   Google moves pretty quick with all of their money and resources, so it wouldn't surprise me if we see a google coin soon.

I don't think it will overtake bitcoin though.   Kind of like how google + did not overtake facebook...

[Dafar]

What's the point of a google coin?

If it's centralized and controlled by them, that takes away a huge benefit of bitcoin so why would anyone switch over to google?

If it's decentralized, then they don't own it just like they don't own bitcoin... then why waste their time when they can work around a crypto that's already established like bitcoin?

[pening]

What's the point of a google coin?

If it's centralized and controlled by them, that takes away a huge benefit of bitcoin so why would anyone switch over to google?

So de-centralisation is the most important property of bitcoin?  People will transfer to any cryptocoin that's more convenient, if that's Googlecoin, they will go there.  de-centralisation is only an issue for certain political aims.

[ascalon]

What's the point of a google coin?

If it's centralized and controlled by them, that takes away a huge benefit of bitcoin so why would anyone switch over to google?

So de-centralisation is the most important property of bitcoin?  People will transfer to any cryptocoin that's more convenient, if that's Googlecoin, they will go there.  de-centralisation is only an issue for certain political aims.

Considering the main innovation within bitcoin is the fact that it solves the problem of how to get a decentralised network to agree on a certain thing, it's strange you would even ask this.

What would be the difference between 'Googlecoin' and Visa?

[Dafar]

What's the point of a google coin?

If it's centralized and controlled by them, that takes away a huge benefit of bitcoin so why would anyone switch over to google?

So de-centralisation is the most important property of bitcoin?  People will transfer to any cryptocoin that's more convenient, if that's Googlecoin, they will go there.  de-centralisation is only an issue for certain political aims.

I didn't say "most" but some would say it is... it is definitely a big advantage of bitcoin. All my information AND my personal wealth controlled by google? No thanks

[pening]

Considering the main innovation within bitcoin is the fact that it solves the problem of how to get a decentralised network to agree on a certain thing, it's strange you would even ask this.

I'd say its the "thing" and the agreement to that are the innovations.

[ascalon]

Considering the main innovation within bitcoin is the fact that it solves the problem of how to get a decentralised network to agree on a certain thing, it's strange you would even ask this.

I'd say its the "thing" and the agreement to that are the innovations.

The blockchain is what solves the problem of consensus on decentralised networks. That's the innovation, everything else had already existed. So, what would be the point of having a blockchain on a centralised currency?

[pening]

Considering the main innovation within bitcoin is the fact that it solves the problem of how to get a decentralised network to agree on a certain thing, it's strange you would even ask this.

I'd say its the "thing" and the agreement to that are the innovations.

The blockchain is what solves the problem of consensus on decentralised networks. That's the innovation, everything else had already existed. So, what would be the point of having a blockchain on a centralised currency?

But the blockchain is just a ledger.  So if you want to, we can say there's no innovation as everything did exist before.  Peer-to-peer isn't new, decentralised banking isn't new (original banks weren't centralised).  This is all a bit of an existential problem for bitcoin now...  for me the key point is the mix of technologies, and the driver is the secure prevention of double-spending in an unregulated, electronic transfer mechanism - it has created trust, that the thing.  I don't believe the current decentralisation will last long, it will remain distributed, but with consolidation of mining to a small number of nodes.