Why do You Trust Bitcoin

[bitcoinbot]

If you don't know who created it or why it was created?

[bitcoinbot]

I know nothing of the code involved or really how it works but it seems strange to me how it arrived and we all trust it yet we have no idea if it's part of something bigger.

[spazzdla]

I know nothing of the code involved or really how it works but it seems strange to me how it arrived and we all trust it yet we have no idea if it's part of something bigger.

...

The code is open source... the entire idea of BTC is you cannot trust any human ever.

Many people DO KNOW how it works...



Don't expect to have it explained to you.. it's like trying to understand the Imaginary number when you still don't get 2 apples + 2 apples is 4 apples.

[RodeoX]

because I trust math more than I trust people.

[juju]

If you don't know who created it or why it was created?

Math is what provides the sense of security for me, Math is almost always predictable.

[bitcoinbot]

Could it have a backdoor?

[knight22]

Could it have a backdoor?

No as it is open source.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

I can't believe how much money I'm losing over the past 3-4 months.

Every time I check the price it seems to go down.

[bitcoinbot]

Could it have a backdoor?

No as it is open source.

Rogue programmer?
Undetected?

[Daniel91]

If you don't know who created it or why it was created?

Name is not the most important thing.
Vision behind this great project, very good business plan and excellent income opportunity really made me very excited about this idea .)

[franky1]

If you don't know who created it or why it was created?

1.you cannot tell me the machine model numbers of the federal mint
2.you cannot tell me the ALL security features of a bank note
3.you cannot tell me the licence/patent details of the cotton paper or ink
4.you cannot tell me chemical content of the paper and ink
5.you cannot tell me the exact figure of fractional reserve right now
6.you cannot tell me what the total number of bank notes will exist in circulation in 20 years
7.you cannot tell me the name of the artists that drew/designed the latest bank notes.
8.you cannot tell me that if you stored $1million in a bank account. that you would be happy leaving it there (knowing only $250k is insured)
9.you cannot tell me if your local bank will still exist in 20 years.
10.you cannot have a conversation with the inventors and innovators of bank notes.

so why do you trust bank notes??

but with bitcoin

1. avalon, terrahash, etc
2. sha256, eliptic curve, decentralisation, difficulty
3. mit open licence
4. sha256, eliptic curve, asics. (sourcecode is fully open to read every line and detail.)
5. zero
6. 20million
7. satoshi originally, now gavin andressen, jeff garzik, etc
8. if its on a address associated to a privkey only i have, it will be there for as long as only i have it.
9. privkeys dont need banks/online wallet services/exchanges
10. anyone can talk to gavin, jeff and the rest of the bitcoin team.

[GenTarkin]

The whole point is .. its trustless....


Well, technically till someone has over 50% of the network hashrate, then you gotta trust them. =P
Thats probably its largest shortcoming.

It doesnt matter who created it, its self sustaining(long as its being mined), fully open source and takes a true majority of participants to change ANYTHING about the way it works. Not even the devs have ultimate say in how it works. The devs simply propose changes and if over 50% of the network agrees to use the new release, those changes go live.
If it were closed source, then yes there would be major cause for concern.
The motives for its creation are obvious since its open source... After inspecting the source you can see for yourself exactly how it works, see if theres anything 'seeecret' happening behind the scenes. Since its been peer reviewed thousands upon thousands of times, its safe to say bitcoin itself functions as advertised.
Leaving the final motives for its creation: to get rich(at the expense of noone and only if it succeeds) & to provide the world w/ a monetary solution that benefits everyone.

But other than that... it just fucking works, its the only 'everything laid out on the table for all to see' software thats actually never been "hacked" .. well except for its early days when it was freaking alpha and had little / no net worth =P

Hell even "closed source"(everything is behind closed doors) banks / cc systems(modern monetary systems) etc.. cant claim that feat.

When you think about it, its quite fucking monumental.

[bitcoinbot]

I can't believe how much money I'm losing over the past 3-4 months.

Every time I check the price it seems to go down.

So spend it. Use it for it's intended purpose.

[Q7]

Think you already have the answer. It's open source meaning you can audit the codes. Who created it doesn't really matter for now

[bitcoinbot]

If you don't know who created it or why it was created?

1.you cannot tell me the machine model numbers of the federal mint
2.you cannot tell me the ALL security features of a bank note
3.you cannot tell me the licence/patent details of the cotton paper or ink
4.you cannot tell me chemical content of the paper and ink
5.you cannot tell me the exact figure of fractional reserve right now
6.you cannot tell me what the total number of bank notes will exist in circulation in 20 years
7.you cannot tell me the name of the artists that drew/designed the latest bank notes.
8.you cannot tell me that if you stored $1million in a bank account. that you would be happy leaving it there (knowing only $250k is insured)
9.you cannot tell me if your local bank will still exist in 20 years.
10.you cannot have a conversation with the inventors and innovators of bank notes.

so why do you trust bank notes??

but with bitcoin

1. avalon, terrahash, etc
2. sha256, eliptic curve, decentralisation, difficulty
3. mit open licence
4. sha256, eliptic curve, asics. (sourcecode is fully open to read every line and detail.)
5. zero
6. 20million
7. satoshi originally, now gavin andressen, jeff garzik, etc
8. if its on a address associated to a privkey only i have, it will be there for as long as only i have it.
9. privkeys dont need banks/online wallet services/exchanges
10. anyone can talk to gavin, jeff and the rest of the bitcoin team.

This literally makes no sense.
Wtf do I care what inks, chemical content or patents are used. As long as it's not fake I can use it. what does it matter how many notes are in circulation?
I don't even really care if my local bank closes, there are 1000's more I can withdraw from. If the bank went bankrupt that would cause me concern however.

I wish I had a $million in my account. Unfortunately I will never be that lucky.

[juju]

The main problem Bitcoin solves is it removes a layer of trust you currently have too place in a bank or financial institution. - https://bitcointalk.org/oldSiteFiles/byzantine.html - The Blockchain which Bitcoin uses, solves a problem known as the Byzantine Generals Problem.

You should read the section on Privacy which talks a bit about Trust and Bitcoin
Section 10: Privacy - https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

[juju]

-snip-
 As long as it's not fake I can use it. what does it matter how many notes are in circulation?
-snip-

Well we know its impossible to counterfeit Bitcoin since no one has been able to do this for ~5 years now. With bank notes/fiat it is easily replicated, they constantly update the "paper" technology in Notes to stay ahead of counterfeits, so we can assume we don't know how much spendable money their is due to counterfeiting. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterfeit_money

We know that their will only ever exist ~21 Million Bitcoin (less because people have sent coins to burn addresses or lost the corresponding private keys that control the coins)

Only way to counterfeit bitcoin is to be able to generate hash collisions for addresses that have coins, this does not really exist (very unlikely to occur), and if we manage too collide one of the hashing algorithms we are left with another hex digest since we chain two different hashing algorithms, this is so we can swap out the weakened hashing algorithm and generate new addresses and send the coins to them.

Additionally Bitcoin addresses are created with 2^256 bits, we can extend this too create a larger key-space in the future if needed: 2^512 or 2^1024 etc which would provide a significantly smaller chance for a hash collision to occur when compared to 2^256

I kinda started ranting about different stuff, hope something I said is real/helpful for you, long day and too much caffeine!!

[galbros]

Because it is open source and decentralized.  Anyone can check it and everyone working together makes it work.  This is why I was worried about Ghash.io getting 51%, 51% may not be armageddon but it would end the decentralization of bitcoin.

[seoincorporation]

I trust bitcoin because i can change it for true money when i want.

I have sold like 1.4 Bitcoins now, and at last its true money. That is why you can trust on it.

[bitcoinbot]

I trust bitcoin because i can change it for true money when i want.

I have sold like 1.4 Bitcoins now, and at last its true money. That is why you can trust on it.

So you trust Bitcoin because you can sell them for fiat?

Surely that can't be right can it?