Bitcoin Technically was a Success but Greed Is Killing It

[achillez]

I've been out of the Bitcoin seen for about 9 months. Primarily because of work, but secondly because I've mostly had it with the hacks (mtgox), exploits, and other Ponzi coin scams (e.g. altcoins like dogecoin) bouncing around. In each of these I've lost a small number of coins, much smaller than I made but still annoying nonetheless.  Now that I've come back I read that bitstamp was hacked, mcxnow went down (boy was I naive on that one), and a variety of sites are down or destabilizing. Of course bitcoin price has fallen which further depresses our overall market cap but that's an aside.

It occurred to me that bitcoin, as a secure transaction system that fixes the double-spending problem has 100% succeeded. Where it has failed, miserably in fact, is providing a simple, secure system for storing and spending your funds. Others can say it's simple, use an offline wallet, store your keys in a usb stick under your pillow, be smart and you won't get hacked. Well that only goes so far, because some of the "pros" still get hacked even though they followed this supposedly secure processes. The point is, there is no way we'll convince the mainstream to use bitcoin when it's technically difficult to secure your coins, and greedy bitcoin crooks are out there to take their coins as soon as they misstep. I'm sure when fiat first started out there were similar problems, buddy A stealing from buddy B. Except a lynch mob would find A and then hang him. People learned really quickly that the consequences of stealing fiat was far too high. Why are there few/no consequences for stealing bitcoin? Our supposed "forever" blockchain isn't tracking down the Mark Karpeles 100s of millions of BTC that were stolen - WHY!? People have lost faith in bitcoin because apparently we have no decent way to resolve these situations.  As I said - technically bitcoin has shown it works, but it doesn't have any level of oversight to stop greedy exploiters from ruining it. This *really* needs to be fixed to get bitcoin to the next level. Maybe it's a centralized bitcoin bank, or an overseeing body. I'm not sure but until we get there the public at large will continue to shy away from bitcoin.   

/achillez

[amaclin]

It occurred to me that bitcoin, as a secure transaction system that fixes the double-spending problem has 100% succeeded.

yet
but not forever

As I said - technically bitcoin has shown it works

yet
but not forever

[newIndia]

It occurred to me that bitcoin, as a secure transaction system that fixes the double-spending problem has 100% succeeded.

yet
but not forever

As I said - technically bitcoin has shown it works

yet
but not forever

Why ? Because some of u r scanning the blockchain for re-used R value ?

[hilariousetc]

If you can lose access to your bitcoin funds then you can also lose access to your fiat funds on your online banking or PayPal account etc. Bitcoin may not be for everyone or ever achieve full mainstream adoption but at least there's a decent amount of people like us that can see the benefits and potential of it.

[Q7]

The problem here is we want anonymity and at the same time apply regulations and control to it. However, both of it doesn't mix together and we have to choose either one. If one needs to apply regulations and some form of control to at least catch the culprit when stealing occurs, then we just have to do away with anonymity. I could be wrong here. Let's hear from some others.

[newIndia]

It occurred to me that bitcoin, as a secure transaction system that fixes the double-spending problem has 100% succeeded.

yet
but not forever

As I said - technically bitcoin has shown it works

yet
but not forever

I honestly have to believe this account was bought because there is no FUCKING way (I rarely cuss in my comments) That you think the blockchain or double spending will change. You are an idiot, if by 300 activity you don't think that the blockchain or double spending is mathematically proven you are in a world of trouble my friend. If there is double spending everyone will know, there is not a transaction system more secure than bitcoin the double spending problem will always be perfected, the only issue ever is a 51 attack and that can't happen unless a pool has over 50% of the network and is willing to make their profits crumble to shit.

Amaclin is not a bought account. He is a Russian with in depth knowledge in cryptography. But, rather than building future on it, he is more interested in screwing it.

[oser41eric]

There are already hadware wallets to keep your coins more secure, some better than others though.

[Braedo]

It is still early days, Hopefully if we don't crash to 0 the devs will find a solution to these problems.

[Furio]

Greed has always been a weak factor in humanity, look at communism, in itself a perfect system, yet man is not perfect...

[LiteCoinGuy]

maybe you should not invest in scamcoins and hold your private keys: problems solved.

its like the early internet. there were also alot of scam and now its even worse because satoshi invented the internet of money! prepare for much more fraud and scams like Paycoin/Paybase etc.
but there will be more good than bad in the end.

[skinnyboy]

Greed has always been a weak factor in humanity, look at communism, in itself a perfect system, yet man is not perfect...

Ewww, gross...tell me I didn't just actually read that? :-(

[gjgjg]

Once the eco system shakes out the get rich quick, "why hasnt it gone to the moon yet" price watchers then we'll have a majority of people spreading BTC for the sake of the beneficial technology (+ideology).

Agreed that BTC is currently hindered by these greed based people but I think its far from killing it. Its still spreading very well, despite all the doom and gloom.

Hopefully we can shake out these speculators sooner rather than later, watch the price settle down and let the technology take a proper hold. Id say 2016 - by the end of 2015, the price watchers will lose interest if it doesnt get to more than 4/500$ or will lose hope if it stays in the 2/300$ or go lower. So after a 'bad' 2014, a mediocre 2015 I think 2016 will be time to get serious:p

PS I was a price watcher until quite recently, Id like to see it go up to 4 figures but Im starting to realise its getting more complicated to get there lol. now I just want to see BTC succeed properly, increase in price is a bonus.

[achillez]

Thanks all for the comments. The one thing I'd still like to be better understand is why is the community, the feds, someone, doing something more to track down the MtGox hack? the block chain is permanent, supposedly IP traceable. Can't we find who did this, and somehow return coins back to the rightful parties?

[ViciousPlayer]

Thanks all for the comments. The one thing I'd still like to be better understand is why is the community, the feds, someone, doing something more to track down the MtGox hack? the block chain is permanent, supposedly IP traceable. Can't we find who did this, and somehow return coins back to the rightful parties?

Is this something else? I thought that Gox wasn't a hack, but a straight up scam. Some guy took the money and ran and made up stories to throw off the dogs.

[amaclin]

The one thing I'd still like to be better understand is why is the community, the feds, someone,...

Why should community, feds, me, etc do anything for you?
Do it yourself if you need it.

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
the block chain is . . . supposedly IP traceable.
- snip -

You've been misinformed.

There are no IP addresses in the blockchain.  There is no way to know for certain what IP address originated a bitcoin transaction.

[achillez]

Thanks all for the comments. The one thing I'd still like to be better understand is why is the community, the feds, someone, doing something more to track down the MtGox hack? the block chain is permanent, supposedly IP traceable. Can't we find who did this, and somehow return coins back to the rightful parties?

Is this something else? I thought that Gox wasn't a hack, but a straight up scam. Some guy took the money and ran and made up stories to throw off the dogs.

Unknown. Many speculate (including myself) that MarkK conspired to do this. Others think he was just plain naive and someone came in and swiped the coins. I still find it odd that there is no one actively investigating it. The government doesn't seem to be looking into it to show people they can't trust bitcoin. Afaik the bitcoin community isn't actively pursuing it because most are powerless, and the ones in power don't really care.

[achillez]

The one thing I'd still like to be better understand is why is the community, the feds, someone,...

Why should community, feds, me, etc do anything for you?
Do it yourself if you need it.

This has little to do with me. I've gained far more than I lost, but many people have lost their life savings because of bitcoin scams. The masses fear bitcoin because they have no sense of security in bitcoin. It's the wild west out here, and perhaps its even worse because there really is no support when massive $hit happens. With Government currency at least there is support (one could argue how much - but there is).

Your response perfectly punctuated this point. Greed (and selfishness), is killing it.