I'm currently reading Digital Gold by Nathaniel. As I progress, its clearer that bitcoin might or might not be a great economic tool but its an awesome case study in game theory. I think the real innovation of Satoshi (whether he intended it or not) is to keep the players (how ever big or small they are) chained up to the eco system. At every level of new expansion, new players (usually bigger than current ones) join in the game and gets entrapped in the net. Then the game uses these players's strength to pull it self forward. There are real risks to bitcoin at points of these expansions. My guess is that if too strong players join at a time when the net is not yet ready for them, there is a risk that they break free of the net and destroy bitcoin. Here too game theory comes to its rescue. Assuming the net is not strong enough at any given time, there is little chance that the whole thing attracts stronger players. This is why I believe bitcoin has better chances of success than other crypto currencies. Its a constantly evolving monster that will gobble up everything eventually (Isn't it beautiful :))
Having been introduced to cryptocurrencies the technical route, I'd never really been exposed to the brand of hype in these Andreas Antonopoulos videos before. I guess I've never watched a televangelist either, but I imagine this would be the equivalent.<p>This piece of bullshit in particular stood out to me:<p>> Where were you when libor was fixed? Where were you when gold markets were fixed? When high-frequency traders used front-running...<p>It's odd that he uses these examples to support the "trustless" blockchain architecture, because blockchain does nothing to improve any of these. The opposite is true: it makes it far easier to manipulate markets because all transactions are anonymous, censorship-proof, and it's impossible to recover funds from bad actors.<p>Not having to trust a central authority for the ledger does nothing to prevent collusion or frontrunning in markets. From what I've seen, cryptocurrency markets are constantly being manipulated in ways that are both unethical and illegal.<p>> Bitcoin vs Ethereum is like Sharks vs Lions...<p>He claims that Bitcoin specializes in ways that Ethereum does not, but this isn't true: effectively, Bitcoin is a subset of Ethereum. He claims that Ethereum "scales 10x worse" than Bitcoin, but I don't know where he got that number from: the reality is more nuanced, but by any practical measure, Ethereum is already better-equipped to scale and the protocol is actively evolving (as opposed to Bitcoin's, which is immutable as long as its community remains as toxic as it currently does).<p>If he means the size of the full blockchain, in practice Ethereum implements compression techniques that make it much more compact--the Bitcoin blockchain is currently at about 100gb, while the uncompressed "archival" version of Ethereum is at 300gb but the standard compressed version only requires about 15gb.<p>In terms of transaction throughput, Bitcoin has a stupid hard limit of 1mb per 10mins of data, and so Ethereum far outscales it in that regard. If you hear the term "lightning network" as a counterargument, you can ignore it: the lightning network doesn't yet exist, and when it does, it will have several practical problems, including that it requires onchain scaling to work[1].<p>[1] <a href="http://cowpig.github.io/bitcoin/cryptocurrency/2017/06/24/Segwit-and-Lightning-Network/" rel="nofollow">http://cowpig.github.io/bitcoin/cryptocurrency/2017/06/24/Se...</a>
I don't get how one can be a self-proclaimed "HODLer" and also preach about how cryptocurrency is the future of money. Assets you can reasonably call "currency" and assets you speculatively buy and hold seem like fundamentally incompatible categories. BTC or something like it may indeed be the future of currency, but that certainly won't happen until the current speculative mania reaches some kind of equilibrium.
Is there a cryptocurrency out there that doesn't hand outsize rewards to early adopters? I feel like I could get much more excited about something like that.
I got into bitcoin in the early days. I'll spare you my whining about how I could have been a millionaire, but I eventually wrote it off. Now, many years later, I remember my reasoning, and to some degree it still stands.<p>Anonymity is the killer feature of a currency.<p>This is why right now I am keeping an eye on Monero more than anything.
Good summary for hackers, but I wanted to raise one point:<p><i>No, seriously, please read it! The Bitcoin white paper should be required reading before anyone is allowed to interact with this technology.</i><p>What the fuck no. If you want to build something yeah maybe, but this is exactly what's <i>wrong</i> with cryptocurrencies at the moment - it's somewhere in between a cult and a club for insiders. This is why we have shitty wallet software and lots of existential uncertainty, rather than products that regular people can use with confidence <i>without needing to understand how they work</i>.<p>You don't require kids to read Adam Smith on the fundamentals of fiat currency before they learn how to buy candy. But when you go to the Bitcoin Website you're offered some 10 different wallets and told to 'educate yourself' with hardly any further help.<p>This approach is extremely exclusionary. When you write a beginner's guide, your job is not to mint a new cryptocurrency expert, it's to help someone understand why they might want to use cryptocurrency, get a wallet, put something in it, and complete a transaction (eg by getting them started with some low-risk variant like DogeCoin).<p>I've been following Bitcoin since shortly after it got started and the biggest hurdle to cryptocurrency adoption is the 'secret handshake' mentality that aspires to make a special currency for people in the know for private advantage, rather than offering simple, reliable, and accessible tools to people who need an alternative to the official economy (as much because of poverty or social exclusion as ideology). All people need to know about cryptocurrency theory is that it's secure, whether or not it's private, and how volatile it is.
Here's a much better primer: <a href="https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/" rel="nofollow">https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/</a> The Problem with Calling Bitcoin a “Ponzi Scheme” Much shorter and by the time you finish you will have a firm knowledge of what to do with crypto"currencies".
No, _here_ is the current best guide to cryptocurrencies:<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-ebook/dp/B073CPP581" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-e...</a>
Bitcoin in a nutshell: A small group of companies decide the price of bitcoin arbitrary, the price is not backed by real money or a commodity but thin air. The price is not even decided by supply and demand.
I'm afraid, when you read about something in the news, it is already too late to "getting started", meaning investment related activities. Imho after each word , of course.
Getting a wallet always felt like the biggest issue. I looked at Ethereum very early on before it caught on, but the wallet situation for that and zcash is so overwhelming and confusing, especially since a multiplier of 0 for a hacked wallet defeats the purpose.<p>At this point, a wallet for my iPhone that I can back up to say iCloud (accepting the risk that comes with that) and that isn't going to get wiped by accident due to a patch would probably be ideal.<p>I remember trying to get into bitcoin by signing up for Mt Gox, and we all know how that went. "iPhone-hosted" seems like the ideal thing, but I don't know if there's something like that?
I like Bitcoin except for the Proof of Work part. It has led to an arms race which causes tons of electricity to be wasted around the world.<p>I think the only reason for Proof of Work is to make it seem like "mining" is some expensive activity. But it doesn't have to be. It's a bit silly, actually.<p>In practice, PoW just winds up "electing" the next miner who you hope will compile all the transactions they see into a block. That's a single point of failure, they can charge inordinate fees, they can be DDoSed, and so on.
I've had multiple non-tech friends coming up to me and asking for my judgement regarding crypto currencies and whether they should invest in Bitcoin now.<p>I asked them whether they invest in managed funds, stocks, foreign currencies and whether they go to the casino. If they answer with four times "no", then I tell them to hold back on the pure greed/fomo/speculation/hype.
Also note that coinmarketcap lists for every token, which markets (i.e. exchanges) have it. Example for Cardano (ADA): <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/#markets" rel="nofollow">https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/cardano/#markets</a>
I love it from the perspective as a gamble. However, I get myself stuck on how difficult it is to get cash out of bitcoin.<p>I wonder if the price pressure is due to that.
Great starter guide, i also like to recommend the getting started page in the Reddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/</a> thread.<p>As people have already pointed out there are some things @aantonop says that aren't true like that bitcoin doesn't suffer from pump and dumps or front running, often exchanges not only run their own front running market making bots that get priority if they are the same price as other orders in the orderbook, but there are massive scandals without transparency & truth like the whole tether debacle, no one knows so you can assume the worst...<p>Extreme volatility right now to checkout our live forecasts/charts for pro traders: <a href="https://bitbank.nz" rel="nofollow">https://bitbank.nz</a> currently based on poloniex data.<p>We also have a referral program where you can earn .003 BTC every paying user.<p>Theres also an API/bulk data for those technical HN types so you can build HFT systems on our platform.
It's all good and what not but how do you buy bitcoin without either giving away all sorts of private information about you to a website or having to meet strangers?
More guidance here too "It’s Not About the ICO, It’s About the Trading Vehicle" <a href="https://medium.com/@gaetanconsulting/its-not-about-the-ico-it-s-about-the-trading-vehicle-38fa3425e9e3" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@gaetanconsulting/its-not-about-the-ico-i...</a>
I'll go ahead and plug my project (which just hit 100 stars on GitHub): <a href="https://github.com/brndnmtthws/optimal-buy-gdax" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/brndnmtthws/optimal-buy-gdax</a><p>It's a tool for buying from GDAX, which if used correctly will result in close to 0 in fees paid to Coinbase/GDAX (it's the same entity).
I think the current Bitcoin hype cycle is ultimately going to be damaging to the future of the sector as a whole. Bitcoin's capability to actually be used as it was supposed to be is currently a terrible joke, and thousands of people who couldn't grasp the most basic concepts about it even if they tried are throwing large amounts of money at something they don't understand at all. The current state of Bitcoin tech is so far behind what the hype would have you believe.<p>The number of posts from people who delusionally believe Bitcoin is a sure thing, "safer than a savings account", and has nowhere to go but up has increased exponentially in recent weeks.. along with posts from people taking out loans to "invest".<p>That's going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many new 'adopters' (speculators) when the rate of incoming greater fools slows down and the market takes a massive downturn.<p>This won't end well.
As much as the elitist HR folk like to showcase the shortcomings of bitcoin, fact is that bitcoin is so much better than gold and fiat, which can be mass printed, or have you money blocked in the bank, how it happened in argentina and Greece, Cyprus, where people got a 40% haircut on their deposits over 100k, (check the inflation now in Turkey 13%) the money in the bank, you don't own them, bitcoin is at core a movement against banks, the whole argument against bitcoin is like the people were saying cars are so much worse than horses, because there are no paved roads, you need gas, maintenance, are noisy, can't scale, etc.