Crypto Currency Thread
Discussion
Behemoth said:
Isn't it? How does this stop it working?
I think he means it requires a certain amount of computing power for the network to function. The miners provide that at the moment because it makes them money. If it drops too far in value, what incentive do they have to support the network?DonkeyApple said:
All the PR money has been pulled. Hence no advertorials.
Apparently people are still being paid to write positive reports though. Who'd have thought all those evangelists were being paid for it?? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currenci...
Guvernator said:
I think he means it requires a certain amount of computing power for the network to function. The miners provide that at the moment because it makes them money. If it drops too far in value, what incentive do they have to support the network?
The network is constructed to work with whatever incentive exists. If value drops, so does the difficulty of mining. This gets recalculated every 2016 blocks. The reason it always works is down to game theory. Realistically, some state actor might try and overwhelm it if price dropped too far. But that would be money down the drain, so likely a political attack rather than one with a profit motive. I think it's far too late for that to happen now - the opportunity was many years ago.Condi said:
DonkeyApple said:
All the PR money has been pulled. Hence no advertorials.
Apparently people are still being paid to write positive reports though. Who'd have thought all those evangelists were being paid for it?? https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currenci...
There is absolutely nothing new with all this crypto stuff. It’s the same old business model packaged in yet another way. What is new is that it’s probably been the first ever global and decentralised wheeze.
Half the time you don’t even need to pay the stooges as they just want the kudos of being first to put pen to paper.
DonkeyApple said:
Just like the penny share market place. Again!
There is absolutely nothing new with all this crypto stuff. It’s the same old business model packaged in yet another way. What is new is that it’s probably been the first ever global and decentralised wheeze.
Half the time you don’t even need to pay the stooges as they just want the kudos of being first to put pen to paper.
Always reminds me of the AIM oil and gas shares, how many people have lost a fortune on those? I remember Sound Energy being hyped on here when it went from 16 pence to 91 pence in the space of 10 weeks. This was all on the back of rumours with nothing to back them up and everybody was bragging about how rich they were going to be.There is absolutely nothing new with all this crypto stuff. It’s the same old business model packaged in yet another way. What is new is that it’s probably been the first ever global and decentralised wheeze.
Half the time you don’t even need to pay the stooges as they just want the kudos of being first to put pen to paper.
There was always some massive potential oil discovery about to be announced according to the posters on the LSE message board. I remember reading a post by someone who was convinced they had found something big due to the body language of the CEO in some presentation. When the price started to fall and people were talking about selling it was the same "shaking out the week hands" and "They want you to sell so they can buy cheaply"
It's currently 14 pence a share after a slow decline over the last 18 months.
Replace Sound Energy with Crypto (especially Ripple) and it is new boss same as the old boss.
Financial scams are as old as the hills. Whenever there's money to be had with some new technology or idea, snake oil salesmen will dust off their patter as sure as night follows day. Two of my favourites from centuries past:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania
https://www.history.com/news/the-con-man-who-inven...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania
https://www.history.com/news/the-con-man-who-inven...
But never before has one achieved such widespread promotion and investment. When not only your barber is talking about it, but a barber in China and one in Brazil is also talking about it, its gone far beyond any normal bubble.
Maybe in future years the History website will be writing about someone who created their own currency and managed to persuade people it was worth something. Very nearly as audacious and unlikely as someone creating their own country. We'll laugh at the people who bought into it, and marvel at how much computing power and energy was spent of an ultimately, and obviously, flawed system.
Maybe in future years the History website will be writing about someone who created their own currency and managed to persuade people it was worth something. Very nearly as audacious and unlikely as someone creating their own country. We'll laugh at the people who bought into it, and marvel at how much computing power and energy was spent of an ultimately, and obviously, flawed system.
Behemoth said:
Financial scams are as old as the hills. Whenever there's money to be had with some new technology or idea, snake oil salesmen will dust off their patter as sure as night follows day. Two of my favourites from centuries past:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania
https://www.history.com/news/the-con-man-who-inven...
You're only saying that about the railways because you don't understand. That was just a branch line diversion for those who didn't understand the train theory being played out. Those that truly understood went long, knowing that bearded prick was going to be able to charge 1 hundred and 20 fhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Mania
https://www.history.com/news/the-con-man-who-inven...
king pounds to stand on a delayed carriage between London and Manchester in 2018.Some Gump said:
You're only saying that about the railways because you don't understand. That was just a branch line diversion for those who didn't understand the train theory being played out. Those that truly understood went long, knowing that bearded prick was going to be able to charge 1 hundred and 20 fking pounds to stand on a delayed carriage between London and Manchester in 2018.
king pounds to stand on a delayed carriage between London and Manchester in 2018.
Some Gump said:
You're only saying that about the railways because you don't understand. That was just a branch line diversion for those who didn't understand the train theory being played out. Those that truly understood went long, knowing that bearded prick was going to be able to charge 1 hundred and 20 fking pounds to stand on a delayed carriage between London and Manchester in 2018.
king pounds to stand on a delayed carriage between London and Manchester in 2018.
And to be fair, Railway Mania did manage to totally change the country enabling mass movement of transport of people and goods in a way not seen before, so the comparison is a little unfair. There were tangible benefits, actual companies and actual income produced from some/most of the ventures.
Behemoth said:
Financial scams are as old as the hills. Whenever there's money to be had with some new technology or idea, snake oil salesmen will dust off their patter as sure as night follows day. Two of my favourites from centuries past:
Out of interest, do you mind me asking how much you have invested in this crypto stuff? (Feel free to tell me to FO, I'm just wondering to what extent are you backing your own viewpoint)
Behemoth said:
The network is constructed to work with whatever incentive exists. If value drops, so does the difficulty of mining. This gets recalculated every 2016 blocks. The reason it always works is down to game theory. Realistically, some state actor might try and overwhelm it if price dropped too far. But that would be money down the drain, so likely a political attack rather than one with a profit motive. I think it's far too late for that to happen now - the opportunity was many years ago.
Stupid question- how does that reconcile with the 21m limit? Miners then get paid by transaction fees, not new coins?Condi said:
But never before has one achieved such widespread promotion and investment. When not only your barber is talking about it, but a barber in China and one in Brazil is also talking about it, its gone far beyond any normal bubble.
Maybe in future years the History website will be writing about someone who created their own currency and managed to persuade people it was worth something. Very nearly as audacious and unlikely as someone creating their own country. We'll laugh at the people who bought into it, and marvel at how much computing power and energy was spent of an ultimately, and obviously, flawed system.
I've been laughing about it for months.Maybe in future years the History website will be writing about someone who created their own currency and managed to persuade people it was worth something. Very nearly as audacious and unlikely as someone creating their own country. We'll laugh at the people who bought into it, and marvel at how much computing power and energy was spent of an ultimately, and obviously, flawed system.
wisbech said:
Behemoth said:
The network is constructed to work with whatever incentive exists. If value drops, so does the difficulty of mining. This gets recalculated every 2016 blocks. The reason it always works is down to game theory. Realistically, some state actor might try and overwhelm it if price dropped too far. But that would be money down the drain, so likely a political attack rather than one with a profit motive. I think it's far too late for that to happen now - the opportunity was many years ago.
Stupid question- how does that reconcile with the 21m limit? Miners then get paid by transaction fees, not new coins?200Plus Club said:
How does the supposedly altruistic intent behind BTC sit with the vast waste of energy in running the "mining" operations behind it, for anyone actually involved/passionate rather than out to make a fast buck?
I would struggle to describe Bitcoin altruistic.Mining takes a lot of energy, but it isn't wasted. It secures the ledger. The effort put in is directly related to value. It serves the same purpose as the entire complex and fragmented infrastructures that hold together a normal sovereign currency.
Energy efficiency is important enough for miners to relocate where electricity is cheap. The kWHr price is absolutely crucial to mining competition and profitability. There's currently a wide mix of sources stretching from unreasonably cheap state supplied electricity in China to miners placed next to geothermal & hydro plants. These supply market asymmetries are disappearing. Electricity is impossible to move long distances (energy loss along existing transmission lines in the US is about 6%), whilst Bitcoin mining is very easy to relocate and of course Bitcoin can be sent across the planet almost instantaneously. The net effect is that Bitcoin will eventually soak up excess capacity and create value from it wherever it can be found & isn't used for something else. Gas flaring is one example of a bunch of energy innovations in this area. Bitcoin mining will always move to where electrical energy is abundant and cheap.
US xmas lights use up more energy than entire countries . People are free to buy and do whatever they want with energy & there are vast quantities of it to go around.
Behemoth said:
People are free to buy and do whatever they want with energy & there are vast quantities of it to go around.
I really don’t agree with this. Energy is a scarce resource and the production of electricity has massive negative externalities (ie climate change) that we would do well to avoid. Xmas lights use as much energy as El Salvador.. bitcoin uses as much energy as Ireland or Belgium.
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