by sherm8n on 12/10/17, 1:47 PM with 200 comments
by option_greek on 12/10/17, 4:06 PM
by cowpig on 12/10/17, 3:27 PM
This piece of bullshit in particular stood out to me:
> Where were you when libor was fixed? Where were you when gold markets were fixed? When high-frequency traders used front-running...
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.
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.
> Bitcoin vs Ethereum is like Sharks vs Lions...
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).
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.
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].
[1] http://cowpig.github.io/bitcoin/cryptocurrency/2017/06/24/Se...
by cvsh on 12/10/17, 2:44 PM
by rblion on 12/10/17, 3:24 PM
by soVeryTired on 12/10/17, 2:36 PM
by arca_vorago on 12/10/17, 6:20 PM
Anonymity is the killer feature of a currency.
This is why right now I am keeping an eye on Monero more than anything.
by anigbrowl on 12/10/17, 9:29 PM
No, seriously, please read it! The Bitcoin white paper should be required reading before anyone is allowed to interact with this technology.
What the fuck no. If you want to build something yeah maybe, but this is exactly what's wrong 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 without needing to understand how they work.
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.
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).
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.
by chx on 12/10/17, 7:16 PM
by lproven on 12/10/17, 4:11 PM
https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-e...
by jorgec on 12/10/17, 9:42 PM
by viach on 12/10/17, 6:13 PM
by kmfrk on 12/10/17, 5:23 PM
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.
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?
by EGreg on 12/10/17, 7:10 PM
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.
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.
by chinathrow on 12/10/17, 5:16 PM
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.
by juanmirocks on 12/10/17, 6:40 PM
by kjrose on 12/10/17, 3:55 PM
I wonder if the price pressure is due to that.
by djhworld on 12/10/17, 8:31 PM
by lee101 on 12/10/17, 7:06 PM
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...
Extreme volatility right now to checkout our live forecasts/charts for pro traders: https://bitbank.nz currently based on poloniex data.
We also have a referral program where you can earn .003 BTC every paying user.
Theres also an API/bulk data for those technical HN types so you can build HFT systems on our platform.
by zamazingo on 12/10/17, 6:58 PM
by gaetanrickter on 12/10/17, 3:40 PM
by dmitrygr on 12/10/17, 2:56 PM
by brndnmtthws on 12/10/17, 3:29 PM
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).
by X86BSD on 12/10/17, 4:14 PM
by 659087 on 12/10/17, 11:18 PM
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".
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.
This won't end well.
by down on 12/10/17, 4:56 PM