BITCOIN as an alternative to regular currency

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marksmeets302
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bitcoin lost 20% value this weekend. There's a debate whether the current bitcoin should be replaced by a new bitcoin with a larger block size. This should speed up transaction validation. Not everyone agrees and therefore it is proposed to split up the bitcoin in new and old fashion coins. Seems fair, but once one of the types becomes the dominant one everybody will want to sell the other type. This would leave people that weren't quick enough to react with a bunch of worthless coins. Never a dull moment in bitcoinland.
spreadbetting
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The wise money should be investing in the bitcoin technology not the currencies themselves. Hard to see any of the current currencies ever really taking off in the real world but I doubt it'll be long before banks start using their own versions of blockchains to transfer monies. Bitcoin are the current standard by which all the other currencies are tryng to topple and even though many have better foundings it's always going to be a struggle for them to compete against Bitcoin's first mover advantage, much the same as Betfair's FMA have them as the main player.
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Euler
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Consider the tulip. This is Semper Augustus, the flower behind 17th century Tulip mania. Ordinary tulips are solid in color and were sold by the pound, but the multicolored ones commanded ridiculous prices because they were rare. At peak demand, a Semper Augustus bulb went for 6,000 guilders, or two years’ salary for a wealthy merchant.

https://elaineou.com/2017/06/12/tulips-and-token-mania/
Jukebox
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Euler wrote:
Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:51 pm
Consider the tulip. This is Semper Augustus, the flower behind 17th century Tulip mania. Ordinary tulips are solid in color and were sold by the pound, but the multicolored ones commanded ridiculous prices because they were rare. At peak demand, a Semper Augustus bulb went for 6,000 guilders, or two years’ salary for a wealthy merchant.

https://elaineou.com/2017/06/12/tulips-and-token-mania/
LOL
Tulip Fever runs today at York 13:50
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marksmeets302
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Now THAT's a fat finger:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/22/ethereum ... trade.html

ethereum gets sold from $319 all the way down to 10 cents
welshboy06
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Could you actually get a buy order in at 10c though? Looks like the cheapest you could pick it up was $270ish. Still $50 less than it is now though.
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Orixian
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The tulips are not the right analogy in my opinion. This should be compared to the dot com boom. The technology has amazing utility but at the moment anything with cryptocurrency or block chain in the title is seeing ridiculous amounts of money thrown it. When the bubble bursts there will be some Amazons and Cisco systems left although their price will correct to reflect their real value but they will change the world. 90% of the coins are going down the drain though. If you want to better understand the utility behind crypto currencies (specifically bitcoin) I would suggest watching all videos by Andreas Antonopoulos. He has strong credentials and isn't just some conspiracy nut who thinks bitcoin will bring down the government (there is a lot of these in the cryptocurrency sphere).
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Euler
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I think you are right, it's more a dot com ish type thing. Some of which will have a lasting legacy.

I think the government will outlaw it though before it becomes common currency.

A bigger threat comes from distributed ledger technology. Could really disrupt a lot of things.
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Orixian
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The government outlaw angle is one I'm less worried about now. A few months ago the Japanese government legalised bitcoin as a form of debt payment. The Winkelvoss twins who were involved in the early days of facebook are big proponents of bitcoin and are trying to get a bitcoin ETF listed. I think it will move too quickly for regulators to get a handle on and by the time they try to do anything to stop it "old money" will have a vested interest in its survival. In much the same way that Air BnB and Uber broke the laws and dealt with the problems later. The money behind those companies means they have a larger war chest than most branches of government when it comes to fighting in the courts.
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ShaunWhite
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Hackers steal Bitcoin funds from Bithumb exchange traders

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40506609
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Euler
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Ethereum Co-Founder Says Crypto Coin Market Is Ticking Time-Bomb

Investors pouring millions into startups with nothing more than a white paper and entrepreneurs issuing dispensable digital coins to cash in on the hype are fanning a blockchain assets bubble, according to one of the ethereum network’s co-founders.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ium=social
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Orixian
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Id say thats a good article overall although I disagree with the statement that regulation is the biggest problem the sector faces. Certainly the SEC clamping down could cause the bubble to burst so from a price perspective it could hurt but they will have as much success regulating the underlying technology as the authroities had regulating napster back in the early 00's. Its peer to peer but with no real central authority so good luck shutting it down. If they did a different crypto would take its place much the same as alternative file sharing sites/programes replaced napster.

Who knows how long this bubble could run for. I wouldnt buy now but now could be the begining of a 2,5,10 year bubble. The bitcoin split they talk about is actually a potential three way split not two way but as of today I believe 80% of the nodes are indicating they will support segwitX2 protocol so my understanding is the bitcoin civil war as they ae calling it is over. If come august the 1st the new protocol is adopted on mass I expect the bubble to continue. As all the alt coins are esstially leveraged plays on bitcoin I expect them to go beserk too. Apparently segwit 2 should drasctically reduce the tranasction times allowing bitcoin to finally be a currency and possibly pave the way for larger adoption. I also saw e-torrow advertising crytocurrency on 2 12ft screens suspended above the esculators at canary wharf tube stop yesterday. Id say the mania phase could be just around the corner.
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Euler
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A coding error led to $30 million in ethereum being stolen

The perils of a blockchain’s immutable transactions was brought home yesterday as some $30 million in ether was stolen due to a bug in the code of a well known ethereum wallet. It could have been worse: an additional $75 million was at risk because of the same coding fault, but a group of vigilante hackers rescued those funds and are promising to give them back to their owners.

https://qz.com/1034321/ethereum-hack-a- ... ng-stolen/
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ShaunWhite
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I've got 5 magic beans going cheap if anyone's interested.
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marksmeets302
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Here's another hack, the fourth this month concerning an ICO:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/s ... -platform/
What is especially upsetting is the comment of the CEO: "There's no need for us to buy the tokens back. The hacker stole $8.7M worth of VERI & demand ate it up immiedately. " In other words: we don't care that your money, meant to grow our business, was stolen because you are foolish enough to send us new money anyway.
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