bitcoin and blockchain

[Obliviax]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

 

[Ranger Dan]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

View embedded media

Thanks. I’ve been slow to come up to speed on this as well. I don’t want to look back and be like someone who said the internet was just a fad.

 

[Midnighter2]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

View embedded media

No interest. Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events. Things are only worth what someone will pay for them. And speaking of the internet - it had a good run too. Now, governments want to reel in big tech and they no doubt will. They’ll do the same to crypto too IMO. I guess having a mechanism for shady actors to conduct unsupervised, unregulated financial transactions is cool, but pass.

 

[BobPSU92]

No interest. Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events. Things are only worth what someone will pay for them. And speaking of the internet - it had a good run too. Now, governments want to reel in big tech and they no doubt will. They’ll do the same to crypto too IMO. I guess having a mechanism for shady actors to conduct unsupervised, unregulated financial transactions is cool, but pass.

 

[Obliviax]

No interest. Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events. Things are only worth what someone will pay for them. And speaking of the internet - it had a good run too. Now, governments want to reel in big tech and they no doubt will. They’ll do the same to crypto too IMO. I guess having a mechanism for shady actors to conduct unsupervised, unregulated financial transactions is cool, but pass.

Get your kids onto it.

 

[BW Lion]

Now, governments want to reel in big tech

 

[Chickenman Testa]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

View embedded media

I learned a lot from the linked podcast (which was the first in a series of 3 or 4 he had on crypto and the blockchain tech underpinning it)

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy: Hash Power – Ep. 1 - Understanding Blockchains on Apple Podcasts

Show Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Ep Hash Power – Ep. 1 - Understanding Blockchains - Sep 26, 2017

podcasts.apple.com

 

[slykens]

I'm presently working on building a crypto mining hosting facility. With the shutdowns in China and Iran together with the dubious legal environments in Russia and Kazakhstan, a lot of the mining is moving to the US. In the right places, our electric rates are competitive or better than Central Asia - assuming we actually pay for the electricity instead of steal it like a lot of miners have been over there.

 

[Obliviax]

Thanks. I’ve been slow to come up to speed on this as well. I don’t want to look back and be like someone who said the internet was just a fad.

He does a really good job of explaining that crypto is really an open platform. It is independent of any govt or set value like a dollar or yen. He then walks through the gating factors of currencies and how those gating factors will be kaput. Many of these are geopolitical, worldwide. So this is a worldwide currency devoid of the traditional gating factors. Like the internet, and how it has unleashed access like libraries, search engines, information and education, etc.

There are others, I am sure, are smarter than me on this. But the effects are and will be profound.

The presenter does a nice job of making sure you don't get caught into the old prejudices of crypto currency and blockchain. If you think of it as a platform, like the WWW is a platform for information and connectivity.

Even if you have kids, you owe it to understand the baseline because it will be as big of a game changer as the internet.

 

[Ranger Dan]

I still don’t know what it means to mine Bitcoin… this is just virtual tokens, not an actual, physical object, correct?

 

[MacNit07]

No interest. Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events. Things are only worth what someone will pay for them. And speaking of the internet - it had a good run too. Now, governments want to reel in big tech and they no doubt will. They’ll do the same to crypto too IMO. I guess having a mechanism for shady actors to conduct unsupervised, unregulated financial transactions is cool, but pass.

Men can stop the weather? You can not be remotely serious?

 

[Petch]

No interest. Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events. Things are only worth what someone will pay for them. And speaking of the internet - it had a good run too. Now, governments want to reel in big tech and they no doubt will. They’ll do the same to crypto too IMO. I guess having a mechanism for shady actors to conduct unsupervised, unregulated financial transactions is cool, but pass.

So what do you propose we do to “stop” relentless catastrophic weather events? Pay bureaucrats gobs of cash for awareness initiatives?

 

[fkkkjm]

So what do you propose we do to “stop” relentless catastrophic weather events? Pay bureaucrats gobs of cash for awareness initiatives?

a population reduction of a few billion people would be the best solution. Nobody wants to admit there are just too many damn people on earth. Just that darn bill of rights and human self interest. We need a 1984 type situation globally to make that happen.

 

[wbcincy]

Computers and code will mean very little in the long run if we don’t do anything to stop relentless catastrophic weather events.

Which relentless catastrophic weather events are occurring that would render computers and code irrelevant?

 

[pennstater04]

If you look at the gains that have been had in Crypto, consider the market cap size vs other investments, in my opinion it’s more risky to not be in the game than it is to have at-least some position.

I don’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the blockchain, but big companies are starting to get involved and adopt it. I’ve seen some say Government regulation might actually be a bullish thing, as it will legitimize the space to some and encourage further money to be invested.

A friend gave the analogy of the 90s tech the other day. Many of the crypto coins will probably have huge gains and eventually go back to zero….with a few major ones being left.

 

[bdgan]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

View embedded media

The speaker is promoting his own business so he's not completely objective. That said, I think there will eventually be a global currency. It just won't happen in our lifetime.

The author says that banks close but bitcoin stays open. That's not quite correct. People can currently pay bills and send money around the clock. He also says that banks take your money through fees and regulations. I think that's a huge overstatement.

Imagine if countries lost control of their currencies. No stimulus spending. What would it take to get all governments to give that up? The idea behind bitcoin is that there is a finite amount. Everybody that gains a bitcoin must get it from someone who gives up a bitcoin.

Speaker says 4 billion people without access to a financial institution won't be denied. If they have internet they already have access. Besides, how do these poor people obtain bitcoin in the first place?

I al

 

[Elwood Blues]

Ponzi scheme

 

[Obliviax]

If you look at the gains that have been had in Crypto, consider the market cap size vs other investments, in my opinion it’s more risky to not be in the game than it is to have at-least some position.

I don’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the blockchain, but big companies are starting to get involved and adopt it. I’ve seen some say Government regulation might actually be a bullish thing, as it will legitimize the space to some and encourage further money to be invested.

A friend gave the analogy of the 90s tech the other day. Many of the crypto coins will probably have huge gains and eventually go back to zero….with a few major ones being left.

I don't think that is the point. And, TBH, I am certainly no expert.

The value of crypto is the decentralization of control and gating factors. Today, currencies are gated by governments. The movement of money is really, hopelessly behind the times. There is simply no rease, in today's age, that it should take anything longer than an email or text to move money. And I am talking on a global scale.

In addition, we are spoiled in the USA because our currency and governance has been so good; clearly the best in the world up to this point. But almost half the world's population is not banked or is under banked. In other words, they take cash and keep it in their homes. India, recently, decided to scrap all of their currency and start a new one. Why? Because they had lost control of it. They couldn't tax it. India had become a 100% cash black market. In the USA, we see govt regulating currency and money movement as a good thing. They don't in India, Nicaragua, Mayanmar and most parts of Russia and China. That is to say, the majority of the world's population.

So, now, imagine a world where money is exchanged instantaneously worldwide. There is no "payroll" or payday. You earn money and it goes right into your account. Do you need $1000, work a $1000 worth of work for uber eats or an online call center and then turn off your app. At the same time, you buy a car and everyone along the supply line is paid instantaneously. Instead of GM having contracts with suppliers and taking all the risk to design build, wholesale, ship, store, and sell...they simply line up a series of partners and when the car is sold, everyone along the supply chain is paid, instantly.

But, moving even beyond that is NFT's or "nonfungible tokens". Here, anything becomes it's own micro-currency. Lebron James has NFTs which are digitalized photographs, movies or GIFs. He can simply buy, sell, and purchase with his NFTs. Music, art, ideas, information, patents, etc can all be NFTs. I can become the "Bank of Obliviax". And, once done, I've set up a bartering system that is unlimited, worldwide and unrelated to currency. Guns, drugs, human trafficking, money laundering, are all issues. But instantaneous worldwide payments are also issues.

So,

• no currencies
• no govt regulation or intervention
• instantaneous
• instantaneous along the entire supply chain
• anything can be a currency
• anyone can be a bank

Take a look at taxation. Why are their taxes? Because payment is a "batch job" today. The govt periodically takes money from people and then invests that money in infrastructure, administration, and charity (among others). What if there were no taxes for infrastructure but you had to pay to use it? Drive five miles, get charged. Cross a bridge, get charged. Apply for a license, get charged. Ride the school bus, get charged. want to attend school in person, get charged, want to attend school on line, get charged. Charges are made for everything, they are instantaneous and are at scale. On the other side, someone uses your road, get paid. Someone uses your bridge, get paid. Someone needs help applying for a license, the helper gets paid. Someone needs to ride your bus to school, get paid. someone needs to attend your class in person, get paid. someone wants to attend your class online, get paid. Everyone is their own business, their own NFT, their own P&L.

In the end, the internet, Crypto, and NFT's will create a world where every person on the planet is plugged in and sharing in world commerce. There is an equal share in an opportunity no matter your geographic location or government. While the lack of oversight is alarming to some, it is freeing to many others (and probably more). Making a Pakistani bedouin part of the world community will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

This may sound crazy but it is already there. The infrastructure is in place and functioning. It is lacking adoption but will happen soon enough. Think about what was happening in 1999. We had low-speed web, transitioning to high speed. Today, we've been "locked down" for 18 months and the economy is probably only about 5% off. People work out of their homes. Zoom, WeWork, Airbnb, VRBO, Uber, Uber eats, Peloton, Mirror, Amazon, these are all building blocks to a launching platform to the future. Cryto and NFT are simply the next steps. Those steps are inevitable. Nobody knows where this is going but its going to happen, fast and it is going to be a bumpy ride.

The speaker is promoting his own business so he's not completely objective. That said, I think there will eventually be a global currency. It just won't happen in our lifetime. His point is that the platform will yeild mutliple global currencies and that has already occcured (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin to name three). There are already thousands. His point is that people may end up gravitating to a few or we may see ones be selected by sector. Dogecoin, for example, has certain strengths and weaknesses over bitcoin. the currency may end up being a product separate or associated to the value of the transaction. (if the car industry likes bitcoin but you want to use dogecoin, it may add to the cost of the car and/or parts).

The author says that banks close but bitcoin stays open. That's not quite correct. People can currently pay bills and send money around the clock. He also says that banks take your money through fees and regulations. I think that's a huge overstatement. Yes and no. In the USA, money is moved through the Federal Reserve. If you write a check or use an ACH transfer, it is a batch process and is not 7x24x365. Most transactions, in fact the vast majority, are ACH based. That is why things can still take several days to clear. This can be shortcutted with wires, Swift, and others but are still, really, subject to the operations of the host country's financial operations. But they all have governmental oversight. There are also issues like currency exchange, anti-money laundering and Patriot Act associated oversight. Every country has their own version of control.

Imagine if countries lost control of their currencies. No stimulus spending. What would it take to get all governments to give that up? The idea behind bitcoin is that there is a finite amount. Everybody that gains a bitcoin must get it from someone who gives up a bitcoin. this is a great point and the wild card. to some extent, govts have already lost control. and, unless you shut down access to the net, can't get it back. think of human trafficing or child porn, no way to 100% stop it on the net. There can always be a "dark net". You want to buy 500 AK-47s from a dealer in Syria? Send them a 1952 Jaguar for payment. Check out a company named "Gateway Classic" out of Detroit. The link is to a newly arrived 1970 Orange Baracuda for $65k. Call them up, give them the $65k and ship it to the gun dealer in Syria. Happens ever single day. And if you know someone working at Gateway Classic, ask them where most of their cars are shipped to. One person told me that he recently sold a $250k car that was shipped via overnight express to Saudi Arabia from their warehouse directly to a warehouse in Riyad. Why would you guy a $250k car and immnediately warehouse it? The current budget and infrastructure bill has a lot in it regarding Crypto. I don't understand it but am told by those that do that it is hopelessly outdated and incorrect in its assumptoins (imaging that, a bundh of 70 year olds don't understand crypto).

Speaker says 4 billion people without access to a financial institution won't be denied. If they have internet they already have access. Besides, how do these poor people obtain bitcoin in the first place? I cannot disagree more. He is speaking about traditional banking, like a checking account and a way to move money. You are assuming that currencies and banks are stable. In the third world, they are not. India, Panama, Cyprus, Chili, Argentina, have all had major financial revolutions that involved their currencies. Imagin living in Pakastan, Nigeria, rural China, Rural Russia, and the rest. If you live in Cuba with internet access, you cannot bank in america. you need a SSN or alien ID card. There are millions of underbanked living in the US with internet access. many include migrant farm workers, illegal aliens, and people that just don't understand the system. That is why there are check cashing companies.

I al

 

[Obliviax]

Ponzi scheme

Nope...not at all. You may be thinking of the trading value of bitcoin or whatever. But based on that, I'd say the same about any valued item like Gold, Silver, Paintings, real estate, stocks..in the end, they are only worth what somebody will pay for them.

 

[bdgan]

I don't think that is the point. And, TBH, I am certainly no expert.

The value of crypto is the decentralization of control and gating factors. Today, currencies are gated by governments. The movement of money is really, hopelessly behind the times. There is simply no rease, in today's age, that it should take anything longer than an email or text to move money. And I am talking on a global scale.

In addition, we are spoiled in the USA because our currency and governance has been so good; clearly the best in the world up to this point. But almost half the world's population is not banked or is under banked. In other words, they take cash and keep it in their homes. India, recently, decided to scrap all of their currency and start a new one. Why? Because they had lost control of it. They couldn't tax it. India had become a 100% cash black market. In the USA, we see govt regulating currency and money movement as a good thing. They don't in India, Nicaragua, Mayanmar and most parts of Russia and China. That is to say, the majority of the world's population.

So, now, imagine a world where money is exchanged instantaneously worldwide. There is no "payroll" or payday. You earn money and it goes right into your account. Do you need $1000, work a $1000 worth of work for uber eats or an online call center and then turn off your app. At the same time, you buy a car and everyone along the supply line is paid instantaneously. Instead of GM having contracts with suppliers and taking all the risk to design build, wholesale, ship, store, and sell...they simply line up a series of partners and when the car is sold, everyone along the supply chain is paid, instantly.

But, moving even beyond that is NFT's or "nonfungible tokens". Here, anything becomes it's own micro-currency. Lebron James has NFTs which are digitalized photographs, movies or GIFs. He can simply buy, sell, and purchase with his NFTs. Music, art, ideas, information, patents, etc can all be NFTs. I can become the "Bank of Obliviax". And, once done, I've set up a bartering system that is unlimited, worldwide and unrelated to currency. Guns, drugs, human trafficking, money laundering, are all issues. But instantaneous worldwide payments are also issues.

So,

• no currencies
• no govt regulation or intervention
• instantaneous
• instantaneous along the entire supply chain
• anything can be a currency
• anyone can be a bank

Take a look at taxation. Why are their taxes? Because payment is a "batch job" today. The govt periodically takes money from people and then invests that money in infrastructure, administration, and charity (among others). What if there were no taxes for infrastructure but you had to pay to use it? Drive five miles, get charged. Cross a bridge, get charged. Apply for a license, get charged. Ride the school bus, get charged. want to attend school in person, get charged, want to attend school on line, get charged. Charges are made for everything, they are instantaneous and are at scale. On the other side, someone uses your road, get paid. Someone uses your bridge, get paid. Someone needs help applying for a license, the helper gets paid. Someone needs to ride your bus to school, get paid. someone needs to attend your class in person, get paid. someone wants to attend your class online, get paid. Everyone is their own business, their own NFT, their own P&L.

In the end, the internet, Crypto, and NFT's will create a world where every person on the planet is plugged in and sharing in world commerce. There is an equal share in an opportunity no matter your geographic location or government. While the lack of oversight is alarming to some, it is freeing to many others (and probably more). Making a Pakistani bedouin part of the world community will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

This may sound crazy but it is already there. The infrastructure is in place and functioning. It is lacking adoption but will happen soon enough. Think about what was happening in 1999. We had low-speed web, transitioning to high speed. Today, we've been "locked down" for 18 months and the economy is probably only about 5% off. People work out of their homes. Zoom, WeWork, Airbnb, VRBO, Uber, Uber eats, Peloton, Mirror, Amazon, these are all building blocks to a launching platform to the future. Cryto and NFT are simply the next steps. Those steps are inevitable. Nobody knows where this is going but its going to happen, fast and it is going to be a bumpy ride.

I can already send money around the world 24/7. It might take 2 days for someone to receive it but I can do it.

People who live in areas without brick and mortar banks can already bank online.

Your idea of income taxes being replaced by user fees wouldn't be accepted by governments who push for increasing amounts of social welfare. They scoff at the notion of everybody paying equally.

 

[DandyDonII]

I hope this is where it is at....Had the opportunity to invest into a block chain company on the "friends and family" plan last week and I took it. The last time I had an opportunity like this, the same guy offered it to me and I turned it down, citing the fact that they only had a web address and owned nothing else. Yeah, that company was Ebay.....whoops.

 

[Obliviax]

I can already send money around the world 24/7. It might take 2 days for someone to receive it but I can do it.

People who live in areas without brick and mortar banks can already bank online.

Your idea of income taxes being replaced by user fees wouldn't be accepted by governments who push for increasing amounts of social welfare. They scoff at the notion of everybody paying equally.

Well, you need to understand the difference. Its like saying you can send a letter anywhere in the world in two days versus sending an email instantaneously. It is a HUGE difference. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Currency, cost, governmental oversight, taxation, receivables and settlement

What we are talking about is being able to make payments, real payments, in real time. That means you can pay an entire ecosystem of product collaborators instead of one place. So in your example, you send money to some dude in Pakistan that is making rugs. He gets his payment and waits for it to "clear" depending upon the utility used. He then pays his suppliers, laborers, shipping companies, etc. Whatever he has to pay to keep his little rug company running. The process will take weeks, if not months, for you little rug transaction to ripple through the upstream and downstream suppliers. With crypto, everyone can get billed and paid instantaneously. It will fundamentally change how people and companies across the globe collaborate to produce and deliver products and services.

 

[Ranger Dan]

Here is an informative article on mining Bitcoin

https://www.investopedia.com/tech/how-does-bitcoin-mining-work/

 

[ThePennsyOracle]

I don't think that is the point. And, TBH, I am certainly no expert.

The value of crypto is the decentralization of control and gating factors. Today, currencies are gated by governments. The movement of money is really, hopelessly behind the times. There is simply no rease, in today's age, that it should take anything longer than an email or text to move money. And I am talking on a global scale.

In addition, we are spoiled in the USA because our currency and governance has been so good; clearly the best in the world up to this point. But almost half the world's population is not banked or is under banked. In other words, they take cash and keep it in their homes. India, recently, decided to scrap all of their currency and start a new one. Why? Because they had lost control of it. They couldn't tax it. India had become a 100% cash black market. In the USA, we see govt regulating currency and money movement as a good thing. They don't in India, Nicaragua, Mayanmar and most parts of Russia and China. That is to say, the majority of the world's population.

So, now, imagine a world where money is exchanged instantaneously worldwide. There is no "payroll" or payday. You earn money and it goes right into your account. Do you need $1000, work a $1000 worth of work for uber eats or an online call center and then turn off your app. At the same time, you buy a car and everyone along the supply line is paid instantaneously. Instead of GM having contracts with suppliers and taking all the risk to design build, wholesale, ship, store, and sell...they simply line up a series of partners and when the car is sold, everyone along the supply chain is paid, instantly.

But, moving even beyond that is NFT's or "nonfungible tokens". Here, anything becomes it's own micro-currency. Lebron James has NFTs which are digitalized photographs, movies or GIFs. He can simply buy, sell, and purchase with his NFTs. Music, art, ideas, information, patents, etc can all be NFTs. I can become the "Bank of Obliviax". And, once done, I've set up a bartering system that is unlimited, worldwide and unrelated to currency. Guns, drugs, human trafficking, money laundering, are all issues. But instantaneous worldwide payments are also issues.

So,

• no currencies
• no govt regulation or intervention
• instantaneous
• instantaneous along the entire supply chain
• anything can be a currency
• anyone can be a bank

Take a look at taxation. Why are their taxes? Because payment is a "batch job" today. The govt periodically takes money from people and then invests that money in infrastructure, administration, and charity (among others). What if there were no taxes for infrastructure but you had to pay to use it? Drive five miles, get charged. Cross a bridge, get charged. Apply for a license, get charged. Ride the school bus, get charged. want to attend school in person, get charged, want to attend school on line, get charged. Charges are made for everything, they are instantaneous and are at scale. On the other side, someone uses your road, get paid. Someone uses your bridge, get paid. Someone needs help applying for a license, the helper gets paid. Someone needs to ride your bus to school, get paid. someone needs to attend your class in person, get paid. someone wants to attend your class online, get paid. Everyone is their own business, their own NFT, their own P&L.

In the end, the internet, Crypto, and NFT's will create a world where every person on the planet is plugged in and sharing in world commerce. There is an equal share in an opportunity no matter your geographic location or government. While the lack of oversight is alarming to some, it is freeing to many others (and probably more). Making a Pakistani bedouin part of the world community will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

This may sound crazy but it is already there. The infrastructure is in place and functioning. It is lacking adoption but will happen soon enough. Think about what was happening in 1999. We had low-speed web, transitioning to high speed. Today, we've been "locked down" for 18 months and the economy is probably only about 5% off. People work out of their homes. Zoom, WeWork, Airbnb, VRBO, Uber, Uber eats, Peloton, Mirror, Amazon, these are all building blocks to a launching platform to the future. Cryto and NFT are simply the next steps. Those steps are inevitable. Nobody knows where this is going but its going to happen, fast and it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Great explanation--you nailed it.

 

[Shadow99]

The speaker is promoting his own business so he's not completely objective. That said, I think there will eventually be a global currency. It just won't happen in our lifetime.

The author says that banks close but bitcoin stays open. That's not quite correct. People can currently pay bills and send money around the clock. He also says that banks take your money through fees and regulations. I think that's a huge overstatement.

Imagine if countries lost control of their currencies. No stimulus spending. What would it take to get all governments to give that up? The idea behind bitcoin is that there is a finite amount. Everybody that gains a bitcoin must get it from someone who gives up a bitcoin.

Speaker says 4 billion people without access to a financial institution won't be denied. If they have internet they already have access. Besides, how do these poor people obtain bitcoin in the first place?

I al

Agree with the point in reference to those currently without access, including 2.5 billion without a bank account; if they don't even have an account how do they suddenly get an app? How can those in areas with no internet access or those underserved by internet access suddenly have access and have the technology to access the app?

Also, what about those who may not be fully educated or may be cognitively unable to understand the process? Either way, human nature WILL come into play. If someone will transact on their behalf, they will either do so with integrity or they will not...technology does not change human nature.

Similarly, the presenter kept using the phrase "platform of trust", even in the Q & A. Who is it that is supposed to be trusted? Again, changing currency has little to no impact on whether someone wants to help and contribute or whether they want to cheat and steal. But, with respect to transaction safeguards and whether they can be intercepted the presenter simply says that there is no incentive to steal, because the currency is not "pooled" in a centralized place. Unfortunately, that does NOT provide much re-assurance LOL. For example, if your digital $ is not pooled and someone does deem you to have enough worthy of a hack or doesn't like you specifically for whatever reason, who will help you to remedy the situation? There will theoretically be no other victims with whom to collaborate and there would be no incentive for anyone to investigate except for you yourself. To cite an analogy, one of the reasons that the U.S. states united is to "provide for a common defense".

Further, the concept of decentralization may sound utopian, but how is it truly decentralized when it requires a platform to manage the digital currency, and how can it be presented as decentralized when any entity, especially governments, can arbitrarily reject it and even forcibly block it? Governments drunk on their own power are not going to cede such power just because of digital currency...again human nature remains the same. The thought that governments can't or that some won't restrict its use is absurd.

The comparisons with the internet also are weak. The internet, as important as it is, is still not a required necessity to live and transact; it can be argued to be a necessity in Western society, but it is in truth a luxury. His description of digital currency is presented as if it will not just be a luxury, but that it will be required. Again, infrastructure is needed to use the app.

Not intending to completely discount use of digital currency or to argue for paper money (especially considering the fact that the existing bank accounts are already tracked electronically), but instead am simply responding specifically to the presentation given in the video...it certainly does not completely answer questions such as those presented above.

 

[tototootsi]

I don't think that is the point. And, TBH, I am certainly no expert.

The value of crypto is the decentralization of control and gating factors. Today, currencies are gated by governments. The movement of money is really, hopelessly behind the times. There is simply no rease, in today's age, that it should take anything longer than an email or text to move money. And I am talking on a global scale.

In addition, we are spoiled in the USA because our currency and governance has been so good; clearly the best in the world up to this point. But almost half the world's population is not banked or is under banked. In other words, they take cash and keep it in their homes. India, recently, decided to scrap all of their currency and start a new one. Why? Because they had lost control of it. They couldn't tax it. India had become a 100% cash black market. In the USA, we see govt regulating currency and money movement as a good thing. They don't in India, Nicaragua, Mayanmar and most parts of Russia and China. That is to say, the majority of the world's population.

So, now, imagine a world where money is exchanged instantaneously worldwide. There is no "payroll" or payday. You earn money and it goes right into your account. Do you need $1000, work a $1000 worth of work for uber eats or an online call center and then turn off your app. At the same time, you buy a car and everyone along the supply line is paid instantaneously. Instead of GM having contracts with suppliers and taking all the risk to design build, wholesale, ship, store, and sell...they simply line up a series of partners and when the car is sold, everyone along the supply chain is paid, instantly.

But, moving even beyond that is NFT's or "nonfungible tokens". Here, anything becomes it's own micro-currency. Lebron James has NFTs which are digitalized photographs, movies or GIFs. He can simply buy, sell, and purchase with his NFTs. Music, art, ideas, information, patents, etc can all be NFTs. I can become the "Bank of Obliviax". And, once done, I've set up a bartering system that is unlimited, worldwide and unrelated to currency. Guns, drugs, human trafficking, money laundering, are all issues. But instantaneous worldwide payments are also issues.

So,

• no currencies
• no govt regulation or intervention
• instantaneous
• instantaneous along the entire supply chain
• anything can be a currency
• anyone can be a bank

Take a look at taxation. Why are their taxes? Because payment is a "batch job" today. The govt periodically takes money from people and then invests that money in infrastructure, administration, and charity (among others). What if there were no taxes for infrastructure but you had to pay to use it? Drive five miles, get charged. Cross a bridge, get charged. Apply for a license, get charged. Ride the school bus, get charged. want to attend school in person, get charged, want to attend school on line, get charged. Charges are made for everything, they are instantaneous and are at scale. On the other side, someone uses your road, get paid. Someone uses your bridge, get paid. Someone needs help applying for a license, the helper gets paid. Someone needs to ride your bus to school, get paid. someone needs to attend your class in person, get paid. someone wants to attend your class online, get paid. Everyone is their own business, their own NFT, their own P&L.

In the end, the internet, Crypto, and NFT's will create a world where every person on the planet is plugged in and sharing in world commerce. There is an equal share in an opportunity no matter your geographic location or government. While the lack of oversight is alarming to some, it is freeing to many others (and probably more). Making a Pakistani bedouin part of the world community will certainly be beneficial over the long run.

This may sound crazy but it is already there. The infrastructure is in place and functioning. It is lacking adoption but will happen soon enough. Think about what was happening in 1999. We had low-speed web, transitioning to high speed. Today, we've been "locked down" for 18 months and the economy is probably only about 5% off. People work out of their homes. Zoom, WeWork, Airbnb, VRBO, Uber, Uber eats, Peloton, Mirror, Amazon, these are all building blocks to a launching platform to the future. Cryto and NFT are simply the next steps. Those steps are inevitable. Nobody knows where this is going but its going to happen, fast and it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Really exciting! And to make it all work and eliminate fraud in the cyber transactions, every individual could be assigned a unique number tracked in the blockchain (maybe tattooed on the forehead). We would have to find someone of high character and good intentions to administer the system. That should be easy enough.

 

[bdgan]

Well, you need to understand the difference. Its like saying you can send a letter anywhere in the world in two days versus sending an email instantaneously. It is a HUGE difference. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Currency, cost, governmental oversight, taxation, receivables and settlement

What we are talking about is being able to make payments, real payments, in real time. That means you can pay an entire ecosystem of product collaborators instead of one place. So in your example, you send money to some dude in Pakistan that is making rugs. He gets his payment and waits for it to "clear" depending upon the utility used. He then pays his suppliers, laborers, shipping companies, etc. Whatever he has to pay to keep his little rug company running. The process will take weeks, if not months, for you little rug transaction to ripple through the upstream and downstream suppliers. With crypto, everyone can get billed and paid instantaneously. It will fundamentally change how people and companies across the globe collaborate to produce and deliver products and services.

I understand that completely. I can already get people money overnight if necessary. It's not instantaneous but I disagree that a day lag ripples into months through the system. A lot of companies help finance purchases by intentionally delaying payment on purchases for 30-60 days. That's something that would have to be overcome.

Listen, I agree that the technology has a lot if promise. But major governments aren't going to relinquish control over their currencies without a fight. Like I said, how would the fund stimulus programs? And like I asked, how does a poor person in a 3rd world country obtain some of the finite number of bitcoin?

 

[Obliviax]

I understand that completely. I can already get people money overnight if necessary. It's not instantaneous but I disagree that a day lag ripples into months through the system. A lot of companies help finance purchases by intentionally delaying payment on purchases for 30-60 days. That's something that would have to be overcome.

Listen, I agree that the technology has a lot if promise. But major governments aren't going to relinquish control over their currencies without a fight. Like I said, how would the fund stimulus programs? And like I asked, how does a poor person in a 3rd world country obtain some of the finite number of bitcoin?

I, in general, agree with you.

When you talk about "overnight" it is like you are scratching a knife on a plate to me. I've lived in tech for my entire adult life and can't tell you how many times I've heard the same argument:

• tape works fine, why do I need a disk
• MS-Dos is easy, why do I need a graphic user interface and have to learn a "mouse?"
• putting the operating system on my disk works great, why should I go solid state?
• My flip phone makes call just fine, why do I need a smart phone?
• I can send a letter in a day, why do I need email?
• I've got email, why do I need to text?
• I can call, why should I use skype or facetime?
• I've got an encyclopedia, what is the use of google?
• I've got a smart phone, why should I get an alexa dot?
• I love shopping, why should I buy from Amazon?

Second, the govts will certainly intervene. But it will be levels of grey. The world has gotten away from govts. Govts are set up by geographical locations. Govts are yesterday's news. Today, your Community is your community. Nobody cares where you live, you are now part of millions of virtual communities. The world will now shrink in exponentially faster ways. Govts won't be able to keep up. They'll be far behind. As such, there will be a black market of technology and currency (as they are now blended into one).

 

[JoeBatters1]

This has been a blind spot for me and finally found a half hour video that really explains it well. I've got a long way to go but this really helps me visualize it. Hope it helps you. Friends, I know tell me it will be more impactful, on a worldwide basis, than the WWW. Don't miss the QA.

View embedded media

This may be a dated take on crypto, but some of the warts still exist.

 

[Yboby]

I still don’t know what it means to mine Bitcoin… this is just virtual tokens, not an actual, physical object, correct?

Virtual tokens (credits). Earned by verifying transactions entered on the blockchain. Transactions verified via numerical computing finding an infinitesimally low value less than a pre-determined value for the transaction.

Still don't understand how the pre-determined values are determined and how finding a value less than that verifies the transaction.

 

[Ranger Dan]

Virtual tokens (credits). Earned by verifying transactions entered on the blockchain. Transactions verified via numerical computing finding an infinitesimally low value less than a pre-determined value for the transaction.

Still don't understand how the pre-determined values are determined and how finding a value less than that verifies the transaction.

Apparently you didn’t see the article that I linked…

 

[Yboby]

Apparently you didn’t see the article that I linked…

I've seen that article before. I still don't understand how finding a 64-digit hexadecimal that is less than the target hash verifies the transaction. Nor do I understand how the target itself is set.

 

[Ranger Dan]

I've seen that article before. I still don't understand how finding a 64-digit hexadecimal that is less than the target hash verifies the transaction. Nor do I understand how the target itself is set.

I've seen that article before. I still don't understand how finding a 64-digit hexadecimal that is less than the target hash verifies the transaction. Nor do I understand how the target itself is set.

From the article, there are two criteria required to get awarded a new Bitcoin. 1. You must have completed the requisite transaction verifications to be eligible. 2. Those that complete the required verifications attempt to solve the hexadecimal requirement. The one who is first to provide a solution that is lower than the hexadecimal gets the Bitcoin.