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Cryptocurrency is useful. Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank. The rules of consensus define characteristics of money I believe are important. It allows me t

Cryptocurrency is useful. Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank. The rules of consensus define characteristics of money I believe are important. It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system, a system I believe is corrupt and manipulated. It allows me to program my money, something never before possible. It allows me to transact freely, with whomever I please. Money is whatever people believe it to be. You may value the USD, and that's entirely your right to do so. I choose value Bitcoin. Everyone is free to use whatever medium of exchange they believe in.

matchcohnn 9y ago
> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank Thanks suckers for giving me your warm wallet.....time to fake a hack and shut down this sucker. > The rules of consensus define characteristics of money I believe are important My $20 request to get on the blockchain STILL isn't done after 5 weeks!!! > It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system Oh no my Xcoin crashed 50% today!! > a system I believe is corrupt and manipulated I lost so much money because of this stupid coin....if only someone can save me from the scammers..... > It allows me to program my money, something never before possible In javascript!! secure it is. > It allows me to transact freely, with whomever I please It costs me $500 to send $500......sob
- etr-strike 9y ago
  > Thanks suckers for giving me your warm wallet.....time to fake a hack and shut down this sucker. Anyone who appreciates the properties of bitcoin is using a cold wallet. The cold wallets available on the market today are quite robust and easy to use. I'd recommend trezor. > My $20 request to get on the blockchain STILL isn't done after 5 weeks Here's a recent transaction I made using Segwit just today. Confirmed within 30min: https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4ded5b488200c343c96ae4c7ff7bfa2e https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4... > Oh no my Xcoin crashed 50% today Bitcoiners are well aware we're still in the price discovery phase. Volatility is understandable. > I lost so much money because of this stupid coin....if only someone can save me from the scammers.... I don't expect anyone to bail me out. Unlike everyone with a 401k and an index fund. > In javascript!! secure it is. You're talking about Ethereum now. Bitcoin isn't programmed in Javascript. > It costs me $500 to send $500......sob Again, my segwit transaction from earlier today shows how much FUD and misinformation you're spewing: https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4ded5b488200c343c96ae4c7ff7bfa2e https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4...
  - zepolen 9y ago
    $12 fee? That's terrible.
    - vel0city 9y ago
      Meh, on that transaction a $12 fee isn't too bad. ~$3,440 transmitted for ~$12 in fees, works out to 0.37% fee. That said, if you have some patience doing a similar transaction through ACH can often be free or significantly cheaper.
    - etr-strike 9y ago
      I agree, but it's not the $500 some people are claiming it to be. Also it confirmed in a reasonable timeframe. I have the following hopes for bitcoin: 1) People upgrade to segwit 2) The people spamming the network stop 3) Lightning Network will reduce some previously onchain transactions 4) Schnorr signatures will compress transactions even more
      - 659087 9y ago
        > 2) The people spamming the network stop That sounds kind of like hoping that people sending spam via e-mail just stop one day.
- martinko 9y ago
  You sound salty.
- down 9y ago
  you funny.. hacks happen less then let's say you're mugged on the street or your bank account is emptied by carders/hackers. The rest is just not true, the fees are high now because companies are slow to adopt seqwit and lighting network is in the works. But hey the FED printed another few billions of dollars, fancy calling it quantitative easing, that devalues your money and makes assets expensive.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    If I'm mugged, I'm not typically carrying my entire life savings. If my credit card number is compromised, I report that to the bank and the money shows back up in my account in short order. My money doesn't seem to have been significantly devalued by quantitative easing - inflation stayed at very low levels throughout the process.
  - spookthesunset 9y ago
    > hacks happen less then let's say you're mugged on the street or your bank account is emptied by carders/hackers. Pretty disingenuous argument. In absolute numbers, sure. But that is only because everybody walks down the street. Relatively few people use bitcoin so yes, in absolute numbers, perhaps it is true that more people get mugged on the street / bank accounts hacked. If Bitcoin somehow magically became the world's currency du joir, I promise you the number of stolen bitcoin wallets would far exceed the number of emptied bank accounts & muggers. Oh, and if my bank account is emptied, I call my bank and say "hey bank, some fuckwit hacked my account" and if they are any good, I'll be back in business. No such luck with bitcoin. If my wallet gets emptied, I'm toast.
pmlnr 9y ago
> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank. I too, like to live dangerously. I run a mail server. A web server. Damn, I was tempted to (partially) host my DNS. But running my own bank? Hell no. Those who ever had to touch things like PCI compliance or seem actual money transaction requirements will want to stay far, far away from being their own bank, so good luck there, you'll need it. > It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system No, at this point in time, it really doesn't. It would, if it was accepted to be exchanged for things, which is any currency OR asset is, in theory, only good for. If you can't buy (exchange) food with it, it's worthless. EDIT: yes, you can, in theory, exchange it to USD and some other real currencies - with a big 'if' the exchange you want to use has the means to cover it, you pay taxes on gain, and, if you're really lucky, your bank won't freeze your account when an unprecedented amount of cash flows in. > Money is whatever people believe it to be. Money is whatever people _agree_ on. It's not a belief.
- etr-strike 9y ago
  Sounds like you're intentionally trying to be disagreeable. You don't like the features Bitcoin provides. That's fine, don't use it. Plenty of other people do like them. That's what gives Bitcoin its value.
  - pmlnr 9y ago
    I started writing a long comment about currencies, assets, rarity, and a few more things, but I realized it's pointless. Please get some history books out and read about money. Read about ancient Rome and what problems rose when mad emperors decided to replace money with new coins out of the blue. Read about why and how the US dollar is not based on gold any more. Read about hyperinflation after WWII. Money is regulated to protect us from ourselves. Now take a look at the war between BTC and BTH, at how the majority of miners are not willing to overcome technical issues and work together, the incredibly waste of energy and hardware, computing the nothing, and tell me: do you honestly think it's not history, repeating itself, just in another light? Of course, there are always some who don't care, "get rich or die trying". I'm not one of these believers.
659087 9y ago
> It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system, a system I believe is corrupt and manipulated. You'd have to be incredibly naive or willfully ignorant not to see the same corruption and manipulation happening right before your eyes in cryptocurrency markets.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  This. Large players eventually (and are already) playing the market. Anything involving money will eventually be dictated by the big players. Look at how we buy and sell crytocoins today - most rely on some authority as the middleman as opposed to full decentralized (though you can argue about P2P while also decentralized, it still requires a service to discover seeds and peers). The only difference is you can fork and run on your own.
victor106 9y ago
> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank Sure. If you think the only function of a bank is to maintain a ledger and transfer money.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  Yeah, it's yet another instance of people going "how hard can it possibly be?" and finding out the answer is "oh, pretty hard..."
openasocket 9y ago
How can you be your own bank? You can't loan yourself money, any Bitcoin you save won't gain interest, and you can't extend yourself a line of credit. The only bank-like thing you can do is store money, which is probably the smallest responsibility banks have.
lurr 9y ago
USD is backed by the biggest military and economic force on earth.

matchcohnn 9y ago

> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank Thanks suckers for giving me your warm wallet.....time to fake a hack and shut down this sucker. > The rules of consensus define characteristics of money I believe are important My $20 request to get on the blockchain STILL isn't done after 5 weeks!!! > It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system Oh no my Xcoin crashed 50% today!! > a system I believe is corrupt and manipulated I lost so much money because of this stupid coin....if only someone can save me from the scammers..... > It allows me to program my money, something never before possible In javascript!! secure it is. > It allows me to transact freely, with whomever I please It costs me $500 to send $500......sob

etr-strike 9y ago
> Thanks suckers for giving me your warm wallet.....time to fake a hack and shut down this sucker. Anyone who appreciates the properties of bitcoin is using a cold wallet. The cold wallets available on the market today are quite robust and easy to use. I'd recommend trezor. > My $20 request to get on the blockchain STILL isn't done after 5 weeks Here's a recent transaction I made using Segwit just today. Confirmed within 30min: https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4ded5b488200c343c96ae4c7ff7bfa2e https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4... > Oh no my Xcoin crashed 50% today Bitcoiners are well aware we're still in the price discovery phase. Volatility is understandable. > I lost so much money because of this stupid coin....if only someone can save me from the scammers.... I don't expect anyone to bail me out. Unlike everyone with a 401k and an index fund. > In javascript!! secure it is. You're talking about Ethereum now. Bitcoin isn't programmed in Javascript. > It costs me $500 to send $500......sob Again, my segwit transaction from earlier today shows how much FUD and misinformation you're spewing: https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4ded5b488200c343c96ae4c7ff7bfa2e https://blockchain.info/tx/308da302ef589872809f61282154263a4...
- zepolen 9y ago
  $12 fee? That's terrible.
  - vel0city 9y ago
    Meh, on that transaction a $12 fee isn't too bad. ~$3,440 transmitted for ~$12 in fees, works out to 0.37% fee. That said, if you have some patience doing a similar transaction through ACH can often be free or significantly cheaper.
  - etr-strike 9y ago
    I agree, but it's not the $500 some people are claiming it to be. Also it confirmed in a reasonable timeframe. I have the following hopes for bitcoin: 1) People upgrade to segwit 2) The people spamming the network stop 3) Lightning Network will reduce some previously onchain transactions 4) Schnorr signatures will compress transactions even more
    - 659087 9y ago
      > 2) The people spamming the network stop That sounds kind of like hoping that people sending spam via e-mail just stop one day.
martinko 9y ago
You sound salty.
down 9y ago
you funny.. hacks happen less then let's say you're mugged on the street or your bank account is emptied by carders/hackers. The rest is just not true, the fees are high now because companies are slow to adopt seqwit and lighting network is in the works. But hey the FED printed another few billions of dollars, fancy calling it quantitative easing, that devalues your money and makes assets expensive.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  If I'm mugged, I'm not typically carrying my entire life savings. If my credit card number is compromised, I report that to the bank and the money shows back up in my account in short order. My money doesn't seem to have been significantly devalued by quantitative easing - inflation stayed at very low levels throughout the process.
- spookthesunset 9y ago
  > hacks happen less then let's say you're mugged on the street or your bank account is emptied by carders/hackers. Pretty disingenuous argument. In absolute numbers, sure. But that is only because everybody walks down the street. Relatively few people use bitcoin so yes, in absolute numbers, perhaps it is true that more people get mugged on the street / bank accounts hacked. If Bitcoin somehow magically became the world's currency du joir, I promise you the number of stolen bitcoin wallets would far exceed the number of emptied bank accounts & muggers. Oh, and if my bank account is emptied, I call my bank and say "hey bank, some fuckwit hacked my account" and if they are any good, I'll be back in business. No such luck with bitcoin. If my wallet gets emptied, I'm toast.

pmlnr 9y ago

> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank. I too, like to live dangerously. I run a mail server. A web server. Damn, I was tempted to (partially) host my DNS. But running my own bank? Hell no. Those who ever had to touch things like PCI compliance or seem actual money transaction requirements will want to stay far, far away from being their own bank, so good luck there, you'll need it. > It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system No, at this point in time, it really doesn't. It would, if it was accepted to be exchanged for things, which is any currency OR asset is, in theory, only good for. If you can't buy (exchange) food with it, it's worthless. EDIT: yes, you can, in theory, exchange it to USD and some other real currencies - with a big 'if' the exchange you want to use has the means to cover it, you pay taxes on gain, and, if you're really lucky, your bank won't freeze your account when an unprecedented amount of cash flows in. > Money is whatever people believe it to be. Money is whatever people _agree_ on. It's not a belief.

etr-strike 9y ago
Sounds like you're intentionally trying to be disagreeable. You don't like the features Bitcoin provides. That's fine, don't use it. Plenty of other people do like them. That's what gives Bitcoin its value.
- pmlnr 9y ago
  I started writing a long comment about currencies, assets, rarity, and a few more things, but I realized it's pointless. Please get some history books out and read about money. Read about ancient Rome and what problems rose when mad emperors decided to replace money with new coins out of the blue. Read about why and how the US dollar is not based on gold any more. Read about hyperinflation after WWII. Money is regulated to protect us from ourselves. Now take a look at the war between BTC and BTH, at how the majority of miners are not willing to overcome technical issues and work together, the incredibly waste of energy and hardware, computing the nothing, and tell me: do you honestly think it's not history, repeating itself, just in another light? Of course, there are always some who don't care, "get rich or die trying". I'm not one of these believers.

659087 9y ago

> It allows me to save my money outside of the global financial system, a system I believe is corrupt and manipulated. You'd have to be incredibly naive or willfully ignorant not to see the same corruption and manipulation happening right before your eyes in cryptocurrency markets.

yeukhon 9y ago
This. Large players eventually (and are already) playing the market. Anything involving money will eventually be dictated by the big players. Look at how we buy and sell crytocoins today - most rely on some authority as the middleman as opposed to full decentralized (though you can argue about P2P while also decentralized, it still requires a service to discover seeds and peers). The only difference is you can fork and run on your own.

victor106 9y ago

> Bitcoin allows me to be my own bank Sure. If you think the only function of a bank is to maintain a ledger and transfer money.

ceejayoz 9y ago
Yeah, it's yet another instance of people going "how hard can it possibly be?" and finding out the answer is "oh, pretty hard..."

openasocket 9y ago

How can you be your own bank? You can't loan yourself money, any Bitcoin you save won't gain interest, and you can't extend yourself a line of credit. The only bank-like thing you can do is store money, which is probably the smallest responsibility banks have.

lurr 9y ago

USD is backed by the biggest military and economic force on earth.