5 ms·

The Can’t-Lose Way for Your Business to Pop: Add Bitcoin to Its Name

44 points by axg 9y ago

ineedasername 9y ago
It feels like the heady days of 1999, where anyone that could was "pivoting" to the web at ridiculous speed and IPO valuation. This isn't a dig on crypto itself though-- after the '00 bubble, it's not like the internet went away. I do wonder what crypto 2.0 will look like, a few years on from its bubble. Here's to hoping the pop comes early and quick, and the real progress can begin in earnest.
- canoebuilder 9y ago
  However, in '99/'00, even in '94-'96 there were many sorts of things one could say to a friend, "Hey look at this cool thing you can do on the web!" and your friend would say "Wow! Yeah that is cool!" What are the equivalents with cryptocurrencies/blockchains? I ask this all the time, no one seems to have an answer. The extent of the discussion around cryptocurrencies seems to be rambling on about things that either, no one understands, few people care about, or as a solution to a "problem" that few people if any, actually have. But people are "really excited" about these obscure curiosities, because if they can get other people about excited too they can sell their holdings for more than they paid for them. The comparison between the web and cryptocoins seems really strained because not only can you not show the average Joe anything that would really impress him done with a cryptocurrency, beyond an irrational exuberance, but also because the two are so vastly different in scope. The impetus of bitcoin was about an experiment of enacting a certain type of monetary system related to a certain political philosophy. In comparison the web is basically infinite. You can read about, write about, or discuss that political philosophy, or any of a hundred others, or you can do any of millions of other things having nothing to do with a political philosophy. One of the great legacies of the web is the dematerialization and demonetization it wrought due to zeroing out reproduction and distribution costs. Now we have people pretending that code that can be literally copy and pasted to start a new network of ____coin is somehow super wow! valuable!
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    Bitcoin solved the byzantine generals problem. That is a brand-new invention. It enables you to achieve distributed consensus in all kinds of problems. The problem space is vast, and any new solution is worth not underestimating. It's hard to predict the future: http://tlb.org/#predictions http://tlb.org/#predictions July, 2002: CDs and DVDs compatible with today's will remain the most common way to buy or rent music or video through 2020.
    - ineedasername 9y ago
      Nah, solutions to that class of problem have been around a while. BFT software for these type of faults are built into airplanes and other critical systems. Its use in blockchain is novel, and interesting, but not a brand new or first solution to obtainin Byzantine Agreement within a system or the associate algorithms involvedinvolved.
      - sillysaurus3 9y ago
        BTC was the first sybil-resistant distributed consensus algorithm in history. Airplanes don't need to worry about sybil attacks.
        UncleMeat 9y ago
        Neither do most people. Thus, blockchain's limited utility over something like what CT does.
  - nerdponx 9y ago
    What are the equivalents with cryptocurrencies/blockchains? They aren't nearly as tangible. The big innovation here is the blockchain tech itself -- a distributed, immutable, public ledger. It's a very specific innovation, and it mostly benefits big businesses, but it's an innovation nonetheless.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- down 9y ago
  If you look longer term the 1999 is just a small blip, so what if bitcoin crashes, bitcoin will replace banks, which are crocked and make money out of nothing.
  - eru 9y ago
    To make a prediction: bitcoin will only be successful as a currency, if we get fractional reserve bitcoins and other forms of book / paper bitcoins. The futures market is one step in that direction. The balances held at exchanges are another one. See https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136283.Less_Than_Zero https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136283.Less_Than_Zero for a historic comparison.
prh8 9y ago
Nice list of companies to consider shorting.
- jamestimmins 9y ago
  "The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
  - vinceguidry 9y ago
    In other words, short sells are tools to use against failing companies, not against markets you think can't deliver real value. Markets are much bigger than companies and can make short work of your maintenance margin even if they're going to crash in the end. If you want to make a long term bet against a market, the best idea is to figure out who benefits when that market crashes and go long on them.
    - eru 9y ago
      Shorts are also useful when you have private information the market doesn't have, yet. (As opposed to bad news the market already knows but chooses to ignore.) Ie: dig up dirt on a company, short their stock, publish bad news, close out your short position. Who wants to go long a company (ie invest in equity), should welcome the ability of others to short: it ensures you can buy for a fair price and that there's a smaller likelihood of skeletons hidden in their basement.
- TimPC 9y ago
  Depends, if the companies are holding some assets in bitcoin in addition to the branding efforts then shorting could be risky depending on how the bubble times relative to your short position.
  - prh8 9y ago
    Most in the article are dropping their current business to focus on bitcoin, despite no understanding. Seems reasonable that at least a couple will fail with that combination.
ringaroundthetx 9y ago
Time it for right around your share lockup expires $^D learn2finance, its the best MMORPG there is
thisisit 9y ago
Is it bitcoin or blockchain to its name? One of the pervasive mistakes which keeps happening is equivocating bitcoin and blockchain. If a publication like NY Times can't differentiate, one can only think of average Joe.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
justboxing 9y ago
Its not 'Bitcoin', its 'BlockChain'. Acquire a mining company on the down low, and add 'BlockChain' to your Company name and announce it. That's all you gotta do. Exhibit 1: Longfin. Shot up 2000% after an obsure FinTech company that IPO-ed at $5-ish shot up to over $126 after announcing 2 days after the IPO that it acquired a (shady) blockchain mining company. Watch the CNBC reporter RIP the CEO apart here. They were selling their 'Ziddu' currency over HTTP.. (no SSL) => https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/18/small-cap-longfin-soars-2000-percent-after-acquiring-blockchain-company.html?play=1 https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/18/small-cap-longfin-soar... Exhibit 2: RIOT "Blockchain". a weak pharma company with a sketchy past, acquires a blockchain mining company and add "BlockChain" to it's name. Overnight, stock shoots up from $5 to $45 = 900% increase. See https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133208-kind-company-riot-blockchain https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133208-kind-company-riot-b...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- rocking_duck 9y ago
  Not to forget FTFT, "Future FinTech Group Inc", that despite the fancy name is a tiny fruit juice company. 'pivoted' to blockchain, stock shot up more than 200%. What a time to be alive!

44 points by axg 9y ago

It feels like the heady days of 1999, where anyone that could was "pivoting" to the web at ridiculous speed and IPO valuation. This isn't a dig on crypto itself though-- after the '00 bubble, it's not like the internet went away. I do wonder what crypto 2.0 will look like, a few years on from its bubble. Here's to hoping the pop comes early and quick, and the real progress can begin in earnest.

canoebuilder 9y ago
However, in '99/'00, even in '94-'96 there were many sorts of things one could say to a friend, "Hey look at this cool thing you can do on the web!" and your friend would say "Wow! Yeah that is cool!" What are the equivalents with cryptocurrencies/blockchains? I ask this all the time, no one seems to have an answer. The extent of the discussion around cryptocurrencies seems to be rambling on about things that either, no one understands, few people care about, or as a solution to a "problem" that few people if any, actually have. But people are "really excited" about these obscure curiosities, because if they can get other people about excited too they can sell their holdings for more than they paid for them. The comparison between the web and cryptocoins seems really strained because not only can you not show the average Joe anything that would really impress him done with a cryptocurrency, beyond an irrational exuberance, but also because the two are so vastly different in scope. The impetus of bitcoin was about an experiment of enacting a certain type of monetary system related to a certain political philosophy. In comparison the web is basically infinite. You can read about, write about, or discuss that political philosophy, or any of a hundred others, or you can do any of millions of other things having nothing to do with a political philosophy. One of the great legacies of the web is the dematerialization and demonetization it wrought due to zeroing out reproduction and distribution costs. Now we have people pretending that code that can be literally copy and pasted to start a new network of ____coin is somehow super wow! valuable!
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  Bitcoin solved the byzantine generals problem. That is a brand-new invention. It enables you to achieve distributed consensus in all kinds of problems. The problem space is vast, and any new solution is worth not underestimating. It's hard to predict the future: http://tlb.org/#predictions http://tlb.org/#predictions July, 2002: CDs and DVDs compatible with today's will remain the most common way to buy or rent music or video through 2020.
  - ineedasername 9y ago
    Nah, solutions to that class of problem have been around a while. BFT software for these type of faults are built into airplanes and other critical systems. Its use in blockchain is novel, and interesting, but not a brand new or first solution to obtainin Byzantine Agreement within a system or the associate algorithms involvedinvolved.
    - sillysaurus3 9y ago
      BTC was the first sybil-resistant distributed consensus algorithm in history. Airplanes don't need to worry about sybil attacks.
      - UncleMeat 9y ago
        Neither do most people. Thus, blockchain's limited utility over something like what CT does.
- nerdponx 9y ago
  What are the equivalents with cryptocurrencies/blockchains? They aren't nearly as tangible. The big innovation here is the blockchain tech itself -- a distributed, immutable, public ledger. It's a very specific innovation, and it mostly benefits big businesses, but it's an innovation nonetheless.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
down 9y ago
If you look longer term the 1999 is just a small blip, so what if bitcoin crashes, bitcoin will replace banks, which are crocked and make money out of nothing.
- eru 9y ago
  To make a prediction: bitcoin will only be successful as a currency, if we get fractional reserve bitcoins and other forms of book / paper bitcoins. The futures market is one step in that direction. The balances held at exchanges are another one. See https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136283.Less_Than_Zero https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/136283.Less_Than_Zero for a historic comparison.

prh8 9y ago

Nice list of companies to consider shorting.

jamestimmins 9y ago
"The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
- vinceguidry 9y ago
  In other words, short sells are tools to use against failing companies, not against markets you think can't deliver real value. Markets are much bigger than companies and can make short work of your maintenance margin even if they're going to crash in the end. If you want to make a long term bet against a market, the best idea is to figure out who benefits when that market crashes and go long on them.
  - eru 9y ago
    Shorts are also useful when you have private information the market doesn't have, yet. (As opposed to bad news the market already knows but chooses to ignore.) Ie: dig up dirt on a company, short their stock, publish bad news, close out your short position. Who wants to go long a company (ie invest in equity), should welcome the ability of others to short: it ensures you can buy for a fair price and that there's a smaller likelihood of skeletons hidden in their basement.
TimPC 9y ago
Depends, if the companies are holding some assets in bitcoin in addition to the branding efforts then shorting could be risky depending on how the bubble times relative to your short position.
- prh8 9y ago
  Most in the article are dropping their current business to focus on bitcoin, despite no understanding. Seems reasonable that at least a couple will fail with that combination.

ringaroundthetx 9y ago

Time it for right around your share lockup expires $^D learn2finance, its the best MMORPG there is

thisisit 9y ago

Is it bitcoin or blockchain to its name? One of the pervasive mistakes which keeps happening is equivocating bitcoin and blockchain. If a publication like NY Times can't differentiate, one can only think of average Joe.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

justboxing 9y ago

Its not 'Bitcoin', its 'BlockChain'. Acquire a mining company on the down low, and add 'BlockChain' to your Company name and announce it. That's all you gotta do. Exhibit 1: Longfin. Shot up 2000% after an obsure FinTech company that IPO-ed at $5-ish shot up to over $126 after announcing 2 days after the IPO that it acquired a (shady) blockchain mining company. Watch the CNBC reporter RIP the CEO apart here. They were selling their 'Ziddu' currency over HTTP.. (no SSL) => https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/18/small-cap-longfin-soars-2000-percent-after-acquiring-blockchain-company.html?play=1 https://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/12/18/small-cap-longfin-soar... Exhibit 2: RIOT "Blockchain". a weak pharma company with a sketchy past, acquires a blockchain mining company and add "BlockChain" to it's name. Overnight, stock shoots up from $5 to $45 = 900% increase. See https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133208-kind-company-riot-blockchain https://seekingalpha.com/article/4133208-kind-company-riot-b...

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
rocking_duck 9y ago
Not to forget FTFT, "Future FinTech Group Inc", that despite the fancy name is a tiny fruit juice company. 'pivoted' to blockchain, stock shot up more than 200%. What a time to be alive!