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Bitcoin comes out swinging off the ropes

17 points by rjweapon 15y ago

mef 15y ago
Nice to read an article with the fundamentals of Bitcoin correct in contrast with the largely inaccurate stories from the past week framing the Mt Gox hack as a Bitcoin failing.
nextparadigms 15y ago
I was actually surprised it stayed so steady after all the hacking/malware headlines. It seems those types of headlines can't easily scare away Bitcoin owners. They truly believe Bitcoin is here to stay, no matter what temporary obstacles may appear.
zacharypinter 15y ago
Bitcoin definitely has problems it needs to solve. However, one of the coolest things about Bitcoin is that there are so few hurdles in implementing technical solutions to the problems it needs to solve. Worried about buying something and getting scammed? Develop an escrow service or a reputation system or some other interesting solution. Worried about the security of your wallet file? Think about how distributed file systems like Wuala work. What about making a system where you work with your friends to have a distributed and encrypted backup of all of your wallets? Tack on a mobile API and you can access it from your phone without needing your own 24/7 server or a central authority. Worried about price stability? Develop another escrow-like payment service that gives a pay date range (say a week) and offers to refund the purchase or increase the purchase amount (up to a certain point) if the value of bitcoin changes too much during that time. Or, (more likely) think of a better technical solution on top of bitcoin that allows for stable pricing even if the value of bitcoin fluctuates. Worried about government crackdowns and exchanging for dollars? Develop a craigslist alternative where people can trade their physical goods for bitcoins with other users nearby.
macavity23 15y ago
This is great news. There was always going to be some kind of security incident with people rushing to get their BTC-based sites up, and after the hype bitcoin had generated it was inevitable there would be many who thought that the bubble had now popped. If BTC can now show it is still viable after its recent troubles, it comes out looking much stronger because of them.

17 points by rjweapon 15y ago

mef 15y ago

Nice to read an article with the fundamentals of Bitcoin correct in contrast with the largely inaccurate stories from the past week framing the Mt Gox hack as a Bitcoin failing.

nextparadigms 15y ago

I was actually surprised it stayed so steady after all the hacking/malware headlines. It seems those types of headlines can't easily scare away Bitcoin owners. They truly believe Bitcoin is here to stay, no matter what temporary obstacles may appear.

zacharypinter 15y ago

Bitcoin definitely has problems it needs to solve. However, one of the coolest things about Bitcoin is that there are so few hurdles in implementing technical solutions to the problems it needs to solve. Worried about buying something and getting scammed? Develop an escrow service or a reputation system or some other interesting solution. Worried about the security of your wallet file? Think about how distributed file systems like Wuala work. What about making a system where you work with your friends to have a distributed and encrypted backup of all of your wallets? Tack on a mobile API and you can access it from your phone without needing your own 24/7 server or a central authority. Worried about price stability? Develop another escrow-like payment service that gives a pay date range (say a week) and offers to refund the purchase or increase the purchase amount (up to a certain point) if the value of bitcoin changes too much during that time. Or, (more likely) think of a better technical solution on top of bitcoin that allows for stable pricing even if the value of bitcoin fluctuates. Worried about government crackdowns and exchanging for dollars? Develop a craigslist alternative where people can trade their physical goods for bitcoins with other users nearby.

macavity23 15y ago

This is great news. There was always going to be some kind of security incident with people rushing to get their BTC-based sites up, and after the hype bitcoin had generated it was inevitable there would be many who thought that the bubble had now popped. If BTC can now show it is still viable after its recent troubles, it comes out looking much stronger because of them.