Crypto Currency

[Deepwater6]

Last week I watched a 2014 documentary named the "Rise and Rise of Bitcoin." I had heard of the currency many times before and shrugged it off as a fad of the dungeons and dragons crowd. Since then I have done a little more research and even bought a tiny amount of the stuff. I didn't pick it up as an investment just a trial to see how it works.

 

I still have a lot to learn about the currency, but the documentary brought up some good points. It also showed me how this currency can be serious and go well beyond gamers. I'm not advocating anyone buy it, but I think it merits discussion on what Bitcoin (or a similar crypto currency) can do to international monetary systems, Governmental oversight, and does it make a case for global decentralized money?

 

Needless to say Libertarians are huge proponents of this currency, but it has it's issues. Salesmen of everything from illegal drugs, to fireworks were using this non-traceable currency on the web through a site called the silk road. Before it was shut down people could pick-up Steroids, weapons, fake passports, Opiates, or anything else people buy illegally over the net.

 

Obviously aside from the missing oversight and tax money they may be missing out on, The US government had serious concerns about terrorists and money launderers using it to acquire whatever they wanted without detection.

 

The US found a way to shut down the Silk Rd., but others have popped up in their place. I'm not sure what's out there now, but I'm sure there is something.

 

A lot of people are confused by Bitcoin, the term Bitcoin mining is also hard to grasp for some. Most people describe it as trying to explain what the internet was to the masses in 1985. Some Bitcoiners try to explain it to the newbies (me) as "it's just like PayPal, but it's anonymous." They also get asked, "who owns it?" The response is usually something along the lines of "well who owns gold?" answer, gold owners.

 

Gold just like paper money is only as valuable as you and I agree that it is. The same can be said for Bitcoin.

 

When the banks failed in Greece many of it's citizens turned to crypto currency because they didn't trust the banks to hold their money. When you think about it we are not far from a completely digital global economy anyway. When I go to my bank and put $100.00 in my account, and I go back a week later, the only proof the bank has that I gave them $100.00 is what's on the computer screen.

 

What I still do not understand from the documentary is the Bitcoin backers pushing this as a poor mans banking system. They claim it will allow a low income farmer in the fields of China or a rural farmer in Africa to be on equal footing with people around the world with this system. But there has only been a max $21 million limit for the currency. (see attachment) As these bitcoins have made a lot of money for the clever computer mining geeks who got in at the beginning, I don't see it helping poor farmers as the value of bitcoins can be devalued by those who accumulated a lot of them in the early days. 

 

Either way, in my opinion this fad will probably last and within 20yrs this currency will be everywhere. Most people won't know they are using Bitcoin because by then it will be a protocol which is imbedded underneath whichever financial service they are using today.

 

As I've said for years, I too expect to be assimilated, just give me the chip in my head or my forearm and get it over with. 

 

The currency has boomed and busted many times in the last few years. Despite the fluctuations, everyday more and more people pile more and more money into it. Everyday the government tries to get more oversight on it, and everyday established companies try to find a way to get this to their consumers and profit from it.

 

Is crypto currency our inevitable future? 

 

 

https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

 

[LaurieAG]

Let's hope not Deepwater6.

[Vmedvil2]

To correct you there is a 21 Million Bitcoin Cap as the block chain can only support a max of 21 million BTC, which is exponentially harder and harder to generate bitcoin as the block chain expands as there are more hashes on the chain required to solve a single BTC. To answer your question who owns bitcoin, the people that solve the bitcoin block chain and people that buy it, which basically solving the block chain is doing the banking transactions of bitcoin which there is a fee paid by the person transferring it which is paid to the person that solves the block chain for the transfer, which the block chain is essentially digital data of all previous transactions which are encrypted, which can be downloaded, when you send a transfer code for your bitcoin to the transfer computer it then decrypts the blockchain for those BTC units to be moved into another location to be coded with a different transfer code from someone else which is then encrypted again within the block chain.

 

 

What would be a dick move is to constantly attempt to brute force the block chain and decrypt the entire block chain giving you all the bitcoin held within the entire block chain being 21 million BTC, but this would take much longer then mining the entire block chain which prevents this, plus it would instantly destroy the value of all BTC causing the value to drop to zero as you would be the only person with bitcoin after having brute forced the block chain on all 21 million BTC, which makes counterfeiting and Block Chain robbery impossible, though technically you can still "Steal" bitcoin from holders of bitcoin if you can access their BTC access codes that encrypt their part of block chain holding their bitcoin.

Edited September 25, 2018 by VictorMedvil

[Maine farmer]

 They claim it will allow a low income farmer in the fields of China or a rural farmer in Africa to be on equal footing with people around the world with this system. But there has only been a max $21 million limit for the currency. (see attachment) As these bitcoins have made a lot of money for the clever computer mining geeks who got in at the beginning, I don't see it helping poor farmers as the value of bitcoins can be devalued by those who accumulated a lot of them in the early days. 

 

Nobody wants to help poor farmers.  Some might pretend to, but nobody actually does.

[amanda]

k so i need some help figuring out how to withdrawl and i'm being asked from somebody from block chain or who says they are from block chain saying that i have to deposit a fee to a transactional wallet and then asked to email an address confirming my deposit and that my deposit will deposited 24 hrs after my deposit, the deposit they are asking for is because there isn't any transactions coming from my acct reasons for that is because i opened a new one for what i was doing which was in stocks and  what not. they said something about there being  a block value missing/ lightening network congestion error. and until that's figured out my funds are put on hold. basically i'm ask if what they are asking for part of the whole process or am i being scammed for more money here. They have mentioned that they follow the guide lines for AML turnover registration/ safe transactions protocol.  But i dont know you can believe everything you read on the internet right??? Can some body point me in the right direction to figure my situation out or somebody i can talk to about this 

[Moontanman]

13 hours ago, amanda said:

k so i need some help figuring out how to withdrawl and i'm being asked from somebody from block chain or who says they are from block chain saying that i have to deposit a fee to a transactional wallet and then asked to email an address confirming my deposit and that my deposit will deposited 24 hrs after my deposit, the deposit they are asking for is because there isn't any transactions coming from my acct reasons for that is because i opened a new one for what i was doing which was in stocks and  what not. they said something about there being  a block value missing/ lightening network congestion error. and until that's figured out my funds are put on hold. basically i'm ask if what they are asking for part of the whole process or am i being scammed for more money here. They have mentioned that they follow the guide lines for AML turnover registration/ safe transactions protocol.  But i dont know you can believe everything you read on the internet right??? Can some body point me in the right direction to figure my situation out or somebody i can talk to about this 

I would assume scam until shown otherwise. 

[Vmedvil]

On 2/17/2024 at 4:56 PM, amanda said:

k so i need some help figuring out how to withdrawl and i'm being asked from somebody from block chain or who says they are from block chain saying that i have to deposit a fee to a transactional wallet and then asked to email an address confirming my deposit and that my deposit will deposited 24 hrs after my deposit, the deposit they are asking for is because there isn't any transactions coming from my acct reasons for that is because i opened a new one for what i was doing which was in stocks and  what not. they said something about there being  a block value missing/ lightening network congestion error. and until that's figured out my funds are put on hold. basically i'm ask if what they are asking for part of the whole process or am i being scammed for more money here. They have mentioned that they follow the guide lines for AML turnover registration/ safe transactions protocol.  But i dont know you can believe everything you read on the internet right??? Can some body point me in the right direction to figure my situation out or somebody i can talk to about this 

This is definitely a scam to rob you out of money, that's not even how cryptocurrency transactions work.

[LaurieAG]

Judging by how many 'crypto' new sites push 'Bitcoin Method', which is just the latest evolution of the celebrity endorsement scam, anybody would have to be a fool to invest in cryptocurrencies these days.

Please note: the following Google search results produce many 'glowing' reports but 'Bitcoin Method' is most definitely a scam.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Bitcoin+method#ip=1

 

So, if you believe that this person changed their mind after 7 years you deserve to lose your money!

https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/james-packer-sues-over-online-ad-20170203-gu4lzv.html

[Qurdw]

The confusion around Bitcoin is understandable, especially concerning its mining process. Comparing it to PayPal for newbies might oversimplify its complexities. Yet, the notion of a digital global economy isn't far-fetched. The potential for individuals to control their finances without relying on traditional banks is both empowering and daunting.