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There's Kanye West-Themed Crypto-Currency On the Way

Posted by samzenpus on from the yo-bitcoin-imma-let-you-be-spent-but-coinye-is-the-best-crypto-currency-of-all-time dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "A bunch of anonymous developers are working on 'Coinye West,' a crypto-currency named after rapper Kanye West. Coinye West isn't an official production of Kanye West, and the developers are staying anonymous because they probably fear the inevitable copyright lawsuits. (Of course, if the currency hits the online market and proves a success, it's always possible the real Kanye West would drop any suit in exchange for a massive amount of Coinye West coins—every hip-hop artist on the planet might claim to drive a Maybach, but how many can claim a currency?) 'DROPPING JANUARY 11, 2014. 11 PM EST,' read a note on Coinyewest.com. 'No premine, no screwed up fake "fair" launches, shyster devs, muted channels, and f**ked up wallets,' it helpfully added. 'We will be releasing password protected, encrypted archives containing binaries and source for the wallet and daemon BEFORE LAUNCH, with the passwords to be released at the specified time.' Just to emphasize the supposed fairness of this particular crypto-currency, the note repeated: 'We will work with multiple pools to orchestrate a PROPER and FAIR release.' A chat room is available at irc.freenode.net. Technical details for the crypto-currency include: Algorithm: Scrypt; max Coins: 133,333,333,333; block time: 90 seconds; difficulty Re-Target Time: 12 hours; block Rewards: 666,666 COYE; every 100k blocks, the payout halves. In the future, will every major celebrity will have a crypto-currency named after him or her? And how long until Jay-Z decides to launch something similar?"

15 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Good grief... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I know it's now a cliche to pontificate "Why is this on Slashdot", but seriously? This is not news for anyone, certainly not "nerds", and clearly doesn't matter. It's not even funny. This "story" would be more appropriate next April.

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    1. Re:Good grief... by bob_super · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It proves that anyone can create a cryptocurrency based on whatever stupid meme they feel like, therefore all cryptocurrencies have no actual reason to have a value outside of the gullibility of their users.
      They're modern art.

    2. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really you can say the same thing about any fiat currency.

      Like playing a game of poker and saying "Ok, red chips are worth $1, white chips $5, and blue chips $10". Even the US dollar is this way -- its value is very much arbitrary.

      Now just because it is only worth whatever you think its worth does not necessarily make it worth nothing.

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    3. Re:Good grief... by bob_super · · Score: 4, Informative

      The US dollar does carry the signature of the Treasury secretary of the US government, and a big stick to whack you if you try to make one which looks the same.

      Bitcoin is like Bansky, You don't even know who started it but it's got value because it's an original concept. Copycats can be made by anyone with even less consequences.

    4. Re:Good grief... by rsborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really you can say the same thing about any fiat currency.

      Like playing a game of poker and saying "Ok, red chips are worth $1, white chips $5, and blue chips $10". Even the US dollar is this way -- its value is very much arbitrary.

      Now just because it is only worth whatever you think its worth does not necessarily make it worth nothing.

      No, you can't. Fiat currencies are backed by the will of countries or large organizations, often with armies/guns to support their decisions. That some fiat currencies are effectively worthless says more about the country/organization than it does about fiat currencies in general.

      Sure a crypto currency could be used as the main currency of some large organization, but until then they all have very little intrinsic worth and no guarantee of guns and/or a large populace to back up their worth.

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    5. Re:Good grief... by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The US dollar has some advantages over other currencies. For example it is accepted in payment of taxes and other debts by the US government.

       

    6. Re:Good grief... by QilessQi · · Score: 4, Funny

      No. They're relaunching it as SnoopDogeCoin. Or maybe SnoopDogeDogeCoin. Unless they were SnoopLyin'.

      --
      Koans and fables for the software engineer
    7. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Sure you can copy the concept, but not the actual coin. The US dollar doesn't actually have that advantage, but bitcoin does.

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    8. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To really understand why this is wrong, you have to fundamentally understand what a fiat currency is. It's more or less simply a store of value.

      Take for example the ruble after the collapse of the USSR. Supposedly communist right? Well, people had already been trading in currencies (sorry but Marx is wrong and always will be wrong, no matter how hard you try, private property and therefore money will never go away) and during the lifespan of the USSR that was the ruble. However when the USSR collapsed, the ruble went with it. People still needed to have a store of value until something came to replace it (barter only systems are simply incapable of fostering even seemingly dead economies -- liquidity is required for any kind of fast trading to occur, which barter does not provide.)

      So what do they do? Well, turned out that people resorted to using cigarettes and vodka as currency. A single cigarette was the smallest division, a pack was larger of course, and a bottle of vodka was worth the most. You really didn't need a country or any large organization to keep this afloat and regulated. The problem with vodka and cigarettes is that they're rather easy to make, so a more well defined currency eventually replaced them (the new ruble,) but meanwhile the Russians didn't have to have somebody step in and say "use this."

      This isn't the only example -- things that have been used as currencies also include coffee beans and shark teeth. These don't require governments to regulate the supply of, but they are inherently inferior because there's basically a limitless supply of them.

      Bitcoin is the same deal as these, only it doesn't have the problem of being easy to create more (the total number of bitcoins that can exist already exist, by the way, just not all of them have been claimed yet.) Because of that, it is interesting to see where bitcoin will go that these previous currencies have not because they could not.

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    9. Re:Good grief... by schnell · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That the "US dollar" exists is the biggest lie in America.

      That's funny, I have several here in my wallet right now.

      The US dollar (or, more precisely, the US $20 or $100 bill) is the most fungible fucking thing on the planet Earth right now. You can spend it or exchange it almost anywhere else on the planet for goods or services at a well established market rate. THAT'S WHAT A CURRENCY IS SUPPOSED TO DO.

      I keep promising myself that I'll stop reading the Slashdot articles about Bitcoin, but I don't... that must be what the Dice Overlords are counting on in the hopes that their banner ads sparking my purchases of clever T-shirts or IBM ... something ... will finally pay off. Brilliant!

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  2. Kanye can just screw off already by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kanye this. Kanye that.

    The bloodsucking money hungry leech just won't go away...

    Bastard can't even sing.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Kanye can just screw off already by newcastlejon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Kanye this. Kanye that.

      Kanye who?

      Greetings from a Radio 4 listener.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
  3. Yo Bitcoin by mysidia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yo Bitcoin, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Kanye had one of the best Cryptocurrences of all time! One of the best cryptocurrencies of all time!

  4. Kanye West? Jay-Z? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And how long until Jay-Z decides to launch something similar?

    Who the fuck cares? I'll take 50 cents any day of the week.

  5. Racist Web Site by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There *IS NOT* another "alt-coin" launching. This is a joke site that contains racist imagery, using Kanye West to bait gullible young people.

    The site graphics open to a cartoon image of a "stereotypical" big lipped black man, presumably Mr. West. In the all black background, three sets of black-face eyes show up. The black background then drops to reveal three brack men in black KKK garb.

    This is not the kind of crap Slashdot or Dice should be promoting.

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