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Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Feud (cnet.com)

Bitcoin is dividing in two. Disagreements about how to operate the cryptocurrency have led to a new strand called Bitcoin Cash, which is breaking off from the bitcoin system. From a report: Bitcoin Cash launches Tuesday in what is known as a "hard fork" from bitcoin, a virtual currency based on peer-to-peer transactions without any central authority or bank behind it. The new offshoot is a response to the increasing popularity of bitcoin, which is struggling to deal with massive numbers of transactions with its underpinning technology. The main bitcoin currency is adopting a system called Segwit2x that moves transactions out of the current blockchain, while bitcoin Cash will use bigger blocks within the blockchain. Bitcoin holders are set to receive the same amount of bitcoin cash as they have in bitcoin if the exchanges and wallets they use support the new coin, another report added. Exchanges including Kraken and ViaBTC have said they'll support both, while others like Coinbase and Poloniex have said they won't, citing uncertainty that bitcoin cash will have lasting market value.

204 comments

  1. Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I fixed the headline...this is clearly a shell game of some sort. Someone is going to get very rich and a lot of little folks are about to get screwed.

    1. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by nichogenius · · Score: 0

      I agree, this looks very scammy indeed.

    2. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is fraudy about it? Everyone who held BTC in a private wallet now has BTC and BCC in the same amount. It's like getting free money! How is that fraud?

    3. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Train0987 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because there's no such thing as "free money"? And when someone promises you "free money" you can be assured it's a fraud?

    4. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I fixed the headline...this is clearly a shell game of some sort. Someone is going to get very rich and a lot of little folks are about to get screwed.

      And you are totally 100% correct. muhahahahaha

    5. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. It's not you getting rich. You are little. You are food.

    6. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What is fraudy about it? Everyone who held BTC in a private wallet now has BTC and BCC in the same amount. It's like getting free money! How is that fraud?

      It's not fraud, it's an amazing solution to all our money problems!
      We just need to keep forking BitCoin until everybody has all the money they'll ever need.

      While we wait, here's some interesting reading to keep us occupied.

    7. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Gilgaron · · Score: 4, Funny

      But my GPU did math for a while! Certainly this is a worthy of exchange for goods and services!

    8. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Because there's no such thing as "free money"? And when someone promises you "free money" you can be assured it's a fraud?

      When bitcoin first popped up, I mined enough bitcoin on my cheap laptop, and later sold it to pay off my house. The "cost" was perhaps a few cents of electricity. So I'd tend to disagree there's no such thing as "free money".

      When gold was discovered in California, a few were fortunate enough to just pick up some nuggets off the ground, with very little effort.

      Free money does exist, it's just rare and largely is about luck, like winning the lottery.

    9. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 0

      What is fraudy about it? Everyone who held BTC in a private wallet now has BTC and BCC in the same amount. It's like getting free money! How is that fraud?

      Because the value in trade of BTC is the fixed amount of mineable currency. Suddenly, the money supply has doubled, making BTC investors instant Venezuelans.

    10. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by rogoshen1 · · Score: 0

      go away bernie, you're drunk, and you lost.

    11. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Train0987 · · Score: 2

      How much did you pay in capital gains taxes? Like I said, fraud. P.S. I don't believe you.

    12. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Train0987 · · Score: 0

      Weimarcoin!

    13. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Baton+Rogue · · Score: 2

      When gold was discovered in California, a few were fortunate enough to just pick up some nuggets off the ground, with very little effort.

      Its funny that you mention that. During the gold rush, the people that made the most money were the people selling the shovels and pick-axes, not the people mining the gold.

      Bitcoin exchanges == shovel/pick-axe salesmen.

    14. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      But I have pieces of green paper in my wallet! Certainly this is a worthy of exchange for goods and services!

    15. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      "Because there's no such thing as "free money"?"

      Of course there is such a thing as free money, but it's generally the folks pushing the scheme who end up with it.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    16. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh look, it's survivor bias.

    17. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You participated in enforcing consensus. i.e. validating the ledger. That is worth, at this point, ever so slightly more than the electricity that you used in said computer to process the block. Depending on your "computer" and cost of electricity , you may actually lose money on electricity. Its a very economically competitive system.

      I think you were trying to be facetious , unfortunately you lack a basic understanding of the subject matter so you end up just sounding stupid.

    18. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      15%

    19. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Phydeaux314 · · Score: 2

      This. The real winners in the whole bitcoin craze are not the people mining; it's the folks selling GPUs and ASICs.

      --
      Never underestimate the stupidity inherent in all human beings.
    20. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      did you even read the link?

      he was being sarcastic!

    21. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit, you still live at your mum's house.

    22. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Did they make the shovels and pick-axes out of gold?

    23. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Trogre · · Score: 1

      And thanks to Service Workers on my Progressive Web Application, your GPU did math for me too!

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    24. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention that only some exchanges are taking part in the split. So the original bitcoin is instantly devalued, but only some bitcoin holders are being compensated by being issued "bitcoin cash" in addition to their original bitcoin holdings. Who is getting the BCC from the split that the other exchanges are not passing on to the owners? Play in an unregulated market known to be rife with organized crime, and you get what you deserve, I suppose.

    25. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bullshit, the real winners are the ones who buy the bottom and sell the top. (eaiser said than done)

    26. Re:Bitcoin Splits in Two Amid Fraud by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      "of some sort"

      Care to share your reasoning, Mr. C.?

      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
  2. Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just love seeing crypto currency fail and hearing the wails and moans of nerds losing money.

    1. Re:Cry more nerds! by Baron_Yam · · Score: 1, Troll

      Anyone with even a bit of a critical mind should realize fairly quickly that Bitcoin can't work in wide use or long term (and the more use, the shorter the life).

      Anyone with even a bit of common sense and the ability to read some economic theory should figure out the financial theory behind Bitcoin is crap and won't work.

      Anyone with any understanding of human nature and business should know instantly that centralization and fraud was all that would come of it.

      But there's another sucker born every minute, and the Internet lets the con artists reach them so much more efficiently than in the old days. And then the backfire effect kicks in and they dig in their heels even if you try to help them.

      I went from curious, to attempting to help those who were being drawn in, to teasing the nut cases... and now I'm at the point of schadenfreude - I just love it when idiots get scammed.

      My only problem with it all now is that just because their are rubes to fleece doesn't make it OK to fleece them, nor does it make being a con artist acceptable.

    2. Re:Cry more nerds! by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Anyone with even a bit of a critical mind should realize fairly quickly that Bitcoin can't work in wide use or long term (and the more use, the shorter the life).

      Anyone with even a bit of common sense and the ability to read some economic theory should figure out the financial theory behind Bitcoin is crap and won't work.

      When bitcoin first came out, I thought that; I still don't want anything to do with Bitcoin, but, I've got to give it my grudging respect. Not only has it lasted a lot longer than I (or most people) thought it would, it's got quite a loyal fanbase, keeps evolving and growing, and is (in general) increasing in value at quite a nice rate.

      No, it can't go on increasing in value like that forever, but even if it only goes another 10 years before it pops, it's been a very profitable experiment for many people and lasted longer than an average tech company.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Cry more nerds! by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Bitcoin would disappear tomorrow if there was an actually anonymous (Bitcoin isn't even really anonymous) way of sending literally anything of value. This need is most fervently expressed by privacy advocates, but lets be real: a huge amount of bitcoin's actual transactions are sketchy, and at least a decent number are outright criminal.

      So many things about Bitcoin should ring alarm bells. The fact that there's huge amounts of the blocks that have been mined and never moved. The fact that it's set up to be almost mined completely out not merely in our lifetimes, but reasonably soon (unlike, for instance, a precious metal- 70% of all possible bitcoins have already been mined). The fact that there's numerous vulnerabilities if enough of the network is under control of a bad actor. The fact that it markets so heavily to principle-driven libertarian types with an anarchist or minarchist mindset. The fact that the bulk of the mining is taking place in China, specifically where electricity is cheap, and is controlled by a few shadowy men. It's a a goddamned parade of red flags.

      And yet, there's still a desire to subscribe to suicidegirls without your wife finding out, and there's still a desire to get weed mailed to you or whatever. So it still has value, because it is providing a market need, even though everyone knows in their hearts it is just like, so fake. Just so super doubleduper fake.

    4. Re:Cry more nerds! by infolation · · Score: 4, Informative

      Bitcoin would disappear tomorrow if there was an actually anonymous (Bitcoin isn't even really anonymous) way of sending literally anything of value.

      Monero is (mathmatically) provably anonymous, provided you download the Monero blockchain and run a full Monero node to send funds (and take the usual steps to anonymize your network connection).

    5. Re:Cry more nerds! by John+Allsup · · Score: 1

      I've often commented to friends that gradually banks will come up with a bank-authenticated blockchain system, where instead of requiring hundreds of gigawatts per day, the banks simply dictate a set of machines which are allowed to do the authenticating. The need for the computational pissing contest is the weak link of bitcoin. It's an interesting experiment, and something that should be seen and watched as just that: a financial, computational, and sociological experiment.

      --
      John_Chalisque
    6. Re:Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BitCoin is obviously a currency that also doubled as a Ponzi scheme as well:

      1: One mining group has 51% control, which means they can change things, and get their way.
      2: The dark blocks come to mind. Someone out there is sitting on billions of dollars worth of currency.
      3: No true anonymity.
      4: Lots of scams. Tumbling, and other items just result in some exchange making off with one's currency.

      Yes, it is going up to high numbers, and it likely will stay that way, but hard forks are doing a lot of damage, and might just hurt it as much as the fall of Mt. Gox did a few years ago.

    7. Re:Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When bitcoin first came out, I thought that; I still don't want anything to do with Bitcoin, but, I've got to give it my grudging respect. Not only has it lasted a lot longer than I (or most people) thought it would, it's got quite a loyal fanbase, keeps evolving and growing, and is (in general) increasing in value at quite a nice rate.

      No, it can't go on increasing in value like that forever, but even if it only goes another 10 years before it pops, it's been a very profitable experiment for many people and lasted longer than an average tech company.

      When federal reserve nodes first came out, I thought that; I still don't want anything to do with Greenbacks, but, I've got to give it my grudging respect. Not only has it lasted a lot longer than I (or most people) thought it would, it's got quite a loyal fanbase, keeps evolving and growing, and is (in general) increasing in value at quite a nice rate.

      No, it can't go on increasing in value like that forever, but even if it only goes another 10 years before it pops, it's been a very profitable experiment for many people and lasted longer than an average fiat currency.. /s

    8. Re:Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bitcoin would disappear tomorrow if there was an actually anonymous (Bitcoin isn't even really anonymous) way of sending literally anything of value. This need is most fervently expressed by privacy advocates, but lets be real: a huge amount of bitcoin's actual transactions are sketchy, and at least a decent number are outright criminal.

      Dude, I buy lunch with bitcoin. If that's sketchy to you, how do you justify using actual money?

      A huge amount of american dollars' actual transactions are sketchy, and at least a decent number are outright criminal (thinking bankers here). Does that mean that banks, dollars, or bankers are bad, or that only the specific transactions are? And if it's just the transactions that are bad and not the technology, then why make the point at all?

      It's the difference between protected speech and speech. Just because people say bad things doesn't mean we must stop speaking altogether.

    9. Re: Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I too smell the beginning of the end... Would be nice to finally be able to upgrade my video card for a reasonable price...

    10. Re:Cry more nerds! by flink · · Score: 1

      Bitcoin would disappear tomorrow if there was an actually anonymous (Bitcoin isn't even really anonymous) way of sending literally anything of value.

      BTC should be reasonably anonymous if you take the appropriate precaution of either mining your own currency or paying for BTC with cash. There are also other newer currencies like Zcash that are designed from the ground up to tackle the privacy issue.

    11. Re:Cry more nerds! by Cramer · · Score: 2

      how do you justify using actual money

      Because it's a tangible, physical object in my possession that I physically transfer to someone else's possession. It does not require any 3rd party to authenticate, or verify, and it doesn't get recorded in a public f'ing ledger for all eternity.

    12. Re:Cry more nerds! by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Anyone with an ounce of humility would realize that the behavior of a giant distributed system like BitCoin will be impossible to predict, particularly since nothing very much like it has ever been attempted before at this scale. The only wise thing to do is shut up, sit back, stop trying to make foolish predictions about what "obviously will happen", and watch what actually does happen (and don't invest any money in it that you aren't willing to lose suddenly).

      Maybe in another 50-100 years we'll understand the technical and social dynamics of blockchain currencies well enough to make solid predictions about their behaviors. Then again, we've had traditional currencies for several thousand years already and we still can't predict those markets with solid accuracy, so perhaps not.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    13. Re:Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It popped in 2014 after the explosive growth that the rumours of bitcoin billionaires was built on. Now is the second bubble (only up 300% this time compared with the reasonably stable price over 2014-2016), and this split just seems to have been a method of temporarily driving the price back up after the start of a pop a couple of months back.

    14. Re:Cry more nerds! by rkordmaa · · Score: 1

      Alarm bells of what kind? Whats your hypothesis in the first place? That criminals like money and often have to move it? That power hungry business is done where power is cheap if at all possible? Wow, what amazing insights.

    15. Re:Cry more nerds! by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      how do you justify using actual money

      Because it's a tangible, physical object in my possession that I physically transfer to someone else's possession. It does not require any 3rd party to authenticate, or verify, and it doesn't get recorded in a public f'ing ledger for all eternity.

      No. Money is not a tangible object. It is a system of accounting. I.e. a ledger. The difference is that it's a distributed ledger, while block-chain based currencies use one centralized ledger (centralized in the sense that all entries are collected together in one dataset, not in the sense that one entity runs it).

      The bills and coins you have are tangible objects, but they are not money. They are entries in the ledger.

    16. Re:Cry more nerds! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      god damn you are an idiot

  3. Seems like a bad idea. by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I must be missing something. I assume everyone involved is working toward strengthening the currency as a whole and not trying to undermine it's success. With that goal in mind it would seem coming to terms over it's future would make a lot more sense than segmenting it's user base.

    1. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by timholman · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I must be missing something. I assume everyone involved is working toward strengthening the currency as a whole and not trying to undermine it's success.

      My experience is that most people involved in BTC are doing it because they see it as a way of getting rich quick. There is very little idealism left in the BTC ecosystem. It's mainly a bunch of people scheming to become the next set of digital gold rush billionaires.

    2. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Here's the problem though. It's like Linux. Because there is no concept of "Intellectual Property," anyone who is dissatisfied with the status quo can just fork the whole thing into something new and nobody can do anything about it.

      Blockchains are the same, and nobody really saw this coming. This is what I call the "fork attack." You hold a blockchain ransom with your demands, and if it doesn't comply, you simply fork it. It undermines the entire concept of a blockchain, because it simply means that instead of transactions being permanent and irreversible, it means they are not permanent, and not irreversible.

      Just look at what Ethereum did. They forked to reverse a bunch of theft transactions, defeating the entire purpose of a blockchain. Now they have no credibility.

      BTC has joined those ranks now, I'm afraid. It doesn't help that we've had YET ANOTHER major exchange go down for fraud and criminal activity, undoing the hard work of those who are trying to legitimize this technology. And no, it's not a government conspiracy. It's criminals. Doing criminal stuff. Doing criminal stuff and getting caught. It just so happens that digital currency is suited for hiding the transfer of value contrary to the laws of various countries.

      We know people tend to blame tools rather than people. Someone got shot? Blame the gun. Someone got fat? Blame McDonalds. Someone laundered money? Blame the money. People are bad at personal accountability. That is never going to change.

    3. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by H3lldr0p · · Score: 2

      It's mainly a bunch of people scheming to become the next set of digital gold rush billionaires.

      Which is chasing after nothing at this point. That ship has sailed, so to speak. If anything, this breakup sounds like someone wants to start over with part of the bitcoin brand.

    4. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 5, Informative

      > I assume everyone involved is working toward strengthening the currency as a whole and not trying to undermine it's success.

      You assume wrong. Blockstream, Inc, a company financed by the second largest mainstream financial company (AXA), hired most of bitcoin's core developers, and drove off many of the rest. They have roadblocked bitcoin's expansion in order to force transactions "off-chain" onto private settlement networks, the kind that AXA can collect fees off of.

      A "block" is a set of bitcoin transactions secured with a cryptographic hash, so you can verify the contents are correct. Until now, the block size limit has been 1 MB. Since blocks are generated every ten minutes on average, this works out to slightly less than old 14.4K telephone modem speed. This is an absurdly low limit on transaction rate, but was not a problem until last fall, when the volume of transactions hit that limit. The core developers had refused to raise the limit, so that instigated the software fork.

      Bitcoin is open-source software, so it can be forked like any other OSS project. The split happening today is a simple change to the code, to allow up to 8 MB blocks. That amounts to 107 kbps, which is still well within modern broadband capacity. All the transaction up to this point is identical for both forks, but once the new fork generates a block > 1 MB, the other fork won't recognize it as valid. From that point forward their blockhains will have different histories. Any bitcoins you had previously will be represented on both ledgers, and it is up to the user to choose which software they want to use to handle future transactions.

    5. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How will double spending be handled? If my BTC are represented on both ledgers and I spend mine on one ledger, how and when does the transaction show up on the other ledger?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    6. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I assume everyone involved is working toward strengthening the currency as a whole and not trying to undermine it's success.

      You assume wrong. Blockstream, Inc, a company financed by the second largest mainstream financial company (AXA), hired most of bitcoin's core developers, and drove off many of the rest. They have roadblocked bitcoin's expansion in order to force transactions "off-chain" onto private settlement networks, the kind that AXA can collect fees off of.

      A "block" is a set of bitcoin transactions secured with a cryptographic hash, so you can verify the contents are correct. Until now, the block size limit has been 1 MB. Since blocks are generated every ten minutes on average, this works out to slightly less than old 14.4K telephone modem speed. This is an absurdly low limit on transaction rate, but was not a problem until last fall, when the volume of transactions hit that limit. The core developers had refused to raise the limit, so that instigated the software fork.

      Bitcoin is open-source software, so it can be forked like any other OSS project. The split happening today is a simple change to the code, to allow up to 8 MB blocks. That amounts to 107 kbps, which is still well within modern broadband capacity. All the transaction up to this point is identical for both forks, but once the new fork generates a block > 1 MB, the other fork won't recognize it as valid. From that point forward their blockhains will have different histories. Any bitcoins you had previously will be represented on both ledgers, and it is up to the user to choose which software they want to use to handle future transactions.

      The economic consequence of this is that it opens the door to counterfeiting bitcoins. You can spend the same coin in each ledger and if you can get somone to accept a fork you create as valid you can pay them without impacting your "real" wallet on the main ledger.

    7. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      The Etherium fork showed an interesting problem with blockchain technology. How do you, in fact, address fraud?

      If you can't roll back to 'erase' the fraud, then you have built a system that makes fraud permanent. And yet the blockchain was intended to expose transactions, to validate them, and let the community determine that validity. When a transaction is identified as 'fraudulent', which in Ethereum's case was declaring it to be the result deceptively manipulating 'The DAO' for the purpose of extracting Ether contrary to the intentions of the majority of funders. The fix was to freeze the Ether within the DAO and children, not rewrite the log.

      But, for me the bottom line was and is that blockchain is not well suited to dealing with (ie correcting or punishing) fraudulent activity. And it should not be. That would be the province of users.

      What a mess. Bitcoin is proving that its blockchain has scaling issues, which I recognized about 6 minutes after having it explained to me, with profuse denials by all in attendance. Ethereum is proving that DAOs as code are fraught with danger and not easily fixed.

      And financial fraud in the blockchain industry is a big deal.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    8. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Headw1nd · · Score: 2

      My understanding is that as of now the coins are separate, you have one on ledger A and one on ledger B and never the twain shall meet. The actual value of each will now be determined by market forces, so if they were viewed as equal the value of one would be roughly half, though it sounds like BTC has the leg up for now. I think the fact that many bitcoins will not be duplicated into bitcoin cash, due to their exchanges not supporting the new currency, is part of this.

      As a side note, an unscrupulous exchange could use this to undertake massive fraud, simply by announcing they would not support the fork while keeping their customers forked currency for themselves.

    9. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by rickb928 · · Score: 2

      The simple solution is for Bitcoin to halve in exchange value, relative to fiat currencies. then you can double spend, but get similar value.

      The real question is if double spending happens, and the fork is rejoined, what then? I don't think the fork can be rolled back or 'unforked'.

      Probably the hard fork will result in one chain attracting most of the volume, the other losing acceptance, and one survives.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    10. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with detecting fraudulent activity is first getting everyone to agree that the activity is indeed fraudulent. One mans fraud is another mans forward thinking.

      "let the community determine that validity" LOL. Who comprises this "community" and why should your average Bitcoin user trust that the community really takes their interests to heart? Where are the rules and regulations governing Bitcoin transactions? Are there any punitive actions taken against someone committing fraud and who enforces them? Bitcoin represents require the users to take a gigantic risk because there are no protections in place if they are the victims of fraud. There is no SEC to investigate fraudulent bitcoin transactions and punish those committing fraud. There is no FDIC that amongst other things insures a depositor will be reimbursed up to $250,000 if their money goes missing. Today most banks provide protection if someone runs up charges on your debit or credit cards. Any fraudulent activity detected on your bill are immediately reversed and then it is the bank that is required to research the fraudulent charges and not the customer. Crypto currencies makes the user assume all the risks and if fraud s detected there is no codified procedure to report potential fraud and expect any timely response from any you do contact. Bitcoin users are not customers and there is certainly no customer complaint department.

    11. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by infolation · · Score: 2

      The Etherium 'The DAO' hack took place because some people uploaded experimental, poorly written solidity to the Ethereum blockchain. They didn't correct their coding mistakes in the time between creating The DAO (30 April 2016) and people putting $150M into The DAO (June 17, 2016), and by then the funds were an incentive for smart people to write better code to transfer the funds to a new DAO.

      Writing code to transfer funds from one DAO to another is not fraud. Fraud is wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. There was no deception here. Just clever code that was able to transfer Etherium because sloppy programming did not prevent the transfer.

      Am being pedantic because the whole point of Solidity contracts are that they will run no matter what. So if you are planning to let those contracts control substantial funds then you have to write them properly. Just like instructing a magical Genie to carry out your 3 wishes, you must be careful to be specific, because that Genie will perversely 'misinterpret' your wishes.

      If someone hands you a $150M badly-made magic lantern, and you can persuade that Genie to hand you the funds by issuing it careful instructions, that's not fraud.

    12. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      TFA doesn't mention this, but http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-war-amid-volatility and other newer articles I read say things like:

      This, McNeal says, was done on purpose to protect the network from hackers and other cybersecurity threats.

      ("This" being the size.) So that sounds to me like increasing the size could increase those threats. Yes or no?

    13. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Aaden42 · · Score: 1

      Agree with almost all you said negative about blockchain, but it's not worse than cash in terms of reversing fraud. Someone steals your pile of green paper (or yellow metal for that matter), and the only way you get it back is by catching them and physically retrieving it. With theft on a blockchain, you have to catch them, extract their private keys, then execute new transactions to reverse all of the fraudulent ones. Either way, there's no justice for the fraud without catching the perpetrator. Granted, 'coin is in many cases easier to steal in large enough quantities to make it worth it while also harder to catch the criminals.

    14. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by jon3k · · Score: 1

      John McAfee would disagree with you. Don't miss his insane twitter rant about it either.

      But seriously, we have no idea what the upper limit of bitcoin is. Some people laughed at suggestions it would be worth $1, and now it's worth nearly $3,000.

    15. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

      Individual transactions are still valid on both chains, and the people who generate blocks (called "miners") of both types can include your transaction. There is still only one bitcoin network. But there are different versions of node, mining, and user wallet software which will track transactions in different ways.

    16. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Interfacer · · Score: 1

      If you had 1 BTC, you now have 1 BTC and 1 BCC.
      But because BTC is still the universally accepted gold standard, it will keep most of its value or more (because now the uncertainty has ended) while BCC is regarded more or less as a speculative alt coin like there are hundreds of others.

    17. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My understanding is that as of now the coins are separate, you have one on ledger A and one on ledger B and never the twain shall meet.

      The fact that we are debating about the logical consequences of the fork worries me deeply. Shouldn't the Bitcoin specification be so clearly written that the consequences of the fork are immediately deducible?

      The real problem is that we aren't being provided with explicit details about how the fork works, or even about the way that Bitcoin works. After all, there is no official Bitcoin specification. Instead, there's only a reference implementation written in C, and we're supposed to read the C code if we want to know how Bitcoin works.

    18. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you're missing that there is no apostrophe in "its" as a possessive pronoun.

    19. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Kjella · · Score: 2

      You have a technical theory that any poorly written contract can be freely abused, that's not how the real world works. A "creative way" of fulfilling the contract will often be fraud, even if you swear until you're blue in the face that it's not.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    20. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by ChumpusRex2003 · · Score: 1

      There are two distinct ledgers which are effectively entirely separate from the point at which they diverged. Effectively, at the time of inception of the 2nd ledger, every bitcoin in existence became a "bitcoin1" and "bitcoin2". Bitcoin1s only exist on the 1st ledger. Bitcoin2s only exist on the 2nd ledger.

      If you spend a bitcoin2 (more formally called "bitcoin cash" or BCH) then you still retain the bitcoin1 (bitcoin) that it was twinned with, and vice versa. At present there is a market for BCH, such that you can trade 9 BCH for 1 bitcoin. There is considerably less faith in BCH than bitcoin at present, hence the discrepancy in values.

    21. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It doesn't show on the other ledger. When a hard fork happens you end up with two identical ledgers up until time of the split.

    22. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      You have a technical theory that any poorly written contract can be freely abused, that's not how the real world works

      Agreed that that is not how the real world works, but perhaps that is how Ethereum works?

      Ethereum programs ("contracts") are supposed to be "self-executing", after all -- does that mean that whatever the Ethereum code actually does is by definition the contract, or do we need lawyers and judges to decide what a given piece of Ethereum code was intended to do, and punish people who manipulate it to behave in ways that its authors didn't intend?

      My gut feeling is that the former is more in line with the intentions of the Ethereum project, but I freely admit that I don't really know.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    23. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5 digits id?!
      Did you register in the 1960s or something

    24. Re:Seems like a bad idea. by triclipse · · Score: 1

      The simple solution is for Bitcoin to halve in exchange value, relative to fiat currencies. then you can double spend, but get similar value.

      But why bother? Why not just use smaller units of one Bitcoin as they become more valuable? One Bitcoin can be divided to eight decimal places. 1 satoshi = 0.00000001 BTC. You don't have to spend one Bitcoin all at once.

      --
      No Inflation Taxation without Representation
  4. Meh... by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 0

    Just another opportunity for someone to game the system and screw people out of their Bitcoin... I expect a headline within the next couple of weeks/months about someone losing all of the hard earned Bitcoin because of it...

  5. Even MORE legitimacy for the respected Bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sorry bout ur internet drugbux friendos

  6. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by timholman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    BTC is clearly the inferior of the two coins, so why does it get to win? Still have HOURS-long confirmation times, tiny block size, etc.. makes it useless for F2F transactions, merchant payments, etc.

    BTC "wins" because some Chinese mining pools are making money hand over fist from transaction fees. Obviously they don't want that to end. It also "wins" because many people holding BTC don't want the supply to effectively double with a hard fork, as that devalues their "investment".

    The ultimate problem with Bitcoin is that it involves multiple parties who are strongly motivated to operate at cross-purposes for their own personal gain. Bitcoin Cash won't be the last hard fork.

  7. the currency of the future ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cant handle being just that. How do you expect to have Bitcoin widely accepted as a real currency if it starts to fall apart as soon as it gets widely accepted?! Bitcoin seems to be its own worst enemy... NEXT!

  8. So it begins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is asking for even more regulation than just over IPO where cryptocurrency scams steal millions, this behavior demands regulation of every aspect to prevent millions more from simply disappearing. There is a reason issuing currency is restricted to large government bodies, those that face some shred of accountability.

  9. This is good for BitCoin by fedos · · Score: 0

    /s

  10. Ponzi Level Scheme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thought about investing in Bitcoin a few times. My instincts told me something was "off" a few times. Some people are going to be left holding the bag and a small few are going to walk away rich.

    1. Re:Ponzi Level Scheme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your instincts -really- suck, because had you invested a few hundred dollars in it a few years ago, you'd be a millionaire by now.

      Sorry.

    2. Re:Ponzi Level Scheme by supremebob · · Score: 1

      Or they could have lost it all, depending on which Bitcoin exchange they used.

      What's even scarier is that the price of Bitcoin can STILL swing as much as 25% in a day even now. Anybody who's treating their Bitcoin as a serious investment is smoking crack.

  11. How will this work? by Headw1nd · · Score: 1

    How does a thing like this even work? What I'm reading is that everyone with bitcoin will now have an equal amount of bitcoin cash, and from now on the value of each will be uncoupled. Does this mean in the short run after the split the value of bitcoin is halved (at least), until the market decides how this will play out? What if I don't have a wallet that supports both at the outset, am I locked out from getting my bitcoin cash issue?

    1. Re:How will this work? by Train0987 · · Score: 0

      This fork is only demonstrating that bitcoin are created out of thin air in the first place and have no value beyond hype. They just created an equal amount of a new coin from thin air and it's supposed to immediately have value (just because they say so) while the original doesn't lose any? That's only possible in fantasyland. If the Treasury announced that they were immediately doubling the amount of money in existence then the value of one unit would drop by half. If the world's gold supply suddenly doubled then the price of an ounce would be diluted by half as well.

    2. Re:How will this work? by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

      " no value beyond hype"

      And what gives U.S. Dollars value?

    3. Re:How will this work? by Train0987 · · Score: 2

      The faith and credit of the United States of America.

    4. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      (and our giant ass military that will kill you if you disagree with our ability to make the dollar valuable)

    5. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Federal Reserve and all other Central banking agencies, i.e. research from thousands of Ph.D Economics and Financial Mathematicians aiming to do precisely that - ensure the dollar has value.

    6. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The faith and credit of the United States of America.

      Well, the President did tweet that we worship God, and Americans do carry a lot of credit balances.
      Seems legit.

    7. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about the fact that I can pay my US taxes with it?

    8. Re:How will this work? by spun · · Score: 1

      It's all imaginary, but there are orders of magnitude more people imagining that the US dollar has value than there are imagining that bitcoin has value. And even people with a great imagination aren't all that convinced of bitcoin's value. They have a vague daydream that bitcoin has value. Meanwhile, people are building whole universes in their head out of US dollars. It's like comparing pictures of apples with vague childhood recollections of oranges.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    9. Re:How will this work? by hord · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not really like a split. More like a clone. This doesn't happen in the stock or currency world. Basically you now have two chains that operate on the same history but are now divergent.

      I have no idea how the value of this will play out because it will depend on how strong the support is for each. If each gains equal support, I imagine a decline in valuation for both back to "normal". Otherwise you'll have one absorb the transaction space of the other and essentially just eliminate the loser's value overnight, probably. Depending on how long that plays out people are going to be trading on both which means potential volatility.

      Popcorn-worthy from my seat.

    10. Re:How will this work? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      most the population of Earth accepts it as a world currency, it has value like no other money as long as that is true.

    11. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Move your wallet keys off any exchange and on to your local machine to ensure you get your share of the BCC(Bitcoin Cash). There is no set "time limit" as your wallet keys will exist on both chains for the same amounts. I say move your wallet off the exchanges because I expect to see some of them pocketing the new BCC coins based on your old BTC blockchain keys while telling you they "don't support BCC."

      Effectively what will happen is BTCs value remains unchanged and the new fork is worth "nothing". However BCC already has enough backing with exchanges and blockchain maintainers(everyone with a copy of the blockchain - not limited to active 'miners') the BCC already has an expected value of about $300 a coin. Likely a near equal amount of value from BTC will be lost by affect of BCC supporters divesting in their BTC. Otherwise it doesn't magically divide the value of existing coins.

      On a technical level I side with BCC. Moving the transactions "off the block chain" like the main BTC is doing means that the transactions are no longer set in stone and can be manipulated without recalculating the entire blockchain.

    12. Re:How will this work? by hord · · Score: 1

      What gives anything value? Even life-essentials life food change value based on your immediate situation.

    13. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (And who is going to make the people operating the giant-ass military accept dollars as valuable? Have you not seen Rick and Morty S03E01? Watch that and report back to class, young anon.)

    14. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The dollar has value because the government requires taxes to be paid in dollars.

    15. Re:How will this work? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      No, I'd say this is more equivalent to a stock split. Since the supply just doubled, you'd expect the currency value to roughly halve. But as I understand it, since people will have both in their wallets (double their current Bitcoin), it shouldn't negatively effect anyone.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    16. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What gives gold value? It's utility is certainly dwarfed by its price.

    17. Re:How will this work? by ThePyro · · Score: 1

      Does this mean in the short run after the split the value of bitcoin is halved (at least), until the market decides how this will play out?

      Right now the total market value of BTC ($2770) + BCH ($215) is roughly the same as BTC's recent all-time high ($2999). Users who are aware of both chains haven't really lost or gained anything. If you weren't paying attention, though, then you could be oblivious to the fact that your BTC dropped in value but you have unspent BCH that could make up for it.

      What if I don't have a wallet that supports both at the outset, am I locked out from getting my bitcoin cash issue?

      Your address will be the same on either chain, so as long as you control your private keys (which you should) then you can import them into a wallet that supports BCH. There's no time limit on recovering your BCH; however, there's also no guarantee that there will be any demand for them in the future.

    18. Re:How will this work? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      And what gives U.S. Dollars value?

      Among other things, $22 trillion dollars in land, as well as IP rights (patents), spectrum, power and other licensing fees all require annual payments in US dollars if you want to continue to own them.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    19. Re:How will this work? by Cramer · · Score: 1

      Too late. If your BTC were in an exchange at the time of the fork/dup/whatever, the equiv BCC/BCH/whatever belongs to that exchange; they will never be yours if that exchange doesn't want to give them to you. (just like your BTC belongs to them... you don't own them anymore.)

    20. Re:How will this work? by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      You can use it to pay your taxes.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    21. Re:How will this work? by jeremyp · · Score: 2

      This doesn't happen in the stock or currency world.

      Yes it does. Companies can issue more stock. Governments can issue more currency. Doing so reduces the value of the stock/dollars that already exist.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    22. Re:How will this work? by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      This fork is only demonstrating that bitcoin are created out of thin air in the first place and have no value beyond hype

      If the hype is believed, then hype is enough. The only thing that makes any currency valuable is peoples' general willingness to provide you with goods or services in return for you giving them some amount of that currency. So as long as people believe bitcoins (or dollars, or gold, or pokemon cards) are worth something, then they are worth something. That's all money ever was -- a collective agreement that some token is (at a particular time) exchangeable for some amount of goods/services.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    23. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must spend us dollars to buy the electricity you will need to access your bitcoins.

    24. Re:How will this work? by hord · · Score: 1

      Companies issuing more stock is usually backed by capital infusion. Governments issuing more currency happens but then you trade on the same currency. This is more like a single country split into two but both are retaining the factories and producing goods for two markets. If it does happen in the financial world, it's certainly rare.

    25. Re:How will this work? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I have no idea how the value of this will play out because it will depend on how strong the support is for each.

      Supply and demand.
      Silliest solution: I now have double the money at half the value.
      Most likely solution: I now have double the money, half of it is still worth what it was, and the other is worthless.

    26. Re:How will this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is nothing like a stock split.

      It's like "Random company A" came up to every citizen and handed them "randombonds" to the same value as any cash they had in their accounts. These "randombonds" can not be used for taxes and currently no store accepts them as legal tender. But if you want to assign value to them that is fine.

      How would you value your "randombonds"? How would they make you feel about your cash?

  12. ANOTHER new one! by krray · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm starting ANOTHER new ripUoffCurrency.
    K Coin now available! Just send you CASH to PO BOX 7184

    That's how this works, right? :)

    1. Re:ANOTHER new one! by avandesande · · Score: 1

      LOL you are too late... sad + funny
      https://coinmarketcap.com/curr...

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    2. Re:ANOTHER new one! by jon3k · · Score: 1

      Welcome to the club.

    3. Re:ANOTHER new one! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      after sending the money, put your name next on the list.

  13. Lots of standard emo responses... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    but not much technical discussion... sigh. Is increasing block size much of a solution?

    " Bitcoin holders are set to receive the same amount of bitcoin cash as they have in bitcoin IF the exchanges and wallets they use support the new coin" big if!

    I predict this will fail.

    1. Re:Lots of standard emo responses... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tech nerds left slashdot long ago. Nobody is left except dicks laying cock eggs.

  14. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how is this still a thing. 1849. (Re)Learn from history.

  15. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by mysidia · · Score: 2

    Still have HOURS-long confirmation times, tiny block size, etc.. makes it useless for F2F transactions, merchant payments, etc..

    Not really, And BCC is not a viable solution to BTC's problems.
    There's more to making robust network software than constructing a shiny UI or simply hacking operations parameters to reach a higher size per TX; the actual protocol implementation has to be robust to scale with those features and not blow up.

  16. They took their lucky break by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  17. This is why Bitcoin is worth nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can't do anything with it. It's just bits on a disk, but too bad the fanbois don't grok that. They think they have something. They're just lying to themselves. The guy in 2010 that used 10,000 Bitcoins to buy two pizzas knows that for a fact now. 10,000 just for a couple of pizzas! You can as an individual mine for 250 years and still have 50% chance now of getting a coin, but you need 9,999 more of them just to get a couple of pizzas. What a joke.

  18. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by peragrin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Current NYC maxes out at 7 transactions per second. Visa, MasterCard, etc do thousands of transactions per second.

    One of these are the future and it won't be the one where you max out transactions at a mere 7.

    If Amazon accept bitcoin it would only ship .5% of what other payment processing. Simply because of the number of transactions that take place daily.

    Can you imagine waiting in line at the grocery store for 20 minutes to get a credit card approved? Bitcoin is measured in hours

    --
    i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
  19. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The whole premise of bitcoin requires you to forget that lesson.

  20. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    A reasonable solution is to offer derivatives........a 'sub-bitcoin' offering that is backed by bitcoin, but doesn't require a full calculation on each transaction.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  21. Which fork survives? by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

    I presume only one fork will really survive. After a period of double-spend shenanigans, I expect the larger block size fork will be the sole survivor. Since it's effectively evicting all of the Chinese miners, some 40% of the mining power of the network, the block difficulty for the new, larger block chain should plummet, making mining far more attractive to individuals again. In addition, the new chain should have radically cheaper transaction fees, which will tend to push transactions to use it. Where the people go, so goeth the cryptocurrency. I doubt even the Chinese population that uses Bitcoin will stick with the original fork; they hate transaction fees as much as anyone else, if not more.

    Bitcoin might actually be useful for microtransactions again. Sorry, bitcoin Cash...

    1. Re:Which fork survives? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ethereum forked, and both flavors still exist. Granted, one is worth a lot, and other has a small value - but both survived.

  22. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by omnichad · · Score: 4, Funny

    a 'sub-bitcoin' offering that is backed by bitcoin, but doesn't require a full calculation on each transaction.

    Like put all the bitcoin somewhere safe like Fort Knox and issue paper substitutes?

  23. bitcoin seen from a distance by sjwest · · Score: 0

    early on - I once requested a free bitcoin - it never arrived, later mtgox got hacked and the bitcion community never really recovered from that imho.

    Then I had another go at bitcoin some years ago and somehow came to the conclusion that while i had store of gigabytes of useless crap for which i needed to buy a gpu for or a btc 'rig'/server to do stuff.

    Having no btc one of our last microsoft windows pc succumbed to ransomware, i was glad i did not pay - it got us ms free- yes we had backups of data. Inconvenience is cheaper.

    At that point i quit Even today i see http bots looking for walet.dat files

    I still do not own a $600+ gpu.

    This dungeons and dragons money (mtgox) is a bit useless. It wont buy beer

    1. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Lucky_Strikez · · Score: 1

      I use a bot that trades bitcoin and altcoins automatically for me, So far it has bought me a new GPU and a PS4 Pro.... So yeah, you're ignorant.

    2. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Lucky_Strikez · · Score: 1

      I also paid with Bitcoin, at Newegg.

    3. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      early on - I once requested a free bitcoin - it never arrived, later mtgox got hacked and the bitcion community never really recovered from that imho.

      I know, bummer! They just send you a piece of paper with some scrambled number on it? Useless!!! Me too, friend. Me too.

    4. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I use a bot that trades bitcoin and altcoins automatically for me

      What percentage did you pay in taxes on the income?

    5. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you paid your taxes on that income, right?

    6. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck off you god damn scammer

    7. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Lucky_Strikez · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I pay taxes on unregulated currency..... sure buddy.

    8. Re:bitcoin seen from a distance by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      The IRS says that is income just the same as if you robed someone.

  24. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Essentially, yeah, except they will be in some bitcoin wallet where it's possible to verify that no money has left, and the derivatives will be merely another blockchain backed by bitcoin.

    It's inevitable that all the strategies used for traditional money will eventually become part of e-coin.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  25. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WHOOOOOOSSSSHHH!

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  26. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by sexconker · · Score: 1

    That doesn't make Bitcoin inferior. It just means you can't use it for tons of tine, pointless transactions with instant confirmation.
    If you DO want to use it for that, pay a transaction fee.

    People are only forking because they want to have their cake and eat it too. They're even resorting to scaremongering and FUD with the whole spiel about the Chinese. Hint: If the fork takes off, the Chinese farms will switch over and the situation will repeat itself.

  27. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by infolation · · Score: 0

    If you're talking about the 1949 gold rush, that's not the same as bitcoin. You can't make dental fillings out of bitcoin. As an element on the periodic table, there is only one substance that's gold. There is no gold 2.0. Gold is 100% fungible. Gold cannot be made illegal. Gold doesn't need any other technology. You can hand someone your gold at the same speed as you could 4,000 years ago, regardless of how many gold transactions took place in the interim. And you can wear your own wealth.

  28. China's State Banks would love bitcoin. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They've been in the news lately: http://www.reuters.com/investi...

  29. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by therealkevinkretz · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Gold was made illegal in the US for decades.

  30. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    Current NYC maxes out at 7 transactions per second. Visa, MasterCard, etc do thousands of transactions per second.

    Just when they were on the point of selling out the first field of black tulips!

  31. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    right after the great depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Reserve_Act

  32. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OMG, some woman just walked by my office window who is committing at least a dozen felonies, then.

  33. What does non-Techie do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What do people who have BTC in their wallet (and have not done anything with it in a year) do when it splits? Many will do nothing, will they lose thier BTC or BitcoinCash? will they only have BTC? will they later be able to use their BitcoinCash or will that be lost? Will folks have to chose by a certain date which they will 'convert' to?

  34. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The average American commits something like 30 felonies a day.

  35. Two fundamental questions by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    First how does this split prevent double spending ? Each block chain initially has all the wealth records of everyone. So now if I pay bob 1 bitcoin by posting the transaction to BTcash my wallet over on bitcoinOriginal isn't debited. Why can't I now pay Anna the same coin but posting the transaction on btOriginal?

    Second question is about your clever derivative idea. Someone has to hold they key to the Reserve backing the derivative. What happens if they decide to spend the reserve?

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:Two fundamental questions by Interfacer · · Score: 1

      You can. If you had 1 BTC before the split, you now have 1 BTC and 1 BCC. You did get a carbon copy of your coins.
      Of course, just because 1 BTC trades against almost 3000$, doesn't mean 1 BCC is anything close to the same value.
      They're different coins, traded differently.

    2. Re:Two fundamental questions by Interfacer · · Score: 2

      This is also why the price of bitcoin spiked before the fork.
      a) people wanted to keep their coin in their private wallet so they would get their free BCC
      b) BCC options were traded around 400. So even if you needed to pay 200 extra for 1 BTC, the 'profit' would make up for that.

  36. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Megol · · Score: 1

    Don't think anything flew over the poster... Such a system would still (if reasonably designed) keep most/all advantages with bitcoin while removing the problems of some idiotic* design choices.

    (* IMHO, no make that IMAO)

  37. Absolutely wrong info on parent by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    Bit coin is not limited to that rate of transactions. It's rate limit is infinitely higher than Visa. What you are confusing is transactions and mining events. Mining events happen slowly as you indicate. But each event can process an unlimited number of pending transactions. Thus the latency of transactions is ten minutes but the bandwidth is unlimited-- it's like a station wagon full of microSd cards has higher bandwidth than the internet just high latency

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re: Absolutely wrong info on parent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Infinitely? Unlikely.

    2. Re: Absolutely wrong info on parent by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      I find your lack of faith disturbing -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    3. Re:Absolutely wrong info on parent by Headw1nd · · Score: 1

      How can a 1MB block encode an unlimited number of transactions?

    4. Re:Absolutely wrong info on parent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      by hashing it. a 1MB hash has almost unlimited capacity.

    5. Re:Absolutely wrong info on parent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      retard

    6. Re:Absolutely wrong info on parent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So I guess the bitcoin mempool doesn't exist?

    7. Re:Absolutely wrong info on parent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no such thing as "almost unlimited".

      If there's a limit, then mathematically, there are infinitely more natural numbers above the limit than below, regardless of where the limit is.

  38. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    No the block chain just hashes the old block chain and truncated it

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  39. Bitcoin FORK != Bitcoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bitcoin FORK != Bitcoin

  40. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by infolation · · Score: 1

    The point was not that 'the ownership of gold cannot be made illegal', but rather 'Gold cannot be made illegal'.

    In other words, the substance 'gold' still exists, regardless of any law (aside from a global law compelling the nuclear transmutation of all gold). The Gold Reserve Act wasn't the only time that private citizens had been prohibited from owning gold, Eygpt banned it around 1200BC, Sparta around 600BC. But gold still retained value afterwards because despite these bans the substance itself continued to exist. It's very robust stuff. By comparison, cryptocurrency is exceptionally fragile.

  41. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

    Nah, GP, like yourself, seems to think that only the "advantages" of paper money will be "folded" into bitcoin, whereas the rest of us are just sitting here laughing a tech bros once again reinventing the wheel.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  42. My question is this: by GerryGilmore · · Score: 1

    WTF is the underlying value behind BTC (or Ethereum, etc.) other than its own artificially created scarcity? Gold, cars, jewelry and other "investments" have value whether it's aesthetic or whatever, so can usually be enjoyed in some fashion while you own it. And real American $$ have the advantage of being - you know - legal tender for all debts, public and private" so is immensely useful/valuable. BTC, from all I can see, is just fools gambling. What am I missing?

    1. Re:My question is this: by Interfacer · · Score: 1

      Gold as a material has value.
      But gold bonds or gold certificates are just pieces of paper with artificial scarcity, supposedly backed by something lying in a vault from which it will never return and which you will never be allowed to see. From where I am sitting, gold is EXACTLY like bitcoin.

    2. Re:My question is this: by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 2

      The underlying value is an economic concept called "utility". People value food and houses because they are useful to us. Their "utility value" is what other things we are willing to trade for them (our labor, dollars, etc). The thing is, utility value varies per person and even for the same person at different times. If enough trades happen over a period of time, we can establish an average "market value" - what people are currently willing to trade for this item.

      The usefulness of Bitcoin is in transferring economic value from place to place. Since it runs on the Internet, and is open-source software, it can do this function anywhere, for anyone. It is especially useful in circumstances where other methods (bank wires, credit cards, Western Union) are expensive or not available at all. If you are in Venezuela, for example, which is undergoing hyperinflation and economic collapse, you might want to move your assets out of the country. The government won't let you with the national currency (the Bolivar), but you can with bitcoin. Not surprisingly, bitcoin trading volumes are very high in that country.

      If something better comes along that does the same job as Bitcoin, it's market value may disappear, the way 2400 baud modems are now pretty worthless.

    3. Re:My question is this: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      WTF is the underlying value behind BTC (or Ethereum, etc.) other than its own artificially created scarcity?

      None. .. except the (possibily miniscule) feature that they can be transferred more easily then other currencies.

      Gold, cars, jewelry and other "investments" have value whether it's aesthetic or whatever, so can usually be enjoyed in some fashion while you own it. And real American $$ have the advantage of being - you know - legal tender for all debts, public and private" so is immensely useful/valuable. BTC, from all I can see, is just fools gambling. What am I missing?

      It doesn't compare well to gold, cars, and jewelry. While there was some US government decision that Bitcoins were to be treated like a commodity, they simple aren't (as a matter of fact, not opinion or law) and you pretty much explained exactly why. Bitcoins are a lot more like dollars than they're like ounces of gold.

      Dollars, as you mention, though they are worthless from the above commodities view, are accepted. But there are plenty of other currencies (e.g. Euros) that you probably think of as "legit" that are not accepted .. where you live.

      BTC, from all I can see, is just fools gambling. What am I missing?

      I think what you're missing is that BTC are a currency, and some currencies are easier/harder to spend/buy than others. Think of Bitcoins as a foreign currency, if that helps. (And TFA is a story about how part of the "foreign government" who issues them, just declared independence.)

      The gambling issue really depends on what you're talking about. (Your question was vague about the usage that you wanted to compare to gambling.)

      Suppose you were a person who tries to make money on foreign currency (or even commodities) by buying and selling them for dollars as their exchange rate varies, and then someone says "you're gambling." Your response would depend on how you're making your buy/sell decisions. Maybe you really are gambling! (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) But depending on how seriously you took your decisions, you might have reasons for buying Euros or pork bellies when you did, and selling when you did. Are all speculators gamblers? Maybe, maybe not. (And to really throw a monkey-wrench into things: would you say that casinos gamble?)

      On the other hand, suppose you're not really trying to make money on Euros, but rather, you're just buying and spending Euros occasionally, because you know someone who will sell you stuff for Euros but not dollars. (Because despite your above comment about dollars being legal tender, as soon as you go international, that's not necessarily true (though dollars happen to be one of the best!)) If you're taking a trip to Europe and exchange some dollars for some easily-spent-at-restaurants Euros, the fact that the exchange rate might go up or down during your trip doesn't make you a gambler does it? I think if you talk about mainstream bitcoin users as gamblers, you're just plain wrong. Wrong even if some of them make or lose money during the period where they're in control of the Bitcoins. It's just money, and not everyone with money is their wallet is a gambler.

    4. Re:My question is this: by GerryGilmore · · Score: 1

      OK, the use of BTC to transfer currencies from failing states like Venezuela I get. However, what I see is a lot more folks treating it as a gamble on its value rising inexorably - nothing more. With a hard limit of 21M BTCs and no underlying "store of value", I can't see it being anything but a scam. Having said that, the underlying blockchain tech has tremendous potential for "normal" purposes.

    5. Re:My question is this: by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Not really. Most of those things you listed have also value only in its scarcity. If there was a massive oversupply of gold it wouldn't be worth what it is.

      Value of anything is determined by supply and demand. It doesn't matter where this scarcity comes from as long as it exists.

    6. Re:My question is this: by hipp5 · · Score: 1

      Gold, cars, jewelry and other "investments" have value whether it's aesthetic or whatever, so can usually be enjoyed in some fashion while you own it. And real American $$ have the advantage of being - you know - legal tender for all debts, public and private" so is immensely useful/valuable. BTC, from all I can see, is just fools gambling. What am I missing?

      But gold, cars, and jewelry don't tend to have intrinsic value anywhere close to equal their USD value. Sure, you can enjoy them in their own right, and gold does have some industrial uses. But the value of "enjoyment" doesn't reach anywhere near millions of dollars for jewelry, and there's no way industry alone could support a valuation of US$1200/oz. for gold.

      These things mainly derive their value because people say they have value. People buy expensive art and warehouses full of expensive wine partially for enjoyment and prestige, but moreso as holders of value. BTC, USD, art, jewelry... they're all just tokens for keeping track of value. They just differ in the details: how volatile they are, how open to fraud they are, etc.

      We all like USDs, because we all like USDs. That sounds like a tautology, but it's the truth. 350 million Americans, plus hundreds of millions more people around the world agree they have value, so they have value. And because of the number of actors, the USD has low volatility, which supports its use by people, which feeds back into its value (in one big circle).

      Due to the small number of actors, art and wine and such can be very volatile so they aren't actually all that great for storing value, but rich people do it anyways for other reasons. If you have umpteen billions of dollars you can risk a little volatility in your value and get the side benefits of entertainment and prestige.

    7. Re:My question is this: by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      Gold doesn't take a large amount of computation time (and energy) for a transaction to take place.

      According to one estimate, Bitcoin takes an estimated 15 TWh per year to keep functioning; it takes ~41,000 MWh per day, and it works out to 178 kWh for each transaction.

      At the cost of electricity from my local utility, that works out to an energy cost of $15.67 per transaction.

      More conservative estimates put the cost up to 94 kWh/transaction - which is "only" $8.27 per transaction.

      I realize there's nuance to the story; that "mining" is where the energy "actually" goes... but since "proof of work" for a transaction requires mining, and the difficulty of finding a nonce is increased as more miners try to strike gold... we can't really separate the cost of transactions from the cost of mining BTC.

      In contrast, once gold is out of the ground & refined, transactions are relatively cheap (gold is heavy, and gold certificates greatly mitigate that problem.) The transaction cost for gold has only decreased over time. Even in the world of fiat currencies like the US Dollar, the cost per transaction is a fraction of a penny.

      More traditional ways of ensuring security in financial transactions are currently thousands of times less energy intensive/expensive than BTC; as it becomes more difficult to mine coins, I don't see BTC transaction costs dropping.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    8. Re:My question is this: by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      Most of those things you listed have also value only in its scarcity. If there was a massive oversupply of gold it wouldn't be worth what it is.

      Diamonds are an excellent example of this:

      • Diamonds are extremely expensive
      • Gem-quality diamonds are actually fairly abundant. Large, perfect diamonds aren't as rare as their price would suggest

      Diamonds are practically worthless to everybody but the few who control the stockpiles of unsold gems, and they have Jewelers by the throat, effectively controlling the entire supply.

      In the end, the true value of an item isn't what you paid for it, but what you can sell it for. Have you ever tried to sell a diamond?

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
  43. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I love the old dismissive posters who don't really understand the blockchain or cryptocurrency so to protect their ego they make these vague assertions that "no one else gets it" and "they've already invented this before" (apparently via government issued, paper currency now? that's a new one). Meanwhile everyone else, like me, are making tens of thousands of dollars trading BTC and other cryptocurrency. But I'll keep reading all these posts about how "bitcoin doesn't work" or "it doesn't scale" while millions of people make money and complete transactions via cryptocurrencies evey day.

    Don't worry grandpa, you can still use your debit card. Let us worry about all this complicated new cryptocurrency stuff just finish your juice.

  44. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by mike2006 · · Score: 1

    Ripple can do 1000 transactions per second, it's market cap makes it the third largest crytpo and it is supported by international banks. No doubt that is where investors will be headed after pulling out of BTC, BCC and Ethereum.

  45. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um. no ?
    You only have to parse 1 single 2MB block ....
    fail much ?

  46. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lmfao

    Not GP mind you.

    But I did study economics. You guys are quite literally reinventing the financial wheel.

    Keep investing in dunning-krugerrands, but just don't be the one holding all of them when interest runs out.

  47. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by thsths · · Score: 1

    Does that include such classics as "loitering" and "walking while black"?

  48. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    Thanks. You're dumb because you lack reading comprehension. The GP (who is me), never said that only the advantages of paper money will be ported to bitcoin. That was your own stupid bias that read that, it's not in the text.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  49. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    god damn you are a stupid scammer

  50. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Cramer · · Score: 1

    Credit cards are analogous to a BTC exchange. For the majority of their transactions, no actual cash (BTC) is touched; at the end of the month, you pay (or are paid) the outstanding balance. Those sorts of "paper" transactions are nearly instantaneous.

    But yes, all crypto currencies are doomed to failure by their very nature. Confirming a transaction has to be computationally expensive or the whole thing is too easy to break. The world is already wasting an unbelievable amount of energy on this bullshit.

  51. Just goes to prove... by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

    Just goes to prove you don't need a government or central bank to eff up a currency.

  52. I think the phrase you are looking for is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "fork you"

  53. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's like claiming just because a state declares Bitcoin illegal it will cease to exist. That's BS. If the right or enough states do it and have a way to enforce it and do enforce it then it's value may plummet but just like gold the Bitcoin will still be there.

  54. Just fork it by stooo · · Score: 1

    Just fork it :)

    --
    aaaaaaa
  55. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

    Get over yourself. I wasn't just talking about you. Take that pedantic shit somewhere where they give a crap.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  56. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

    DIAF you magnificent bastard. also ltr

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  57. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Khyber · · Score: 1

    "I love the old dismissive posters who don't really understand the blockchain or cryptocurrency"

    There's nothing to understand about the walking train wreck that is a permission-less distributed database (what you try calling a blockchain, but it's not new technology, you're just new to this industry and fall for buzzwords just like any child.) It was shown to be a bad idea in the fucking 70s and it's still bad now for the exact same reasons - scaling and information transfer requirements.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  58. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Khyber · · Score: 1

    "Take that pedantic shit somewhere where they give a crap."

    Apparently you forgot where the fuck you are, son.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  59. Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is not a Bitcoin split, It is only another attempt to make another altcoin. A real fork might come in about 4 months, when the time to activate 2mb blocks come according to the New York Agreement. Strange as it may sound, the backers this little altcoin were also in favor of that agreement, so the reason behind them introducing another altcoin before that escapes me. There is no reason why this particular altcoin would be preferable to real Bitcoin or other alternatives such as Litecoin. If something, its technically worse and markets agree. As is typical of the introduction of brand new coins, you have probably seen the highest value it will ever have. Very rarely a new coin survives after it goes public, its usually just a race to the bottom and then disappear forgotten.

    Bitcoin is a couple of weeks away from activating segwit, opening the doors for pretty much unlimited fast and cheaper transactions, putting the final nail in the coffin to the madness of enlarging the block size.

  60. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Charlemagne moved Europe off the Gold Standard and into Silver instead for some very good reasons, including the fact that the amount of Gold needed to buy a loaf of bread was microscopic. He also standardized Weights; a pound of Silver was made monetarily equal to an ounce of Gold. This had a significant effect on Counterfeiting, because it required much more effort to counterfeit an equivalent value of Silver. Counterfeiting was also made universally a Capital Crime.
    Each pound of Silver was divided into 240 Pence, and a Pence became the Standard purchasing value for either a Pound loaf of bread or the equivalent amount in wheat to make a Gallon of beer. Most countries introduced Weights and Measures bodies. Adulterating Bread with something like Sawdust was also made a Capital Crime.

    For over 500 years, Europe had price stability; "Penny Loafs" existed until the time of Shakespeare, when Inflation took off due to the Spanish discovery of Gold in the Americas, and their reintroduction of it into European Currencies. Otherwise, Gold had been used as a "Currency Of Account", kept in Vaults and largely used for only significant transactions, like those between Nations. Ownership changed, but the Gold remained largely where it was. (One exception was the Ransom of the French King Jean; England insisted on being paid in Gold which the French didn't have and couldn't raise. Thus the Hundred Years War.)
    One strange effect of this is that while practically all Europeans were Illiterate, they weren't Innumerate. Everybody kept Accounts, mixed them around, and settled up at events like the Champagne Fairs. (Note, not named for the Bubbly.)

    Gold as a Currency has no practical use; too high a value is placed in it by those who make Profit from its existence. You can't buy a loaf of bread with Gold. The same is largely true of Silver these days. The huge fluctuations in value of both over the last few decades was driven solely by Speculation. People don't make Profit fundamentally in either; they make Profit on Price Swings, either going up or down. (Silver actually has fewer Industrial uses than Gold does, ever since Digital Photography took over from Film.)

    I actually once had possession of several Kilograms of Gold. This was serious business; the guy watching me sign for it had a gun and a badge with letters on it. This was _special_ Gold; it could not ever be allowed into the wild. Manhattan District Gold. Early on, it was discovered that in certain obscure applications, Gold had interesting Optical qualities. I was really quite relieved when a few years later, I gave that Gold away. Different Guy, Different Gun, but the letters on the Badge were the same. I tried to get out of this while I had custody, but even Hanford said "No Fucking Way."

    Crypto Currencies are pretty much like Gold in this way. You can't buy a loaf of bread with a Bitcoin, and expect Dollars or Rubles in change, and you never will. Speculation is the _Only_ thing driving Crypto Currencies, and in case nobody has noticed, Chinese Syndicates are driving the Speculation these days. Two Centuries back, it was Opium, that the Farmer got next to nothing for, but later refined hit the Streets at vastly inflated prices.
    This is _not_ a knock on the Chinese; the Speculators there needed and still need Capital, and they get that from the West, universally in the form not of Bitcoins, but of Dollars.

    I chose to Speculate only in things of interest only to the Rich, not some poor Libertarian sucker who wants to "Give the Finger To the Man".
    In the Seventies, certain fine examples of Italian Horse Flesh were going for ~$3K or less, including Borranis. Now they sell for over a Million. The same principle applied to McCintosh Tube Gear, which had practically Zero value back then, about as much as Fisher, and then Austrian Baroque Furniture, when the latest fashion in Sunset Magazine was Stickley. (As Lovejoy would put it, I'm a "Divvy". "Un Deviner".)

    I'm actually lousy at what I'm about to sketch. If I was better at it,

  61. How it works - 8 times the transactions by FeelGood314 · · Score: 2

    If you had bitcoins before the fork you will have them in both branches. If you acquire them in one branch you will not have them in the other. Now one branch will have the ability to do 8 times as many transactions as the other and lower transaction fees. We now have 3 types of coins. Ones from before the fork and ones on each fork. The ones after the fork will have different values/exchange rates. The ones still unspent from before the fork will likely have a value that is the sum of the two. Now if one fork gains more traction than the other that fork will become more valuable. My bet is on bitcoin cash because it is more useful for me. I don't speculate on bitcoin, I don't use it as a store of wealth and I don't use it to measure the value of anything. I use it strictly for transactions, to exchange value with others. The old system was limited to a rather pathetically slow rate.

  62. No longer quantum safe by FeelGood314 · · Score: 1

    Bitcoin was mostly safe from a quantum computer since you only revealed you public key at the time you created an input to a transaction. Before that, all people saw was the hash of your public key. Now however when you spend a pre-fork bitcoin on one side of the branch you reveal your public key, someone with a quantum computer could then figure out your private key and spend the bitcoin in the other side of the fork. I would therefore recommend that everyone cycle their current bitcoin in both forks sometime in the next 5 years, just to be paranoid.

    1. Re:No longer quantum safe by jfisherwa · · Score: 1

      Agreed. At some point in the next 5-10 years, it should be feasible to hunt for 'lost' bitcoin wallets with unspent coins sitting in them.

  63. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by The+Grassy+Knoll · · Score: 1

    "Being in possession of an offensive wife"

    --
    They will never know the simple pleasure of a monkey knife fight
  64. movin' to montana soon by cas2000 · · Score: 1

    I might be movin' to Montana soon
    Just to raise me up a crop of
    crypto coins

    [...]

    Movin' to montana soon
    Gonna be a bitcoin tycoon

    [...]

    By myself I wouldn't
    Have no boss,
    But I'd be raisin' my lonely
    crypto coins

    Raisin' my lonely
    crypto coins

  65. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

    I see you shilling. Anything except off block chain payments is fucking around in the margins, it's the only thing which can have a big impact.

    Pushing increased block size forward is just a silly distraction, that was going to happen eventually any way. This is all about ASIC miners protecting their investment.

  66. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

    No, I know where I am. Doesn't mean I got to like it.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  67. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    Mod Parent up.

    That doesn't stop me from wanting to see a cryptocurrency that gets around the problem using the Worgl Miracle- taxing the CryptoCurrency at 10% per month until that bitcoin disappears, thus freeing its ID to be mined again.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  68. Re: Why does BTC win this one? by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    One good targeted computer virus could eliminate BTC forever.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  69. Ransom? by DougF · · Score: 1

    So which one do we pay our ransom to?

    --
    Impetuous! Homeric!
  70. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by Agent0013 · · Score: 1

    And checks too days to clear. What is your point?

    --

    -- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
  71. Re:Why does BTC win this one? by omnichad · · Score: 1

    making tens of thousands of dollars trading BTC and other cryptocurrency

    This is called creating a bubble out of thin air. You might make money, but you're doing it by (effectively) taking other people's money. That's little better than a standard old pyramid scheme. Get out while you can, and leave someone else holding the bag.

  72. Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The solution to this problem is to split transactions into blocksizes based on transaction amount. You could have several blockchains, each catering to a specific amount range.

    Larger amounts would assumedly need fewer transactions, while smaller amounts need a great many and have a much lower required time to process, so should be done in much greater batches.