In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
If you love working from home, then you should consider starting an internet based business.
One of the businesses that you can easily start at home with a computer and mining rigs is bitcoin mining.
Simply put, bitcoin is a digital currency that operates independently of any countryโs central bank. In order to get an updated value of the worth of a bitcoin, you can make use of Googleโs currency converter; it is a reliable platform to know the value of bitcoin each time.
If you are interested in mining bitcoin, then you have two options to follow.
You can choose to mine a block of bitcoins from the computer or you can choose to pool.
If you want quick returns on your investment, then joining a pool is your best option because mining a block of bitcoins from your computer may take you a month or more before you get any return on your investment.
Please note that if you join a pool, you will only get smaller payments, but you can be rest assured that you will get them at a regular basis.
Starting a bitcoin mining business can be rewarding but you would have to compete with other well established bitcoin miners on the World Wide Web. The fact that you will be competing with people from all over the globe is enough reason for you to be result oriented and at the same be creative with your bitcoin mining business.
So, if you have done the required online or offline bitcoin mining related courses, then you might want to venture into this business.
Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business โ A Complete Guide
Industry Overview
Bitcoin mining in its simplest term is the practice of adding transaction records to Bitcoinโs public ledger of previous transactions or block chain.
This ledger of previous transactions is called the block chain as it is a chain of blocks. The block chain serves to confirm transactions to the rest of the network as having taken place.
As a matter of fact, Bitcoin miners help keep the Bitcoin network secure by approving transactions.
Mining is indeed an important and integral part of Bitcoin that ensures fairness while keeping the Bitcoin network stable, safe and highly secured.
Bitcoin mining as the name implies is similar to the mining of other commodities: it requires deliberate and calculated effort and it slowly makes new currency available at a rate that looks like the rate at which commodities like gold and copper et al are mined from the ground. Mining is also a mechanism used to introduce Bitcoins into the system.
Bitcoin is a type of digital currency that is created and held electronically; it is a cryptocurrency and a digital payment system that is invented by an unknown programmer, or perhaps a group of programmers. No one controls it.
Unlike Dollars, Euros, Pounds and other currencies, bitcoins are not printed, they are produced by people and businesses running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems.
If you want to start mining bitcoin, you would need an online wallet where your bitcoins will be stored.
There are several wallet options available online for bitcoin mining. The rule of thumb to follow before choosing an online wallet for your bitcoin mining is to choose a wallet that will allow you save bitcoins, buy bitcoins, use bitcoins and also accept bitcoins as a means of payment.
The Bitcoin (cryptocurrency and a digital payment system) industry is indeed a large internet based industry and pretty much active in countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Nigeria, Sweden, Australia, Japan, China, Germany, and Canada et al.
Despite the fact that the bitcoin mining business is still much of a green business, the business will continue to blossom because more and more users will embrace the use of bitcoins in the nearest future.
So, if you have an entrepreneurial mentality and you wish to join a massive technological revolution, you can start your own bitcoin mining business.
The truth is that you can build a bitcoin mining business even if you are not too ICT savvy and have limited capital to invest in software development and infrastructure, as long as you have internet access and you know how to use the internet.
Some of the factors that encourage entrepreneurs to start their own bitcoin mining business could be that the business is easy to set up and the startup capital is indeed affordable; you can actually start your own bitcoin mining business from the comfort of your house.
All you need to do is to create an office somewhere in your house. You donโt necessarily need to see the people you are doing business with since you can transact bitcoin mining business with clients from any part of the world.
Lastly, starting a bitcoin mining business requires professionalism, advanced mathematics skills and a good grasp of how cryptocurrency and the digital payment system works on a global platform.
Besides, you would need to get the required certifications and license and also meet the required standard for such business before you can be allowed to start a bitcoin mining business in the United States.
Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business โ Market Research and Feasibility Studies
Demographics and Psychographics
The demographic and psychographic composition of those who require the services of bitcoin miners are not restricted to bitcoin exchange and trading companies and bitcoin traders, people and organizations that make online transactions in your immediate community or state, but it cuts across people on the cyber space who make use of bitcoins from all over the world.
This is so because bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a digital payment system used basically on the internet hence the leverage to work for people and organization all across the globe.
So, if you are looking towards defining the demographics of your bitcoin mining business, you should make it all encompassing. It should include bitcoin exchange and trading companies and bitcoin traders, programmers, investors, and internet โ business oriented people and organizations within and outside the United States.
List of Niche ideas Within the Bitcoin Mining Business That You Can Specialize in
Most bitcoin mining companies tend to operate the general bitcoin mining business that a standard bitcoin mining poll/company is expected to offer, that is why it seems like there are no niche areas in the industry.
But on the other hand, some bitcoin mining company may decide to major in some key areas such as:
Bitcoin cloud mining
Bitcoin cloud hashing
Providing other related bitcoin, cryptocurrency and digital payment system consulting and advisory services
The Level of Competition in the Bitcoin Mining Services Industry
The level of competition in the cryptocurrency and a digital payment system industry does not in any way depend on the location of the business since most people that mine bitcoin can operate from any part of the world and still effectively compete in the bitcoin mining line of business cum cryptocurrency and a digital payment system industry.
When it comes to bitcoin mining, distance is never a barrier when competing for clients especially international clients.
What most clients want is result, hence they are ready to make use of bitcoin miners or bitcoin mining platforms no matter the part of the world they operate from as long as they have good track record and can deliver excellent results when it comes to mining and selling bitcoins to them.
There are several bitcoin miners and bitcoin mining pools scattered all around the United States and in the cyber space.
So, if you choose to start your own bitcoin mining company in the United States, you will definitely meet stiffer competitions not only amongst bitcoin mining companies in the United States, but also all over the globe especially if you choose to specialize in cryptocurrency and digital payment system.
List of Well โ Known Brands in the Bitcoin Mining Business
In every industry, there are always brands that perform better or are better regarded by customers and the general public than others. Some of these brands are those that have been in the industry for a long time, while others are best known for the results they deliver.
These are some of the leading bitcoin mining companies (bitcoin mining pools) in the United States of America and also in the globe:
Economic Analysis
As an ICT aspiring entrepreneur who is looking for a business that requires programming and mathematics skills and perhaps minimal startup capital to start, then you can consider starting a bitcoin mining pool.
The cost of running a standard bitcoin mining pool when compared to the turnover you get can be poles apart (this is applicable when you have been able to establish your feet in the industry).
One thing is certain when it comes to the bitcoin mining business and most internet based businesses, you are sure of making profits when you successfully produce results that are measurable.
As a matter of fact, the cost of running the business from start to finish could be restricted to the cost of making phone calls, transportation and internet subscriptions, PR and of course bitcoin mining and hashing hardware and software et al.
Starting Your Bitcoin Mining Company from Scratch vs Buying a Franchise
When it comes to starting a business of this nature, it will pay you to start from the scratch as against buying a franchise.
First and foremost, it is your ability to mine or hash bitcoin that matters not a brand name.
Except you want to join a well-established bitcoin mining pool that fits into your business ideology.
Unfortunately, you can hardly find a franchise of a bitcoin mining pool โ company to purchase meaning that if you want to own a bitcoin mining (pool) business, then you must be ready to start from the scratch.
This is so because the business is easy to start if you have the required expertise and it is still pretty much thriving and there are loads of opportunities available to aspiring entrepreneurs that are interested in the industry.
The truth is that it will pay you to start your bitcoin mining company from the scratch. Starting from the scratch will afford you the opportunity to conduct thorough market survey and feasibility studies before choosing a location to launch the business.
Please note that most of the big and successful bitcoin mining companies around started from the scratch and they were able to build a solid business brand.
Possible Threats and Challenges You Will Face When Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business
If you decide to start your own bitcoin mining business today, one of the major challenges you are likely going to face is the presence of well โ established bitcoin mining companies who are offering same services that you intend offering. The only way to avoid this challenge is to create your own market.
Some other threats that you are likely going to face as a bitcoin mining company operating in the United States are hosting issues, installation or upkeep troubles, heat, unfavorable government policies, and global economic downturn which usually affects purchasing/spending power. There is hardly anything you can do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for your good.
Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business โ Legal Matters
Best legal entity to use for this type of business
Generally, you have the options of either choosing a general partnership, limited liability company which is commonly called an LLC, or a sole proprietorship for a business such as a bitcoin mining company.
Ordinarily, general partnership should have been the ideal business structure for a small โ scale bitcoin mining business especially if you are just starting out with moderate startup capital.
But people prefer limited liability Company for obvious reasons. As a matter of fact, if your intention is to grow the business and have clients both corporate and individual from all across the United States of America and other countries of the world, then choosing general partnership is not an option for you. Limited Liability Company, LLC will be highly suitable for you.
Setting up an LLC protects you from personal liability. If anything goes wrong in the business, it is only the money that you invested into the limited liability company that will be at risk. It is not so for sole proprietorships and general partnerships. Limited liability companies are simpler and more flexible to operate and you donโt need a board of directors, shareholders meetings and other managerial formalities.
These are some of the factors you should consider before choosing a legal entity for your bitcoin mining (pool) business; limitation of personal liability, ease of transferability, admission of new owners, investorsโ expectation and of course taxes.
If you take your time to critically study the various legal entities to use for your bitcoin mining business, you will agree that limited liability company; an LLC is most suitable. You can start this type of business as limited liability company (LLC) and in future convert it to a โCโ corporation or an โSโ corporation especially when you have the plans of going public.
Catchy Business Name ideas Suitable for a Bitcoin Mining Company
Generally, when it comes to choosing a name for a business, it is expected that you should be creative because whatever name you choose for your business will go a long way to create a perception of what the business represents. Usually it is the norm for people to follow the trend in the industry they intend operating from when naming their business.
Insurance Policies
In the United States and in most countries of the world, you canโt operate a business without having some of the basic insurance policy covers that are required by the industry you want to operate from. So, it is imperative to create a budget for insurance policy covers and perhaps consult an insurance broker to guide you in choosing the best and most appropriate insurance policies for your bitcoin mining business.
Here are some of the basic insurance policy covers that you should consider purchasing if you want to start your own bitcoin mining business in the United States of America:
General insurance
Health insurance
Liability insurance
Workers compensation
Overhead expense disability insurance
Business ownerโs policy group insurance
Payment protection insurance
Intellectual Property Protection/Trademark
If you are considering starting your own bitcoin mining business, usually you may not have any need to file for intellectual property protection/trademark. This is so because the nature of the business makes it possible for you to successfully run the business without having any cause to challenge anybody in court for illegally making use of your companyโs intellectual properties.
Is Professional Certification Needed to Run a Bitcoin Mining Business?
Apart from the results you produce, professional certification is one of the main reasons why most bitcoin mining companies stand out.
If you want to make an impact in the Bitcoin industry, you should work towards acquiring all the needed certifications in your area of specialization.
Certification validates your competency and shows that you are highly skilled, committed to your career, and up-to-date in this competitive market.
These are some of the certifications you can work towards achieving if you want to run your own bitcoin mining company:
Certified Bitcoin Professional (CBP) | Crypto Currency Certification
Blockcerts Certification
Cryptocurrency certification
Ethereum certification
Blockchain professional certification
List of Legal Documents You Need to Run a Bitcoin Mining Company
These are some of the basic legal documents that you are expected to have in place if you want to legally run your own bitcoin mining business in the United States of America:
Certificate of Incorporation
Business License and Certification
Business Plan
Non โ disclosure Agreement
Employment Agreement (offer letters)
Operating Agreement for LLCs
Insurance Policy
Contract documents
Online Privacy Policy Document (basically for online payment portal)
Company Bylaws
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
Apostille (for those who intend operating beyond the United States of America)
Financing Your Bitcoin Mining Company
Aside from the amount required to purchase bitcoin mining software and hardware, bitcoins and of course cryptocurrency and other forms of digital payment required to trade with, starting a bitcoin mining business can be cost effective especially if you choose to run the business from your home, share office space with a friend or make use of a virtual office.
Securing a standard office is part of what will consume a large chunk of your startup capital, but if you choose to start the business on a small scale, you may not have the need to go source for fund to finance the business.
When it comes to financing a business, one of the major factors that you should consider is to write a good business plan.
If you have a good and workable business plan document in place, you may not have to labor yourself before convincing your bank, investors and your friends to invest in your business.
Here are some of the options you can explore when sourcing for start โ up capital for your bitcoin mining/trading business:
Raising money from personal savings and sale of personal stocks and properties
Sell of shares to interested investors
Pitching your business idea and applying for business grants and seed funding from donor organizations and angel investors
Source for soft loans from your family members and your friends
Choosing a Suitable Location for your Bitcoin Mining Business
Bitcoin mining business and most internet service based type of businesses do not require that you see physically with your clients, hence the location you chose does not necessarily need to be top-notch.
But the fact that you can operate your bitcoin mining business from your home does not mean that location has little influence on the success of a bitcoin mining company.
If you have taken your time to study the bitcoin mining and other internet based businesses, you will realize that they are willing to pay expensive rents in order to stay in an ICT hub; a place with pretty strong internet network and of course a place where ICT activities are at its peak.
It is important to note that a business facility in a good location does not come cheap hence you should be able to allocate enough fund for leasing/renting in your budget.
If you are new to the dynamics of choosing a location for a business such as bitcoin mining business, then you should feel free to talk to a business consultant or a realtor who has a full grasp of the city and perhaps country you intend starting your company.
So, if you are looking for a location for your bitcoin mining company, ensure that it is a place that is located in an ICT hub; a place with pretty strong internet network and of course a place where ICT activities are at its peak.
Of course, you would not want to locate this type of business in the outskirts of town or a place without strong internet network. Your clients should be able to drive down and locate your office with little or no difficulty.
Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business โ Technical and Manpower Details
In order to successfully launch a bitcoin mining business, you will definitely need bitcoin mining software apps and hardware such as Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) machines and other cryptocurrency and digital payment system related software apps and wallet.
So also, you will need computers, internet facility, telephone, fax machine and office furniture (chairs, tables, and shelves).
When it comes to choosing between renting and leasing an office space, the size of the bitcoin mining company you want to build, and your entire budget for the business should influence your choice.
If you have enough capital to run a standard bitcoin mining company, then you should consider the option of leasing a facility for your office.
As regards the number of employees that you are expected to kick start the business with, you would need to consider your finance before making the decision.
Averagely, you would need a Chief Executive Officer or President (you can occupy this role), an Admin and Human Resource Manager, Bitcoin Miners and Hashers, Programmers and Software Developers, Business Development Executive/marketing Executive, Customer Service Officer or Front Desk Officer, and Accountant.
Over and above, you would need a minimum of 8 key staff to effectively run a medium scale but standard bitcoin mining company.
Please note that there will be times when you are expected to go out of your way to hire experts to help you handle some high โ profile internet based currency consultancy contracts especially from big corporations.
If you are just starting out, you may not have the financial capacity or required business structure to retain all the professionals that are expected to work with you which is why you should make plans to partner with other programmers and software app developers and computer engineers that operates as freelancers.
The Service Delivery Process of a Bitcoin Mining Company
It is the tradition in the cryptocurrency industry for bitcoin miners to help keep the Bitcoin network secure by approving transactions.
The truth is that mining is an important and integral part of Bitcoin that ensures fairness while keeping the Bitcoin network stable, safe and secure.
In the cryptocurrency and other forms of digital payment system industry, bitcoin miners use special software to solve math problems and are issued a certain number of bitcoins in exchange. This provides a smart process of issuing the currency and also creates an incentive for more people to mine.
For instance, when a block is discovered, the miners are rewarded a certain number of bitcoins, which is agreed-upon by everyone in the network.
Currently the reward is 6.25 bitcoins and this value will halve every 210,000 blocks.
Additionally, the bitcoin miner is awarded the fees paid by users sending transactions. The fee is an incentive for the bitcoin miner to include the transaction in their block.
It is important to state that a bitcoin mining (pool) company may decide to improvise or adopt any business process and structure that will guarantee them efficiency and flexibility; the above stated business cum services process is not cast on stone.
Starting a Bitcoin Mining Business – The Marketing Plan
Marketing ideas and strategies
As a bitcoin mining company, you would have to prove your worth over and over again before you can be awarded any bitcoin mining and hashing contracts from corporate clients.
So, if you have plans to start your own bitcoin mining company, it will pay you to first build a successful career in the digital payment system industry.
People and organizations will hire your services to help them handle all their bitcoin mining and hashing needs if they know that they are going to get good returns on their investment.
So, when you are drafting your marketing plans and strategies for your bitcoin mining company, make sure that you create a compelling personal and company profile.
Aside from your qualifications and experience, it is important to clearly state in practical terms what you have been able to achieve in time past as it relates to the cryptocurrency industry and the organizations you have worked for in time past.
This will help boost your chances in the market place when sourcing for bitcoin mining and hashing contracts.
Businesses these days are aware of the power of the internet and which is why they will do all they can to maximize the internet to market their services.
In other words, a larger percentage of your marketing efforts should be directed to internet users.
Here are some of the platforms you can utilize to market your bitcoin mining company:
Introduce your business by sending introductory letters alongside your brochure to all the bitcoin exchange and trading companies and bitcoin traders, programmers, investors, and internet โ business oriented people and organizations within and outside the United States
Promptness in bidding for bitcoin mining and hashing contracts from bitcoin exchange and trading companies cum bitcoin traders, programmers, investors, and internet โ business oriented people and organizations within and outside the United States
Advertise your business in relevant programming magazines, radio and TV stations (make yourself available for bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency related talk shows and interactive sessions on TV and Radio)
List your business on local directories
Attend international bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency related seminars and business fairs
Create different packages for different category of clients in order to work with their budgets
Join related associations around you with the main aim of networking and marketing your services; you are likely going to get referrals from such networks
Engage the services of online marketing executives and business developers to carry out direct marketing
Factors That Will Help You Get the Right Product Pricing
Some of the key factors that will help you mine or hash bitcoin in a profitable pricing system is to ensure that you work with highly talented programmers and mathematicians in your bitcoin mining pool.
You should also ensure that you get your bitcoin mining software and hardware at good deal not forgetting to run your maintenance as at when due.
Another strategy that will help you offer your bitcoin mining and hashing services at the right price is to ensure that you cut operational and maintenance cost to the barest minimum, and channel your efforts towards marketing and promoting your brand name.
Aside from the fact that this strategy will help you save cost, it will also help you get the right pricing for your products.
Strategies to Boost Your Bitcoin Mining Brand Awareness and Create Your Corporate Identity
If your intention of starting a bitcoin mining company is to grow the business beyond the city where you are going to be operating from to become a national and international brand, then you must be ready to spend money on promotion and advertisement of your brand.
In promoting your brand and corporate identity, you should leverage on both print and electronic media and also social media (the internet).
As a matter of fact, it is cost effective to use the internet and social media platforms to promote your brands, besides it is pretty much effective and wide reaching.
Another strategy is to sponsor relevant programmer/ICT based programs, TV and radio programs, advertise your business in relevant magazines and newspapers. Below are the platforms you can leverage on to boost your brand and to promote and advertise your business.
Place adverts on ICT magazines and related newspapers, radio and TV stations
Encourage the use of word of mouth publicity from your loyal customers
Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Badoo, Google+ and other platforms to promote your business
Ensure that you position your banners and billboards in strategic positions all around your city
Distribute your fliers and handbills in target areas in and around our neighborhood
Contact bitcoin exchange and trading companies cum bitcoin traders, programmers, investors, and internet โ business oriented people and organization within and outside the United States by calling them up and informing them of your organization and the bitcoin mining and hashing services you offer
Advertise your business in your official website and employ strategies that will help you pull traffic to the site
Brand all your official cars and ensure that all your staff members wear your branded shirt or cap at regular intervals.
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In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
Timothy May on the cover of the second issue of Wired magazine with 2 fellow cypherpunks
Sadly, this past week we lost an icon that helped to spur the cypherpunk movement. Timothy May, who wrote The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto in 1988, lauched a movement that is still very prominent today.
For the uninitiated, a Crypto-Anarchist focuses on subverting the current laws and using new technologies to the benefit of the common man.
In the original manifesto, May says crypto-anarchy focuses on โencryption, digital money, anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero-knowledge, reputations, information markets, black markets, collapse of governmentsโ.
The manifesto was written just before the first crypto wars began during the early 1990โs.
The governments of the world fiercely opposed the general public using cryptographic encryption protocols.
The idea that a normal citizen could completely hide what they say in an electronic message was their biggest concern.
The governments cited national security as a concern (Weโve heard this excuse used many times before).
RSA Security, a leading computer securty company founded by world-renowned cryptologists, created this poster against a hardware chip that used a US-government supplied encryption standard
The legislation of the anti-encryption laws would also affect payment processing technology. There was a large push back from tech companies that would have to deal with these issues first-hand.
The crypto wars of the 1990โs ended with the concession from the government that encryption was readily available around the world.
The public had won their first bout against the government surveillance state. Alongside the public, you had the cypherpunks and large tech companies that were all fighting a common threat.
There was not much of an issue in terms of encryption for quite a few more years.
Every few years afterward, the idea of backdoors into encryption schemes were brought up but nothing ever came about these new ideations.
The Crypto Wars Redux
The expansion of computational power and development of more efficient processing equipment closed the gap as to who can gain access to encryption software.
The widespread availabilty of software/hardware that can perform these cryptographic calculations involved in encryption and the ease of use has made it possible for the layman to encrypt their own personal messages, video calls,emails, and notes.
Encrypting an email with someone who has never imported a key to their keyring, or generated their own PGP public/private key pair is a thing of the past.
Many of the services that exist today offer these solutions out of the box. The process has become much easier for all parties involved.
Anyone that is now using this technology benefits from this on a privacy and security level.
With all parties benefitting, the leviathan rears its head once more. Australia has passed an anti-encryption bill that will force large tech companies to allow the Australian government to obtain hardware access(citing national security as a major reason).
Outrage has spilled out of the larger tech companies. The end-to-end zero knowledge messaging/calling app, Signal, has taken a stand against this bill.
This sounds very similar to the issues Tim May was battling with during the early days of the First Crypto War.
The cypherpunks came out on top and Iโm sure this legislation will face a similar fate.
Mayโs Impact on the World
The imprint that Timothy May left on the world is profound. The mass adoption of encryption as well as cryptocurrencies shows just how far ahead of the times he was.
May urged the importance of privacy.
He insisted on the use of encryption to keep your communications private.
Currently on a majority of mobile phones there are applications that provide encrypted communications. Whatsapp uses the Signal protocol which was developed by cypherpunk Moxie Marlinspike.
The rise of cryptocurrencies is an ideal that May was very hopeful for.
May did come out against the anti-privacy issues of bitcoin.
There are projects that offer solutions for this privacy debate.
Much of the developer-base of these certain cryptocurrencies have their foundation based in the cypherpunk tradition.
The Cryptocurrencies that aim for a privacy by default mechanism are monero and the soon to launch GRIN which uses the Mimblewimble Protocol (To see an extremely entertaining introduction to the GRIN project via talk-to-text chat for privacy preservation, listen to the creator of Grin).
Zcash is moving in the direction of private by default and the superior cryptography of the ZK range proofs will help to create a very private cryptocurrency.
Cody WIlson and Amir Taaki who worked on projects focused on the crypto-anarchic tradition including Dark Wallet and Defense Distributed
The impact Tim May made on the world by helping to create a social movement shows the importance and strength of his ideals.
He has impacted a generation of people that are growing up in the digital age.
He influenced builders in the 21st century.
You have people creating new currencies, exposing government surveillance on a national scale, circumventing the broken bueracratic system by creating their own markets, anonymous internet protocols, as well as making encryption applicable to the common man (You can find a list of prominent cypherpunks here and also here).
There isnโt enough that can be said about the applications in which he believed could positively affect us.
May was cognizant of the encroaching all-seeing eye of the state but I believe we are in much better shape now than weโve ever been.
There may be negative news about what we currently face as individuals, from the unprecedented surveillance of the Snowden leaks to the aforementioned Australian anti-encryption bill, but looking at the grand scheme of our daily lives, these tools and their functions have helped to create a much better day than May could have imagined in 1988.
He was a proponent for the industriousness of human nature to outpace the slow moving regulation that would try to bog down any progress.
You can listen here to what he thought people/creators should do when they develop ground breaking technology.
Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!
Happy New Year!May the coming year be full of grand adventures , peace, prosperity and opportunities.Dream big and make the most of … Continue reading Happy New Year !!!!→
In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
Unlike the communities traditionally associated with the word "anarchy", in a crypto-anarchy the government is not temporarily destroyed but permanently forbidden and permanently unnecessary.
It's a community where the threat of violence is impotent because violence is impossible, and violence is impossible because its participants cannot be linked to their true names or physical locations. ย Until now it's not clear, even theoretically, how such a community could operate.
A community is defined by the cooperation of its participants, and efficient cooperation requires a medium of exchange (money) and a way to enforce contracts.
Traditionally these services have been provided by the government or government sponsored institutions and only to legal entities.
In this article I describe a protocol by which these services can be provided to and by untraceable entities. ย I will actually describe two protocols. The first one is impractical,because it makes heavy use of a synchronous and unjammable anonymous broadcast channel. However it will motivate the second, more practical protocol.
In both cases I will assume the existence of an untraceable network, where senders and receivers are identified only by digital pseudonyms (i.e. public keys) and every messages is signed by its sender and encrypted to its receiver. ย In the first protocol, every participant maintains a (seperate) database of how much money belongs to each pseudonym. These accounts collectively define the ownership of money, and how these accounts are updated is the subject of this protocol. ย 1. The creation of money. Anyone can create money by broadcasting the solution to a previously unsolved computational problem. The only conditions are that it must be easy to determine how much computing effort it took to solve the problem and the solution must otherwise have no value, either practical or intellectual. The number of monetary units created is equal to the cost of the computing effort in terms of a standard basket of commodities. For example if a problem takes 100 hours to solve on the computer that solves it most economically, and it takes 3 standard baskets to purchase 100 hours of computing time on that computer on the open market, then upon the broadcast of the solution to that problem everyone credits the broadcaster's account by 3 units. ย 2. The transfer of money. If Alice (owner of pseudonym K_A) wishes to transfer X units of money to Bob (owner of pseudonym K_B), she broadcasts the message "I give X units of money to K_B" signed by K_A. ย Upon the broadcast of this message, everyone debits K_A's account by X units and credits K_B's account by X units, unless this would create a negative balance in K_A's account in which case the message is ignored. ย 3. The effecting of contracts. A valid contract must include a maximum reparation in case of default for each participant party to it. It should also include a party who will perform arbitration should there be a dispute. All parties to a contract including the arbitrator must broadcast their signatures of it before it becomes effective. Upon the broadcast of the contract and all signatures, every participant debits the account of each party by the amount of his maximum reparation and credits a special account identified by a secure hash of the contract by the sum the maximum reparations. The contract becomes effective if the debits succeed for every party without producing a negative balance, otherwise the contract is ignored and the accounts are rolled back. A sample contract might look like this: ย K_A agrees to send K_B the solution to problem P before 0:0:0 1/1/2000. K_B agrees to pay K_A 100 MU (monetary units) before 0:0:0 1/1/2000. K_C agrees to perform arbitration in case of dispute. K_A agrees to pay a maximum of 1000 MU in case of default. K_B agrees to pay a maximum of 200 MU in case of default. K_C agrees to pay a maximum of 500 MU in case of default. ย 4. The conclusion of contracts. If a contract concludes without dispute, each party broadcasts a signed message "The contract with SHA-1 hash H concludes without reparations." or possibly "The contract with SHA-1 hash H concludes with the following reparations: ..." Upon the broadcast of all signatures, every participant credits the account of each party by the amount of his maximum reparation, removes the contract account, then credits or debits the account of each party according to the reparation schedule if there is one. ย 5. The enforcement of contracts. If the parties to a contract cannot agree on an appropriate conclusion even with the help of the arbitrator, each party broadcasts a suggested reparation/fine schedule and any arguments or evidence in his favor. Each participant makes a determination as to the actual reparations and/or fines, and modifies his accounts accordingly. ย In the second protocol, the accounts of who has how much money are kept by a subset of the participants (called servers from now on) instead of everyone. These servers are linked by a Usenet-style broadcast channel.
The format of transaction messages broadcasted on this channel remain the same as in the first protocol, but the affected participants of each transaction should verify that the message has been received and successfully processed by a randomly selected subset of the servers. ย Since the servers must be trusted to a degree, some mechanism is needed to keep them honest. Each server is required to deposit a certain amount of money in a special account to be used as potential fines or rewards for proof of misconduct. Also, each server must periodically publish and commit to its current money creation and money ownership databases. Each participant should verify that his own account balances are correct and that the sum of the account balances is not greater than the total amount of money created. This prevents the servers, even in total collusion, from permanently and costlessly expanding the money supply. New servers can also use the published databases to synchronize with existing servers. ย The protocol proposed in this article allows untraceable pseudonymous entities to cooperate with each other more efficiently, by providing them with a medium of exchange and a method of enforcing contracts. The protocol can probably be made more efficient and secure, but I hope this is a step toward making crypto-anarchy a practical as well as theoretical possibility. ย ------- ย Appendix A: alternative b-money creation ย One of the more problematic parts in the b-money protocol is money creation. This part of the protocol requires that all of the account keepers decide and agree on the cost of particular computations. Unfortunately because computing technology tends to advance rapidly and not always publicly, this information may be unavailable, inaccurate, or outdated, all of which would cause serious problems for the protocol. ย So I propose an alternative money creation subprotocol, in which account keepers (everyone in the first protocol, or the servers in the second protocol) instead decide and agree on the amount of b-money to be created each period, with the cost of creating that money determined by an auction. Each money creation period is divided up into four phases, as follows: ย 1. Planning. The account keepers compute and negotiate with each other to determine an optimal increase in the money supply for the next period.
Whether or not the account keepers can reach a consensus, they each broadcast their money creation quota and any macroeconomic calculations done to support the figures. ย 2. Bidding. Anyone who wants to create b-money broadcasts a bid in the form of <x, y> where x is the amount of b-money he wants to create, and y is an unsolved problem from a predetermined problem class. Each problem in this class should have a nominal cost (in MIPS-years say) which is publicly agreed on. ย 3. Computation. After seeing the bids, the ones who placed bids in the bidding phase may now solve the problems in their bids and broadcast the solutions. ย 4. Money creation. Each account keeper accepts the highest bids (among those who actually broadcasted solutions) in terms of nominal cost per unit of b-money created and credits the bidders' accounts accordingly
” It isnโt obvious that the world had to work this way.
But somehow the universe smiles on encryption.โ
Julian Assange
The universe smiles on encryption
” The innovation is that BTC is hard to shut down. […]
Designed from the ground up to survive under the most adversarial conditions. “
Hasu
Bitcoin is hard to shut down
” Bitcoin is the most successful privacy coin to date. “
Pierre Rochard
Most successful privacy coin to date
” Bitcoin is a mathematical miracle. “
Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-Founder)
Mathematical miracle
” Bitcoin is a technological innovation that happens once a species. “
Trace Mayer
Technological innovation that happens once in a species
” Bitcoin doesnโt care about who you are or what your feelings are.
Bitcoin represents equal opportunity
to participate in a system
not encumbered by
our legacy fiat structures. “
White Rabbit
Participate in a system not encumbered by FIAT
” We’re here to unfuck the money and there’s no stopping us.
Fix the money,
change the world. “
White Rabbit
Fix the Money, Change the World
” Hardly anybody actually
understands money. “
Nick Szabo
Nobody understands money
” When you have a disruptive technology,
they call it a category killer.
Bitcoin is a serial killer –
itโs going to go through
40 or 50 different industries. “
Dan Morehead
Bitcoin is a serial killer
” It’s 21 million or death.”
Robert Breedlove
21 million or death
” It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. “
Satoshi Nakamoto
In case it catches on
” Trusted third parties
are security holes. “
Nick Szabo
Trusted third parties
” There are only going to be
21 million coins,
there are billions of people
in the world, some reasonable percentage of who might
find it interesting to
own a piece of Bitcoin.”
Adam Back
21 Million Coins
” I think itโs essential for a program of this nature to be open source. “
Satoshi Nakamoto
Open Source
” SHA-256 is very strong. Itโs not like the incremental step from MD5 to SHA1.
It can last several decades unless thereโs some massive breakthrough attack. “
Satoshi Nakamoto
Sha-256
” Code mixed with robust game theory is superior to hierarchical command and control. “
โญoinsure
Code superior to hierarchical command and control
” Given that money is one half of every commercial transaction and that whole civilizations literally rise and fall based on the quality of their money, we are talking about an awesome power, one that flies under the cover of night. “
Ron Paul
Money… an awesome power
” The world has to adapt to bitcoin, not the other way round. “
Herzmeister
The world has to adapt to bitcoin
” When I first bought bitcoin it took me two years of speculation to understand what Bitcoin really was.
But once I fully had a grasp of it, it was life altering. “
Russell Okung
Bitcoin is life altering
” Many countries stand to gain from Bitcoinโs adoption as it would remove their dependence on the US dollar and provide them with a feasible alternative. “
Misir Mahmudov
Bitcoin a feasible alternative to the US $
” Bitcoin is a optimist bet on the future, a bet on human ingenuity.
Gold is a pessimist bet on the past and, often a bet the end of civilization. “
Rodolfo Novak
Bitcoin a bet on Human Ingenuity
” Everyone has got to believe in something.
Why not believe in something verifiable and unforgeable. “
Hass McCook
Believe in something verifiable and unforgeable
” Open source software is a meritocracy of ideas, not of people.
So people are always talking about “Who controls Bitcoin?”
Good ideas control Bitcoin.
Not people.”
Ben Prentice
Good ideeas control Bitcoin
“Bitcoin is a seed of hope in a society which lost vision years ago and perspective just recently. “
Kim Neunert
Bitcoin a seed of hope
” Bitcoin has an inescapable, unavoidable, and omnipotent magnetism for the brightest and most revolutionary minds on the planet.
I’ve never witnessed anything like it. “
Brandon Bridge
Bitcoin’s magnetism
” This is why proof of work needs to be expensive, if it is cheap you can roll back things easily.
You want it to be very difficult to change history.
The only way to make it difficult to change history is to make the process of writing the current history very expensive. “
Jimmy Song
Difficult to change history
” Bitcoin is like gold but with this magical ability that you
can teleport it.”
Vijay Boyapati
Bitcoin magical ability to teleport it
” Can Bitcoin be stopped?
“Not really, this thing is a beast.
As Mises wrote:
Ideas can only be overcome by other ideas. “
Trace Mayer
Bitcoin cannot be stopped
“I’m not here to fix Bitcoin.”
Michael Saylor
Fix bitcoin
” Buying bitcoin is the most powerful protest an individual can make against the current economic system. “
Luc Dossis
Buying bitcoin is the most powerful protest
” These numbers have nothing to do with the technology of the devices; they are the maximums that thermodynamics will allow.
And they strongly imply that brute-force attacks against 256-bit keys will be infeasible until computers are built from something other than matter and occupy something other than space. “
Bruce Schneier
Maximums that thermodynamics will allow
” Cryptocurrency is such a powerful concept that it can almost
overturn governments. “
Charles Lee
Cryptocurrency can almost overturn governments
” Bitcoin will do to banks what email did to the postal industry. “
Rick Falkvinge
Bitcoin is the email for the postal industry
” I do think Bitcoin is the first [encrypted money] that has the potential to do something like change the world. “
Peter Thiel
Bitcoin has the potential to change the world
” Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the Internet. “
Roger Ver
Bitcoin the most important invention in the history since the Internet
” Gold is a great way to preserve wealth, but it is hard to move around. You do need some kind of alternative and Bitcoin fits the bill. “
Jim Rickards
Bitcoin fits the bill as a way to preserve wealth
” You canโt stop things like Bitcoin.
It will be everywhere and the world will have to readjust.
World governments will have to readjust. “
John McAfee
Bitcoin will be everywhere and the world will have to readjust
” I think the fact that within the bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the function of the governmentโฆ is actually pretty cool. “
Al Gore
An algorithm replaces the function of government
“People have made fortunes off Bitcoin, some have lost money.
It is volatile, but people make money off of volatility too.”
Richard Branson
Some lost, some won with Bitcoin
” The ability to create something which is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous valueโฆ
Lotโs of people will build businesses on top of that. “
Eric Schmidt
Create something wich is not duplicable
“PayPal had these goals of creating a new currency.
We failed at thatโฆ
I think Bitcoin has succeeded on the level of a new currency, but the payment system is lacking.”
Peter Thiel
Bitcoin succeeded as a new currency
” As people move into Bitcoin for payments and receipts they stop using US Dollars, Euros and Chinese Yuan which in the long-term devalues these currencies. “
John McAfee
Bitcoin devalues $ โฌ ยฅ
” Bitcoin is the Currency of Resistanceโฆ
If Satoshi had released Bitcoin10 years earlier,9/11 would
never have happened. “
Max Keiser
Bitcoin the currency of resistance
“At its core, bitcoin is a smart currency, designed by very forward-thinking engineers. “
Peter Diamandis
Bitcoin is a smart currency
“The internet is going to be one of
the major forces for reducing
the role of government.
One thing thatโs missing but that
will soon be developed,
is a reliable e-cash.”
Milton Friedman
E-Cash
” Bitcoin is a technological
tour de force. “
Bill Gates
Tour de force
” If you donโt believe it or donโt get it,
I donโt have the time
to try to convince you,
sorry. “
Satoshi Nakamoto
Don’t have the time
“WikiLeaks has kicked the hornetโs nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”
Satoshi Nakamoto
WikiLeaks
” Lost coins only make everyone
elseโs coins worth slightly more.
Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
Satoshi Nakamoto
Lost Coins
” In a few decades when the reward gets too small, the transaction fee
will become the maincompensation
for [mining] nodes.
Iโm sure that in 20 years there
will either be very large transaction volume or no volume.”
Satoshi Nakamoto
Transaction fee
” As computers get faster and the total computing power applied to creating bitcoins increases, the difficulty increases proportionally to keep the total new production constant.
Thus, it is known in advance how many new bitcoins will be created every year in the future.
Coins have to get initially distributed somehow, and a constant rate seems like the best formula.”
Satoshi Nakamoto
Coins distribution at a constant rate is the best formula
” Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without
a government, something
necessary and imperative. “
Nassim Taleb
Bitcoin a currency without a government
” Those who believe in Bitcoin also believe in cleverness. “
Arif Naseem
Believe in bitcoin believe in cleverness
” Bitcoin is the most stellar and
most useful system of
mutual trustever devised. “
Arif Naseem
Bitcoin a system of mutual trust
Cryptocurrency is freedom,
Banking is slavery. “
Arif Naseem
Cryptocurrency is freedom
” Our basic thesis for bitcoin is
that it is better than gold. “
Tyler Winklevoss
Bitcoin better than gold
” I think the whole narrative
of blockchain without bitcoin
will amount to very little. “
Fred Ehrsam
Blockchain without bitcoin
” Every informed person needs to know about Bitcoin because it might be one of the worldโs most important developments. “
Leon Louw
Bitcoin world’s most important developments
” Bitcoin is a very exciting development, it might lead to a world currency.
I think over the next decade it will grow to become one of the most important ways to pay for things and transfer assets. “
Kim Dotcom (CEO of MegaUpload)
Bitcoin might lead to a world currency
” Bitcoin may be the TCP/IP of money. “
Paul Buchheit (Creator of Gmail)
Bitcoin the TCP/IP of money
” We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error. “
Tyler Winklevoss (Co-inventor of Facebook)
Mathematical framework free of politics and human error
” I really like Bitcoin.
I own Bitcoins.
Itโs a store of value, a distributed ledger.
Itโs a great place to put assets, especially in places like Argentina with 40 percent inflation, where $1 today is worth 60 cents in a year, and a governmentโs currency does not hold value.
Itโs also a good investment vehicle if you have an appetite for risk.
But it wonโt be a currency until volatility slows down. “
David Marcus (CEO of Paypal)
Bitcoin a store of value
” [Virtual Currencies] may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system. “
Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Federal Reserve)
Bitcoin may hold long-term promise
“There are 3 eras of currency: Commodity based, politically based, and now, math based. “
Chris Dixon (Co-founder of Hunch now owned by Ebay, Co-founder of SiteAdvisor now owned by McAfee)
Math based currency
” Bitcoin is here to stay.
There would be a hacker uproar to anyone who attempted to take credit for the patent of cryptocurrency.
And I wouldnโt want to be on the receiving end of hacker fury. “
Adam Draper
Bitcoin is here to stay
” Itโs money 2.0, a huge hugehuge deal. “
Chamath Palihapitiya (Previous head of AOL instant messenger)
Money 2.0
” If there is one positive takeaway from the collapse of Mt.Gox, it is the willingness of a new generation of Bitcoin companies to work together to ensure the future of Bitcoin and the security of customer funds. “
Brian Armstrong (CEO of Coinbase)
Future of bitcoin
” Bitcoin seems to be a very promising idea.
I like the idea of basing security on the assumption that the CPU power of honest participants outweighs that of the attacker.
It is a very modern notion that exploits the power of the long tail. “
Hal Finney
Bitcoin a very promising idea…
” Bitcoin enables certain uses that are very unique.
I think it offers possibilities that no other currency allows.
For example the ability to spend a coin that only occurs when two separate parties agree to spend the coin; with a third party that couldnโt run away with the coin itself. “
Pieter Wuille
Bitcoin enables uses that are very unique
” At its core, bitcoin is a smart currency, designed by very forward-thinking engineers.
It eliminates the need for banks, gets rid of credit cardfees, currency exchange fees, money transfer fees, and reduces the need for lawyers in transitionsโฆ all good things. “
Peter Diamandis
Good things
” There is so much potentialโฆ
I am just waiting for it to be a billion dollar industry.โ
In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
The Times 03/Jan/2009WikileaksLost coinsTransaction feesAnonymous vs. Pseudonymousbitcoin’s convenience against credit cardsScarce assetGenerate new bitcoin addressNot having bitcoin would be the net wasteInflation vs. Deflation in bitcoinPotential for a positive feedback loop…gain a new territory of freedom…E-currency based on cryptographic proofAttractive to the libertarian viewpointRoot problem with conventional currency
” It isnโt obvious that the world had to work this way.
But somehow the universe smiles on encryption.โ
Julian Assange
Nobody yet knows for sure if the universeโs smile is genuine or not.
It is possible that our assumption of mathematical asymmetries is wrong and we find that P actually equals NP, or we find surprisingly quick solutions to specific problems which we currently assume to be hard.
If that should be the case, cryptography as we know it will cease to exist, and the implications would most likely change the world beyond recognition.
โVires in Numerisโ
=
โStrength in Numbersโ
epii
Vires in numeris is not only a catchy motto used by bitcoiners.
The realization that there is an unfathomable strength to be found in numbers is a profound one.
Understanding this, and the inversion of existing power balances which it enables changed my view of the world and the future which lies ahead of us.
One direct result of this is the fact that you donโt have to ask anyone for permission to participate in Bitcoin.
There is no page to sign up, no company in charge, no government agency to send application forms to.
Simply generate a large number and you are pretty much good to go.
The central authority of account creation is mathematics.
Bitcoin is built upon our best understanding of reality.
While there are still many open problems in physics, computer science, and mathematics, we are pretty sure about some things.
That there is an asymmetry between finding solutions and validating the correctness of these solutions is one such thing.
That computation needs energy is another one.
In other words: finding a needle in a haystack is harder than checking if the pointy thing in your hand is indeed a needle or not.
And finding the needle takes work.
The vastness of Bitcoinโs address space is truly mind-boggling.
The number of private keys even more so. It is fascinating how much of our modern world boils down to the improbability of finding a needle in an unfathomably large haystack.
I am now more aware of this fact than ever.
Bitcoin taught me that there is strength in numbers.
Bitcoin naysayers1 wring their hands over how Bitcoin can’t go mainstream. They gleefully worry that Bitcoin will not make it across the innovation chasm:
Existing and upcoming fiat payment systems are or will be superior
It’s too volatile
The government will ban it
It won’t scale
The response from the Bitcoin community is to either endlessly argue over the above points3 or to find their inner Bitcoin Jonah4 with platitudes like:
Bitcoin the currency doesn’t matter, it’s the block chain technology that matters
It would be better if the block chain technology were used by banks and governments
Bitcoin should continue to be a niche system for the bit-curious, it’s just an experiment
Fiat and Bitcoin will live side-by-side, happily ever after
Bitcoin is the Myspace of ‘virtual currency’
The above sophisms are each worth their own article, if just to analyze the psycho-social archetypes of the relevant parrots.
A few of the criticisms mentioned earlier are correct, yet they are complete non sequiturs. Bitcoin will not be eagerly adopted by the mainstream, it will be forced upon them. Forced, as in “compelled by economic reality“.
People will be forced to pay with bitcoins, not because of ‘the technology’, but because no one will accept their worthless fiat for payments.
Contrary to popular belief, good money drives out bad. This “driving out” has started as a small fiat bleed.
It will rapidly escalate into Class IV hemorrhaging due to speculative attacks on weak fiat currencies. The end result will be hyperbitcoinization, i.e. “your money is no good here”.
Thiers’ Law: Good Money Drives Out Bad
Historically, it has been good, strong currencies that have driven out bad, weak currencies.
Over the span of several millennia, strong currencies have dominated and driven out weak in international competition.
The florins, ducats and sequins of the Italian city-states did not become the “dollars of the Middle Ages” because they were bad coins; they were among the best coins ever made.
The pound sterling in the 19th century and the dollar in the 20th century did not become the dominant currencies of their time because they were weak.
Consistency, stability and high quality have been the attributes of great currencies that have won the competition for use as international money.
Bitcoins are not just good money, they are the best money.5
The Bitcoin network has the best monetary policy6 and the best brand.7
We should therefore expect that bitcoins will drive out bad, weak currencies.8
By what process will bitcoins become the dominant currency? Which fiat currencies will be the first to disappear?
These are the interesting questions of the day, as the necessary premises for these questions are already established truths.9
1. Fiat Bleed
Bitcoin’s current trend is to increase in value on an exponential trend line as new users arrive in waves.
The good money is “slowly” driving out the bad.
Two factors drive this:
Reduction in information asymmetry โ people are learning about Bitcoin and coming to the realization that bitcoins are indeed the best money. Possible overlapping motives:
FOMO โ fear of missing out, see Regret Theory and ingroups, aka avarice and status-seeking
PISD โ post-internet stress disorder, aka “disruption”, “next big thing”, “internet of money”
Increasing liquidity โ buying bitcoins is more convenient and has fewer fees attached today than a year ago. One can reasonably predict that this will also be the case a year from now. Why? Because selling bitcoins is a profitable and competitive business. Why? Because people want bitcoins, see above.
The waves have a destabilizing effect on the exchange rate: speculators are unsure of the amplitude or wavelength of adoption, and amateurish punters let their excitement as well as subsequent fear overwhelm them.
Regardless, once the tide has pulled back and the weak hands have folded, the price is a few times higher than before the wave.
This ‘slow’ bleed is the current adoption model, and commentators generally assume one of the following:
Slow bleed never occurred, it’s a fiction based on misleading data
Slow bleed has stopped, the above motives only affect lolbertarians and angry teens
The process will taper off now, as all the super tech-savvy people are already getting on board
My own prediction is that slow bleed has been accelerating and is only the first step.
The second step will be speculative attacks that use bitcoins as a platform.
The third and final step will be hyperbitcoinization.
2. Currency Crises
It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.
If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
” Once it gets bootstrapped, there are so many applications if you could effortlessly pay a few cents to a website as easily as dropping coins in a vending machine. “
Slow bleed leads to currency crisis as the expected value of bitcoins solidifies in people’s minds.
At first they are conservative, they invest “what they can afford to lose”.
After 12-18 months, their small stash of bitcoins has dramatically increased in value.
They see no reason why this long term trend should reverse: the fundamentals have improved and yet adoption remains low.
Their confidence increases. They buy more bitcoins. They rationalize: “well, it’s only [1-5%] of my investments”. They see the price crash a few times, due to bubbles bursting or just garden-variety panic sales โ it entices them to buy more, “a bargain”. Bitcoin grows on the asset side of their balance sheet.
On the liability side of the Bitcoiner’s balance sheet there are mortgages, student loans, car loans, credit cards, etc.
Everyone admonishes people to not borrow in order to buy bitcoins.
The reality is that money is fungible: if you buy bitcoins instead of paying down your mortgage’s principal, you are a leveraged bitcoin investor.
Almost everyone is a leveraged bitcoin investor, because it makes economic sense (within reason).
The cost of borrowing (annualized interest rates ranging from 0% to 25%) is lower than the expected return of owning bitcoins.
How leveraged someone’s balance sheet is depends on the ratio between assets and liabilities.
The appeal of leveraging up increases if people believe that fiat-denominated liabilities are going to decrease in real terms, i.e. if they expect inflation to be greater than the interest rate they pay.
At that point it becomes a no-brainer to borrow the weak local currency using whatever collateral a bank will accept, invest in a strong foreign currency, and pay back the loan later with realized gains.
In this process, banks create more weak currency, amplifying the problem.
The effect of people, businesses, or financial institutions borrowing their local currency to buy bitcoins is that the bitcoin price in that currency would go up relative to other currencies.
To illustrate, let’s say that middle-class Indians trickle into bitcoin. Thousands of buyers turns into hundreds of thousands of buyers.
They borrow Indian Rupees using whatever unencumbered collateral they have โ homes, businesses, gold jewelry, etc.
They use these Rupees to buy bitcoins. The price of bitcoins in Indian Rupees goes up, a premium develops relative to other currency pairs.
A bitcoin in India might be worth $600, while in the U.S. it trades at $500. Traders would buy bitcoins in the U.S. and sell them in India to net a $100 gain. They would then sell their Indian Rupees for dollars. This would weaken the Indian Rupee, causing import inflation and losses for foreign investors.
The Indian central bank would have to either increase interest rates to break the cycle, impose capital controls, or spend their foreign currency reserves trying to prop up the Rupee’s exchange rate.
Only raising interest rates would be a sustainable solution, though it would throw the country into a recession.
There’s a huge problem with the Indian central bank raising interest rates: bitcoin’s historical return is ~500% per year.
Even if investors expected future return is 1/10th of that, the central bank would have to increase interest rates to unconscionable levels to break the attack.
The result is evident: everyone would flee the Rupee and adopt bitcoins, due to economic duress rather than technological enlightenment.
This example is purely illustrative, it could happen in a small country at first, or it could happen simultaneously around the world.
Who leverages their balance sheet and how is impossible to predict, and it will be impossible to stop when the dam cracks.
Which countries are most vulnerable to a currency crisis?
Bitcoins will have to reach certain threshold of liquidity, indicated by a solid exchange in every financial center and a real money supply โ i.e. market cap โ of at least $50 billion, before they can be used as an instrument in a speculative attack. This will either coincide with or cause a currency crisis.
3. Hyperbitcoinization
A speculative attack that seems isolated to one or a few weak currencies, but causes the purchasing power of bitcoins to go up dramatically, will rapidly turn into a contagion.
For example, the Swiss will see the price of bitcoins go up ten fold, and then a hundred fold.
At the margin they will buy bitcoins simply because they want to speculate on their value, not due to an inherent problem with the Swiss Franc.
The reflexivity here entails that the reduction in demand for Swiss Francs would actually cause higher than expected inflation and thus an inherent problem with the Swiss Franc.
The feedback loop between fiat inflation and bitcoin deflation will throw the world into full hyperbitcoinization, explained by Daniel here.
Conclusion
Bitcoin will become mainstream.
The Bitcoin skeptics don’t understand this due to their biases and lack of financial knowledge.
First, they are in as strong an echo chamber as Bitcoin skeptics.10
They rabidly search for evidence that confirms their view of Bitcoin.
Second, they misunderstand how strong currencies like bitcoin overtake weak currencies like the dollar: it is through speculative attacks and currency crises caused by investors, not through the careful evaluation of tech journalists and ‘mainstream consumers’.
No, seriously, there are people on the Internet spending a non-trivial amount of time writing about a currency they think is going to fail yet continues to succeed beyond anyone’s expectations. I get schadenfreude from their lack of schadenfreude. Granted, a few of them are being paid to write controversial click bait and/or just concern trolling โ both activities that I respect and understand.
This is generally stated by people who are in the ‘out-group’ and fantasize about being in the ‘in-group’ through politics/pedigree rather than economic/meritocratic processes. Demographically, they probably overlap with fans of The Secret. Economically, they are without exception bezzlers.
Bitcoin has entered its Eternal September, where every person new to Bitcoin thinks they have a unique understanding of Bitcoin and everyone ought to hear about it. There’s an endless flood of newbies ‘concerned’ about such and such ‘problem’ with Bitcoin. The Bitcoin community does these arrivistes a real disservice by taking them seriously instead of just telling them ‘read more’.
The opposite of Bitcoin Jesus. Bitcoin Jonah is a defeatist, self-sabotaging, and timid ‘man’ who is on a permanent quest to confirm Bitcoin’s weakness.
If you disagree then either you have not been learning or you have not been engaging in the debate, go back to square one.
‘I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.’ – Pauline Kael
Hashrate (Hash per second, h/s) is an SI-derived unit representing the number of double SHA-256 computations performed in one second in the bitcoin network for cryptocurrency mining.
Hashrate is also called as hashing power. It is usually symbolized as h/s (with an appropriate SI prefix).
What is hashing power or hash rate?
The hash rate is the primary measure of a Bitcoin miner‘s performance.
In 2014, a miner’s performance was generally measured in Ghash/s, or billions of hashes per second.
The hash/second unit is also part of a common measure of a Bitcoin miner’s electric efficiency in the term watts /Ghash/s, denoted as W/Ghash/s. As 1 watt is equal to 1 joule/s, this measure can also be expressed as J/Ghash, or joules per 1 billion hashes.
Bitcoin network hash rate
The hash/s is also used in calculations of the Bitcoin network’s overall hash rate. Because each miner or mining pool only relays a solved block to the network, the overall hash rate of the network is calculated based on the time between blocks.
While not an accurate measure of network hash rate at any given instance in time, measurements over longer periods can be considered indicative and similar calculations are used in Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment.
In January 2015, the network hash rate was around 300 Phash/s, or 300 quadrillion hashes per second.
If you compare a bitcoin mining device to one that is designed to mine, for example, Ethereum, you will notice a very large apparent difference in hash rates.
This is because there are many different algorithms that cryptocurrencies use. They all require different amounts of memory and computing power in order to be mined.
To put it simply, bitcoin and its SHA256 algorithm is considered by today standards to be relatively easy to compute. As a result, a mining device that is still relevant today would need to produce hashes in the terahash range and up.
If we were to compare this to Ethereum, youโll find that most modern Ethereum mining devices (typically GPUโs) operate in the megahash range.
At first glance, you may think that the bitcoin mining device is significantly more powerful or more productive.
While itโs true that it produces more hashes (of the SHA256 variety), this is because bitcoin hashes are easier to produce computationally.
As a consequence, the network difficulty is significantly higher for bitcoin.
To make things even more confusing, some cryptocurrencies intentionally chose algorithms that can only be mined using a basic CPU.
As a result, mining devices for this network that can produce hundreds of hashes per second are considered to be high and very competitive.
So what does all this mean?
Basically, it means that looking at the hash rate alone doesnโt necessarily tell you the effectiveness of the miner.
You also need to understand the network difficulty, and what the norm is for most mining devices for that particular cryptocurrency.
How can I calculate how many hashes I generate per second?
Your problem breaks down nicely into 3 separate tasks:
Sharing a single count variable across threads
Benchmarking thread completion time
Calculating hashes p/sec
Sharing a single count variable across threads
Now that we know that not all hashes are the same we need to know how to calculate the estimated profitability of a miner based on its hash rate.
For this, will need to use a mining profitability calculators, they are available in the Internet.
public static class GlobalCounter
{ public static int Value { get; private set; }
public static void Increment() { Value = GetNextValue(Value); }
private static int GetNextValue(int curValue) { return Interlocked.Increment(ref curValue); }
public static void Reset() { Value = 0; } }
Before you spin off the threads call GlobalCounter.
Reset and then in each thread (after each successful hash) you would call GlobalCounter.
Increment – using Interlocked.X performs atomic operations of Value in a thread-safe manner, it’s also much faster than lock.
In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the radio … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as to … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. 31, … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→
โข Think and Grow Rich (1937) โข The Law of Success (1928) โข Outwitting the Devil (1938)
Spouse :
Florence Elizabeth Horner (1910โ1935)
Rosa Lee Beelandย (1937โ1940?)
Annie Lou Norman (1943โ1970)
Children : 3
Hill is, in modern times, a controversial figure.
Accused of fraud, modern historians also doubt many of his claims, such as that he metย Andrew Carnegieย and that he was an attorney.
Gizmodoย has called him "the most famous conman you've probably never heard of".
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In a first, Bitcoin developers have done something amazing amid the criticism over the lightning network and issues associated with it. A team of developers has made an international payment using the … Continue reading International payment using the radio waves→
My inspiration for this page was given to me by my new aquired friend, a fellow Truth Seeker – Joris and to whom I dedicate this page… Wish you… as well as … Continue reading Discipline Quotes→
Bitcoin white paper turns 15 and the Legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto lives on. โIโve been working on a new electronic cash system thatโs fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,โ Satoshi Oct. … Continue reading Bitcoin White Paper turn 15→