The rate at which new coins and tokens are issued, many of which are purporting to solve the same problems in the same ways, means that quite rightly, the vast majority are viewed as speculative at best and downright scams at worst. Many people will have been burned by ICOs in 2017. I hope people are more healthily sceptical in 2018. The technology of blockchain and related tech will be here in the future, of that I'm sure, but which of the current batch of big hitters will be long term, or even if the ones which fly haven't been developed yet, I cannot say. I would say that I'd steer clear of coins who's value is based on huge social media communities of fanboys who trumpet every small step as seismic change eg. XVG being the first crypto accepted by Pornhub.
Very true. One of the many things I ve learned in past year is always be prepared to change my opinion. Ive lost count of the times Ive fluctuated between the long term validity of BTC for instance. There are so many unknown factors out there that even so called experts are as unsure as we all are. Either way, its great fun being part of it.
How can you be so sure? Reading up about it, sounds futuristic & the appearance of the way the world is headed, but it's just a fancy name for a self auditing system which no one single person or entity controls, which has in itself quite a few pitfalls. I am trying to understand how it can be trusted & what use it has in the real world, to the average person or family? When I go out to do my shopping or even a bigger purchase like a car or a house, why do I want that transaction logged or audited by an unknown third party. What's wrong with the current systems in place that need this technology to run along side or supersede it? All I can see is it's good for the criminals & tax dodgers to be paid in a parallel economy which is unregulated. Personally I am yet to be convinced the whole thing is anything other than a big marketing hype & it will never replace cash, credit cards or bank accounts for the average person. That's not to say you can't make or lose real money, but the chart trading of it in itself surely does not indicate it is going to be a worthwhile or useful technology?
In terms of this "I am trying to understand how it can be trusted" that is entirely the point. It is trustless. Blockchains allow for transactions and contracts which do not rely on humans to be trustworthy. That also answers your other question about "why do I want that transaction logged or audited by an unknown third party" it is logged by a trustless ledger, so you don't need to have faith in an individual. The point about criminals and tax dodgers is valid only because of the nature of the current market, rather than the underlying basics of crypto. Sure, some cryptocurrencies, such as Monero are explicitly designed with privacy in mind, but that's a global feature of finance. The largest property purchase in the UK's history happened this week and was by a secretive, offshore billionaire using a shell company in the Channel Islands. This is current finance and shows that there is a need for secrecy amongst people who are conducting, ostensibly legitimate business transactions. Other blockchains are not secretive, but they provide a means for transactions to be conducted with transparency and surety. There is also the matter of decentralisation. The history of the banks who were "too big to fail" the bailout of the same banks with public money from underfunded governments, the collapse of economies. All of this can be countered by taking the control of global financing away from centralised establishments. That's not to say that would be easy, but it's certainly desirable, in my view. In any case, there are myriad applications for the technology. Do some reading (not on social media) and I'm sure you'll see how Blokchain or variations of it are here to stay, in one form or other. That doesn't mean that Bitcoin will become the global currency, or that Ethereum will become the next Google, but it does mean that the underlying tech has sure value. And like I said, it's my opinion, that's all.
My business sells a solution that uses the blockchain but I can't say I understand it. I understand the Janet & John version but anything more complex than that, eg the Secret 7 or famous 5 versions, leaves me utterly confused.
In a world where increasingly people only own phones and tablets, who do you think will be running all the computation necessary to maintain the blockchain?
Vitalik has stated that he wants the Ethereum POS blockchain to run off peoples phones. Its only POW that requires huge computational power and Im afraid that methodology is dieing as we speak. The only POW system that wil survive will be BTC and when all the 21 mill Bitcoins has been mined then it wont need major comptational power.
If we make enough from crypto we ll still be alive and strong having transferred our brain into the body of a David Hasselhoff look a like. I might go for the Almen Abdi version.
Vitalik is already uploading himself into digital format, which is why he's allowing his physical manifestation to wither away like a pallid shadow.
When I first came to this space I couldnt keep my eyes off him. One of the strangest human beings Ive ever seen. Very clever though, probably clever enough to go on Mastermind or even Question of Sport. This how they roll at Eth DevCon after parties
I bet that moderately attractive girl gets **** pics and incel hate mail on a daily basis from the rest of those nerds.
Fear not. Arakel declared during the bubble it is a mathematical certainty that Bitcoin will hit £500,000.
Could it be a good time to buy Crypto, with all the neg in the press pushing the price lower? If Reids is reading, would be interested in your view?
I personally think that the big coins, Bitcoin, Eth and maybe some others, will bounce back. This crash is nothing new in the short history of Crypto and each time, the vultures circle and predict the death of the whole market. I would say it will be a long time before we return to the 2017 model, which was ridiculous anyway. People were creating tokens with zero use case and selling them off for millions. If I had £500 lying around, I'd be happy to stick it in Bitcoin.
Dead cat bounce. Also, all the people shorting the market have closed their positions before they break up for Xmas. More pain before the sunshine.
I’m ready to camp in for 2019, hopefully pick up at the end of the year . If it happens sooner then all the better . Needs to be more blood on he streets before we see capitulation .