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back to article Blockchain bros' London powwow: Regulation, education, oversaturation

The hype around blockchain is just as frustrating for people trying to legitimise the technology as it is for those watching from the sidelines – but behind the fluff, its proponents argue there's real potential. With Bitcoin prices dominating the news and every Tom, Dick and Harry jumping on the blockchain bandwagon, most …

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  1. SVV

    Well, that was a lot of words...

    reporting on what all these people were saying. However, I failed to "mine" any meaning from them during the two times I read the articloe, in much the sa\me way that I suspect many of the participants in this nonsense will be able to mine any value from all this, unless they do a quick take the money and run approach.

    The appearance of the name "McAfeeCC" caused further shivers of mind boggling alarm too. The article is however a good harm-free substitute for taking hallucinogenic drugs, as the confusing effects that result are surprisingly similar.

    1 3 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    'even for a practitioner / anyone short of a PhD in crypto'

    Only got a Ph.D in detecting bullshit. But pro-coiners 'you dont get the blockchain' defense (scarcity as more is generated etc) is at odds with...

    A: All the successful bit-time hacks: Especially CoinCheck / MtGox etc

    B: Fact that founders get to become instant billionaires MLM ponzi scheme

    C: Forked to Death (see article below)

    D: Regulators waiting at the door... That will be able to at least track conversion back to usable currencies / real-money, and so can impose bans that way, unless you fancy currencies like Naira / moving to Lagos!

    -

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-29/for-bitcoin-skeptics-the-question-is-what-will-pop-this-bubble

    4 0 Reply
  3. handleoclast

    I still don't understand

    It's probably been explained many times before but if so I haven't seen it (or I didn't understand it when I did see it).

    Correct me if I'm wrong on any of these points.

    1) Blockchain transactions are verified by multiple people.

    2) The first person to verify the transaction is awarded a newly-created fraction of a shitcoin [the generic term for this virtual specie]. This is known as "mining" because you put in the work and may get a nugget of reward for it (or you may just find worthless dirt).

    3) Bitcoin (and probably many other shitcoins) has a limit built into it of how many coins can ever be created.

    4) Once the Bitcoin (or other shitcoin) limit is reached, no new Bitcoins can be created.

    5) With no new coins appearing, miners cannot be rewarded with fractional Bitcoin for verifying blockchain transactions.

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole thing seems to fall apart once that limit is reached because nobody will be prepared to put in the work to keep it going. Yes, there could be a transaction fee to replace the shitcoin mining reward but I haven't seen any proposals for such a thing.

    So have I just missed seeing proposals for transaction fees once shitcoins hit their limits or am I missing something? If I'm missing something it's bound to be something blindingly obvious, so you can have a lot of fun correcting me.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Elmer Phud
      Reply Icon

      Re: I still don't understand

      As soon as I saw 'shitcoin' I realised I was in an already closed space.

      1 1 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I still don't understand

        >As soon as I saw 'shitcoin' I realised I was in an already closed space.

        Yep it's kind of weird here....

        Meanwhile almost all major hedge funds are taking long positions on alt, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs etc have quietly embraced blockchain and crypto trades on Bitfinex alone are over $8 trillion a week

        0 0 Reply
    2. phuzz Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: I still don't understand

      There's already transaction fees for Bitcoins, they're currently about $10-20 per transaction (so pretty annoying if you want to buy something worth less than, say, $100). It's assumed that these fees will go up once all the bitcoins have been mined (predicted to be in about 10 years), but assumptions and predictions are obviously not to be trusted.

      Miners can choose to only process transactions with a certain level of fee, so there's a sort of supply/demand system there. You can try and get your transaction processed with a very low fee, but it might take a long time before a miner decides to process it. Increase the fee you pay, the more likely it'll be processed quickly.

      2 0 Reply
      1. handleoclast
        Reply Icon

        Re: I still don't understand

        @phuzz

        There's already transaction fees for Bitcoins,

        That just makes it seem even less workable when new shitcoins are no longer issued. Transaction fees will slowly, but surely, bleed all shitcoin into the hands of those who process the blockchain until nobody else has any shitcoin.

        This doesn't happen with "real" fiat money, mainly because of inflation. But when shitcoins hit their mining limit there cannot be any inflation.

        So what am I still missing?

        0 0 Reply
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I still don't understand

      >so you can have a lot of fun correcting me.

      There are two variables which determine the rate - transaction size (bytes) and processing time (delay in blocks).

      You can get a sense of the range here:

      https://bitcoinfees.earn.com/

      0 0 Reply
  4. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Investment

    The "blockchain" concept as we know it from bitcoin is now in its tenth year.

    More than a billion dollars worth of venture capital has been consumed, with nothing functional to show for it.

    3 2 Reply
  5. Schultz
    Go

    "this thought of throwing blockchain at everything is absurd... "

    On the contrary, it's the obvious solution to the longstanding problem number 2:

    1) Have an idea

    2) ???

    3) Become Rich!

    2 0 Reply

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