SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich and You're Not
Recently the founder of something called Ripple briefly became richer than Mark Zuckerberg. Another day an anonymous donor set up an $86 million Bitcoin-fortune charity called the Pineapple Fund. A Tesla was spotted with a BLOCKHN license plate. There's a surge in people looking to buy Bitcoin on their credit cards. After the Long Island Iced Tea company announced it would pivot to blockchain, its stock rose 500 percent in a day.
In 2017, the cryptocurrency Bitcoin went from $830 to $19,300, and now quivers around $14,000. Ether, its main rival, started the year at less than $10, closing out 2017 at $715. Now it's over $1,100. The wealth is intoxicating news, feverish because it seems so random. Investors trying to grok the landscape compare it to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, when valuations soared and it was hard to separate the Amazons and Googles from the Pets.coms and eToys.
The cryptocurrency community is centered around a tightknit group of friends — developers, libertarians, Redditors and cypherpunks — who have known each other for years through meet-ups, an endless circuit of crypto conferences and internet message boards. Over long hours in anonymous group chats, San Francisco bars and Settlers of Catan game nights, they talk about how cryptocurrency will decentralize power and wealth, changing the world order. The goal may be decentralization, but the money is extremely concentrated. Coinbase has more than 13 million accounts that own cryptocurrencies. Data suggests that about 94 percent of the Bitcoin wealth is held by men [archive], and some estimate that 95 percent of the wealth is held by 4 percent of the owners.
There are only a few winners here, and, unless they lose it all, their impact going forward will be outsize.
They also remember who laughed at them and when.
Related: 1600 Vine Street (similar story, we'll see if it makes you just as mad)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jshmlr on Tuesday January 16 2018, @12:56PM (8 children)
I, like others, am upset that I didn't spend more time playing around with miners and hanging around the faucets. I don't wish any ill will on those that have found success and played the long game successfully. However, let's not delude ourselves that blockchain currencies are going to disrupt the world order. If you want to do that, empower the poor and the masses. Radix malorum est cupiditas.
Need nothing, then see what happens.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:01PM (5 children)
The bubble moment for me might have been seeing the headline of the latest blockchain-related submission [soylentnews.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:53PM (4 children)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:54PM
It's a gimmick. Blockchains have unique features but those features come with a price (more electric power, delays in transactions). Why does kodak need their ledger to be distributed and somewhat anonymous? Why do they want a ledger that features the ability for other people to outvote them on on transactions? They don't.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:09PM (2 children)
It is, but is Kodak going to supply all the blockchain verification centrally? If not, what is the incentive for independents to provide corroboration of Kodak's blockchain?
If there's no independent corroboration of Kodak's blockchain, why don't they just create an authoritative central database instead?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday January 17 2018, @10:31AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday January 17 2018, @01:13PM
Nice theory, in practice it won't be much different from a simple open authoritative central database, especially if they deviate at all from standard blockchain practice.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by crafoo on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:40PM (1 child)
Decentralized monetary system will in fact disrupt the world order. That's why we are seeing endless attempts to infiltrate, subvert, and gain centralized control.
Saying we need to be "empowering the poor and the masses" may make you feel good but there is little indication that it will lead to any change. In fact, I expect human life to become less important and less valuable as our populations explodes and we race towards total automation. We should all be careful that we do not make decisions in life on what we wish the truth was, instead of what it actually is.
(Score: 1) by jshmlr on Wednesday January 17 2018, @12:22PM
And exactly how will it, "in fact"? When cryptocurrencies rely upon the very machines that they hope to subvert.
It's this cold and calloused mindset that lead to the world order you so hope to disrupt.
Need nothing, then see what happens.
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:04PM (3 children)
I think it's now time for my own cryptocurrency.
It will be a revolutionary concept: I'll replace proof of work by proof of dork.
I think I'll call the new currency Ripoff. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:10PM
Weedon't need your currency. We already have WeedCoin [marketwired.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Tuesday January 16 2018, @03:31PM (1 child)
(Score: 4, Informative) by captain normal on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:24PM
Thank you, it's been years since I read "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" by Mackay. I think it may apply well today to many things such as economic scams and bubbles and political scams and bubbles.
It is available for download at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24518 [gutenberg.org]
There may be hope for you after all.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:17PM (10 children)
WarpCoin is the hot new cryptocurrency on the block, and it could help humanity reach for the stars. WarpCoin miners run tiny pieces of a simulation of warp bubble configurations in order to minimize the potential energy of warp field states. The first 10,000 coins have been reserved to fund the construction of a state-of-the-art warp-field interferometer.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:24PM (1 child)
[Citation needed]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Funny) by takyon on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:37PM
[1] [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday January 16 2018, @01:51PM (7 children)
But the Federation doesn't seem to use money... will WarpCoin be exchangeable for gold-pressed latinum, and will I need to deal with the Ferrengi to cash it in?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @03:11PM
The Borg will crack your crypto and WarpCoin will be as worthless as gold.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday January 16 2018, @05:19PM (5 children)
The Federation uses money; that stuff about them laughing about it was a combination of propaganda and the fact that aboard a Federation military vessel, you don't need money if you're part of the crew.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:01PM (4 children)
Citation needed?
They have a post-scarcity economy (replicators + an apparent abundance of energy) and liberal social attitudes (which suddenly become way more practical in a post-scarcity economy) - if they use money, something has gone very wrong. There's not even much talk about trade between planets (again, replicators!)
Unless you're trying to tell me that replicator software isn't distributed under the GPL... :-O
OK, Deep Space 9 got a bit confused about having alien traders on a Federation outpost (almost like they'd cut & pasted a load of concepts from another show that was set on a space station in a far less utopian society that operated a port to subsidise its diplomatic mission.... Nah...)
Oh, and the whole thing about Federation military vessels is a bit of a sore point (we come in peace, shoot to kill!)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Tuesday January 16 2018, @06:21PM (3 children)
Citation needed?
I can't give you a good citation because the only canonical sources we have are propaganda pieces from Starfleet Command. We don't have almost anything that shows life in the Federation outside of Starfleet, so this is mainly conjecture.
They have a post-scarcity economy (replicators + an apparent abundance of energy)
Do they? Or does the military simply get all the cool stuff and all the energy they need, while the planets are forced to supply it?
and liberal social attitudes (which suddenly become way more practical in a post-scarcity economy)
Do they? Or is that just what you're seeing on the human-crewed military starships?
There's not even much talk about trade between planets (again, replicators!)
Or maybe it's because the military doesn't get involved in trade? Where's the records showing life aboard the freighters, or in the colonies, or even on the main planets? All you see is what life is supposedly like on a human-crewed military ship. They don't even show what it's like on ships with Andorian, Tellarite, or Vulcan crews, though they'll occasionally make a reference to one of those.
Remember, however, that in Enterprise they did show a freighter in at least one episode. Life didn't look quite so nice there.
Oh, and the whole thing about Federation military vessels is a bit of a sore point (we come in peace, shoot to kill!)
Well to be fair, they do seem to be pretty reluctant to open fire. But again, these are likely propaganda pieces, so of course they're going to depict Starfleet in the best light, and show the Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians as always the aggressors.
Star Trek is just like Lord of the Rings: propaganda for the winning side. LotR covers up the real story, about a peaceful society entering an industrial revolution being attacked and brutally annihilated by a war-mongering, imperialistic faction led by Gandalf and the Elves. They even go so far as to make up the name "orc" as a slur for foreign men, and describe them as literal monsters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:35PM
That reminds me of "The Last Ringbearer", great read! http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html [livejournal.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @08:11PM
Enterprise was set before replicators were a thing (early on, they explicitly pointed out that the ship had a cook/chef). It is therefore logical to assume that Enterprise is set during a pre-post-scarcity period, so can't really be used as example.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday January 17 2018, @06:30PM
Oh god, who let the fucking Maquis in here? I say, send them back to that shithole Bajor and build a wall around the planet. Make the Federation Great Again!
(What, no! I've never even visited the Mirror Universe - fake news! )
(Score: 2) by Snow on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:00PM (2 children)
Okay, maybe calling it a shitcoin is a bit much... It has been around for a while and does try to address a problem.
Ripple is centralized by design. Nodes are Trusted. You cannot mine Ripple on your own and something like 60% of all ripple is owned by Ripple Labs.
Ripple is basically SWIFT 2.0. Certainly something useful, but not the change that decentralized currencies are promising.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @07:15PM
exactly, ripple is an internal bankster project that lets you buy their "coin" if you're that @#%$ stupid or that much of a sellout. this is what happens when these projects pander to windows and mac users. they support projects that should be shunned.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:44PM
My understanding is that Ripple is only used as a intermediary in bank to bank transactions. In addition to all of the other properties you mentioned. It will never be used for transactions involving real goods.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday January 16 2018, @04:41PM
But I'm willing to concede many others do.
My profit was cut in half yesterday.
But I do still have a profit
I ordered an Antminer L3+ in December. It will be here in Karachi. It mines LiteCoin s. The hit win btc rigs all require 220V
And in other news I have conceded victory to autocorrect.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:16PM (4 children)
Woman in the story cleans houses and movie theaters for a living (I'm guessing that doesn't pay a whole lot), but... she invested $1000 in BTC and it went up! So, she forked over another $11000 and invested that too, after it already went up... but it could go up higher? It could...
The thing is: people holding BTC took this woman's money, and the money of a lot of people like her, and a lot of borrowed money, and gave her/them BTC, but the people on the other end of the transaction got the cash.
I don't think that the "investors" understand that this is a worse than zero sum game. MDC just invested over $2K in mining hardware and will probably throw a couple hundred dollars in electricity after that. He might make a profit, might not, but either way, if he gets any cash out of this, it's coming from investors.
Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi would collapse in tears of joy at the beauty of it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @10:36PM (3 children)
Don't forget that the main utility of crypto-currencies (unless you're a principled anarchist) is to hide from government oversight, i.e. break the law. So if you're putting money into bitcoin, you're likely helping a criminal or speculator cash out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 17 2018, @02:04AM (1 child)
That's right, MDC is a thief! A dirty rotten thief! I will never suck MDC's dickhead again!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 19 2018, @07:37AM
You would for 0.000175 BTC.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 18 2018, @02:47AM
Don't forget that, although many people bought drugs with BTC on the Silk Road thinking they were anonymous, the core design principles of blockchain make anonymity impossible - only an anonymous transaction wrapper layer could make that happen, and that more or less involves blind-faith trust of the wrapper operator, which isn't really a smart thing to do with large sums of money.
🌻🌻 [google.com]