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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday August 18 2016, @04:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the people-are-so-weird dept.

Motherboard reports on a strange Bitcoin "lottery" that is now claimed to be a marriage proposal.

Strange event #1: someone claiming to be the anonymous hacker who stole 119,000 Bitcoins from the Bitfinex Bitcoin exchange announced a "lottery" to win 1000 Bitcoins on Reddit, garnering over 7000 responses on the thread from people posting their Bitcoin addresses on the chance that this was somehow legit.

Strange event #2: the Reddit poster actually sent 1000 Bitcoins to the address of one of the users in the thread. Almost immediately the money was sent from that destination to yet another address, one with a public note attached that says "Please send me some money. I'm very poor."

Strange event #3: the poster on Reddit who received the money emerged, admitted to knowing the original poster (not surprising), and revealed that somehow this entire event is some sort of wedding proposal to her (very surprising).

I'm not sure what to think of this. If it's a scam I'm not quite sure who got ripped off.

Previous Coverage: Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex has been hacked. 119,756 BTC Stolen


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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 19 2016, @12:19AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 19 2016, @12:19AM (#389803) Journal

    Working / producing things creates something of value that can be exchanged for money; but it doesn't explain where the money itself is coming from.

    .

    Money is the exchange! Money does not exist, so it does not come from anywhere. Do we have a goldbug on our hands? The historical accident that made metals that do not tarnish into a symbol of exchange is just that, an historical accident. Much better is they system on Yap, where large stones are used for money. Eliminates the nuisance of pocket change all together, much like bitcoin.

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  • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday August 19 2016, @06:07AM

    by vux984 (5045) on Friday August 19 2016, @06:07AM (#389952)

    Money is the exchange! Money does not exist, so it does not come from anywhere.

    I'm sorry that's just nonsense. Of course it exists.

    Do we have a goldbug on our hands?

    No. I'm not even sure why you went there. I only mentioned gold in the context that when a 'monetary system' collapses the unit carriers of wealth dissociate from the money and are only worth their intrinsic value -- coins worth the utility of the base metals; paper currency worth its utility as fuel for fire or insulation or confetti... whatever... bank account balances in a computer database... completely worthless.

    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 19 2016, @07:15AM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 19 2016, @07:15AM (#389968) Journal

      I'm sorry that's just nonsense. Of course it exists.

      No, your nonsense is nonsense! If money exists, show me the money! C'mon, don't be shy, show me! Coins or bullion? Obviously you completely missed the first point. Bank notes, certificates of deposit, pounds of flesh of Genovese gentlemen? This are what they are, they are not money! And your one's and zero's in a database somewhere, why do you discount these? Not having a base utility of value is no liability to a currency whose function is to facilitate trade. So I can't see what your problem is, with currency systems degenerating. If they do, it is only due to the mystification of the system, the re-ification of value both in commodities and currency, so all we have to do is abandon such capitalist fantasies. Goldbug! You know you are, if you think money actually exists. It only exists to the extent that intellectual property exists, which is to say, and I do mean to say, as much as. .ljlfjkfalfah;klh +++Carrier Lost, and all his money.

      • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Friday August 19 2016, @07:51AM

        by vux984 (5045) on Friday August 19 2016, @07:51AM (#389977)

        Not having a base utility of value is no liability to a currency whose function is to facilitate trade.

        Where in this thread did I ever suggest otherwise?

        Bank notes, certificates of deposit, pounds of flesh of Genovese gentlemen? This are what they are, they are not money!

        They are money while we agree they are money. And then they stop being money and are just what they are.

        It only exists to the extent that intellectual property exists

        Pretty much yes. But it nevertheless it still exists. It has value, it can be counted and measured. And its more than "just an abstract idea". Its like ... Linux. It exists, right? Your not going to tell me Linux doesn't exist either are you?

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 19 2016, @08:49AM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 19 2016, @08:49AM (#389995) Journal

          I just thought that maybe you were proposing to me. Now I see you are only a heartless macroeconomist! Oh, Heathcliff!!!

          (Oh, btw, Linux does not exist. GNU/Linux, maybe. But more to the point, code is ones and zeros, in certain patterns, but just like the ripples on a pond or the colors in a rainbow, pattern does not implicate ontology. Prove me wrong?)

      • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday August 19 2016, @01:32PM

        by maxwell demon (1608) on Friday August 19 2016, @01:32PM (#390051) Journal

        If money exists, show me the money!

        According to that standard, I maintain you have no emotions. Otherwise, show me your emotions. No, don't show me facial expressions. Don't show me specific sounds of the voice. Don't show me specific formulations you use. No, even a brain scan will not do, as that only shows electromagnetic activity; my computer has electromagnetic activity, too, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't have emotions. Show me the emotions themselves! Oh, you can't? Well, I guess they don't exist, then!

        --
        The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday August 19 2016, @07:51PM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Friday August 19 2016, @07:51PM (#390233) Journal

          According to that standard, I maintain you have no emotions. Otherwise, show me your emotions. No, don't show me facial expressions. Don't show me specific sounds of the voice.

          What you are saying, then, is that money only exists if I exist? Or only if I "feel" money exists? Ah, I think we have found the urquell of the goldbug! Darn solipsists!

          My point was that money does not "exist" independently of economic exchange, or that is, of human activity. So money is not an "object" in the world as such, it is a convention, an arbitrary sign, or that is, fiat. The residual value of whatever is chosen by social convention to represent "money" is not really a factor that should determine what is so chosen.

          • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:55PM

            by vux984 (5045) on Saturday August 20 2016, @05:55PM (#390630)

            My point was that money does not "exist" independently of economic exchange, or that is, of human activity. So money is not an "object" in the world as such, it is a convention, an arbitrary sign, or that is, fiat. The residual value of whatever is chosen by social convention to represent "money" is not really a factor that should determine what is so chosen.

            But we're not sure WHY you are making this point. Nobody has argued otherwise. And its not the issue.

            • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 20 2016, @06:27PM

              by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday August 20 2016, @06:27PM (#390644) Journal

              Nobody has argued otherwise. And its not the issue

              Agreed. I thought someone was making a point against fiat currency. BTW, how does a cryptographical scarcity function to replace physical scarcity in the bitcoin vs. gold equation? Isn't the main argument against fiat currency is that the issuing authority can release as much as they want? Isn't the fear over inflation a worry about residual value? But yes, topic closed. Was not the issue. I assume we are not getting married, now?

              • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Sunday August 21 2016, @05:29AM

                by vux984 (5045) on Sunday August 21 2016, @05:29AM (#390910)

                BTW, how does a cryptographical scarcity function to replace physical scarcity in the bitcoin vs. gold equation?

                As I see it, If a major world economy went bitcoin...

                As the GDP of that economy goes up and the coins remain at relatively fixed scarcity; the price of goods is forced down. (Ie the buying power of one coin keeps going up... the currency seems to be inherently deflationary.

                There are a lot of issues with a deflationary currency, not least of which, people are motivated not to spend or invest, since the coins will be worth more tomorrow, and still more the day after that. Deflation tends to stall economies.

                I assume we are not getting married, now?

                Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.