SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the first-they-ignore-you-then-they-laugh-at-you-then-they-fight-you dept.
As someone that follows the developments in Bitcoinland closely, it has been difficult to find an article that does a good job of summarizing the drama surrounding the community. This Forbes article (Google Cache) only scratches the surface, but does a good job doing so:
On or around November 16, Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency created by a novel technology called blockchain — a masterpiece of game theory, cryptography and, of all things, the age-old ledger — will split into two chains, each with its own set of coins. Hodlers [Note: 'hodl' - is a meme that started here] should be happy about suddenly owning double the number of Bitcoins except for the fact that the question of which of these will be called the true Bitcoin is, for now, up in the air — and that could create turmoil in the market. Anyone willing to bet their money by selling one set of coins for another stands to take a financial hit — either because they've picked the wrong side, or, for technical reasons, because selling one set may actually cause a sale on both sides of the chain.
[...] How the first cryptocurrency reached this cliffhanger in its journey is a story that has been many years in the making and finally pits against each other what were strange bedfellows anyway: the cypherpunks who, years before Bitcoin even existed, developed the various technologies that finally resulted in the first true digital asset and the Silicon Valley types who popularized the cryptocurrency that now has at least tens of millions of users and a $100 billion market cap. Whether one side will prevail or their death match will destroy Bitcoin is anyone's guess.
Is this how Bitcoin finally dies? (This bitcoiner thinks bitcoin will be wounded, but will live on.)
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Wednesday October 25 2017, @01:19PM (3 children)
Bitcoin survived the Bitcoin-Cash fork, it will survive this one. The stupid thing is this: The one that will remain "the one, true bitcoin" is the one that gets to keep the name. I haven't looked into the details, but I assume that is the one that is keeping to the original specification. The fork (iirc, increasing the block size) will get a different name, and will therefore become the second step-sibling, along with Bitcoin-Cash.
Both forks represent urgently needed improvements to Bitcoin. Both will lose out to real-world branding and politics. That's the way it always is. Who remembers when Intel, National and Motorola all had competing processors in the PC space? At the time, I did a review of the three options. It was absolutely clear: National had the best, most consistent architecture, Motorola was ok, Intel's x86 was technically the ugliest. Intel had the better politics.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Snow on Wednesday October 25 2017, @02:47PM
You are wrong, sir.
This fork is different (and it's explained in the article). With Bitcoin Cash, transactions were not valid on both chains. A Bitcoin Cash transaction was not valid on the main chain and vice-versa. That is not the case with this fork. This fork is intended to replace the main chain. Transactions will be valid on both chains (no replay protection). Also, Bitcoin Cash has an emergency difficulty adjustment algorithm that keeps it viable when hashing power is low. These forks do not.
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Wednesday October 25 2017, @02:59PM (1 child)
Good points - the better marketing often beats the best specs.
Yet I suspect we are still in the "myspace" stage of digital currency, and Bitcoin could be displaced by one that is ubiquitous and easier to use.
For example, imagine what would happen if Apple launched the "iCoin" - linked to their digital wallet and "Apple Pay" tech.
Suddenly 100's of millions of people and devices with the easy ability to buy, sell, trade in the digital currency and with a huge market of apps and services to purchase with it. They could even prime the pump by offering discounts on everything purchased using iCoins for the first year or so.
And you could "mine" your own iCoin, but only by using official Apple-made computers running OS XI!
What can Bitcoin do to stand-out in a marketplace full of a multitude of digital currency options?
If a newer, younger, better-looking model comes along what is to prevent Bitcoins from returning to their intrinsic value?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by WillR on Wednesday October 25 2017, @07:52PM
For starters, I would wonder what the benefit of buying something with cryptocurrency that's tied to my unique iphone (and therefore to my real world identity) might be over boring old credit card based apple pay...