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seano
Mountain climber
none
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John McAfee
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@officialmcafee This is a guy who spent a good part of the past decade shacked up with hookers in Belize while blitzed out of his mind on bath salts. Just sayin'...
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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McAfee is full of shlt, how could you model something like bitcoin.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Explain, bitcoin? Sure.
First, get a barrel and fill it with pebbles (it can only hold so many you know)
Second, paint "the best pebbles ever - get'em while they last" on the side of the barrel
Third...
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 11, 2017 - 11:44am PT
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In other words...
The compute load on the bitcoin infrastructure of everyone trying to cash out at once in the event of a crash would way outstrip the available computing power.
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Mei
Trad climber
mxi2000.net
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Dec 11, 2017 - 12:54pm PT
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Not sure if anyone has posted this documentary:
Banking on Bitcoin
It's available on Netflix and Amazon.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Cascade Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Dec 11, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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Bulgaria Government Shocked To Discover It Owns $3 Billion In Bitcoin
by Tyler Dyrden, … for ZeroHedge - December 11, 20172399
Bulgaria’s GDP is about $52.4 billion (2016), so it is quite a shock that the Bulgarian Government is sitting on an approximate $3 billion worth of Bitcoins seized in an anti-corruption operation back in May. Putting this into a little more glaring context, Bulgaria is holding 18% of the national debt in bitcoins…
Bulgarian law enforcement jointly worked with the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELC), a regional organization comprised of 12 member states, to bust a sophisticated organized-crime network, arresting twenty-three Bulgarian nationals and seizing a total of 213,519 bitcoins.
SELC described the organized-crime scheme as the hacking of Bulgarian Custom’s computers and allowing those associated with the group to skip fees for importing goods into the country. To make it work, the group recruited corrupt Customs officers to upload a virus into government machines, so that hackers could establish remote access.
The organized criminal group consisted in Bulgarian nationals having connections in The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hellenic Republic, Romania and Republic of Serbia.
The modus operandi used was recruiting corrupted Customs officers in all involved countries with the purpose to infiltrate a virus in the Customs’ computerized systems. Once the virus installed, from a distance, the offenders were able to finalize various transports, as in the Customs’ system appeared that the cargo was already checked and passed.
Further, SELC provided details of how the operation was conducted, involving a large-scale search of “more than 100 addresses, suspects, and vehicles.” Out of the 23 suspects arrested, 5 of them were Bulgarian Customs officers. Police seized “equipment, devices for communication, computers, tablets, and bank documents.”
As result of this criminal activity the damages recorded by the Customs Agency, only for year 2015, is around 10 million Leva.
Here is where things get interesting… Police also seized 213,519 bitcoins, at the time, worth $500 million. As of writing this article, the amount seized, is now worth approximately 3,676,583,661, according to CoinDesk.
As well, up to now were found in the virtual space bitcoin wallets of the main suspects with a total value of 213,519 bitcoins. As a reference, the value of one bitcoin is rating to 2354 USD. The offenders choose the bitcoin way of investing/saving the money, because it is rather difficult to be tracked and followed.
What remains a mystery to most, is what the Bulgarian government will do with the seized bitcoins? As mentioned in the beginning, the national debt could certainly be reduced. Have we just discovered a large seller that is ready to pour cold water on the party?
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 11, 2017 - 07:22pm PT
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coinbase must know precisely what level of trading will crash their system...
The question isn't what level of trading will crash their system (and likely they run it close to the edge now), but rather the delta between that and the compute demand of a crash. And that's what they're warning about and saying there'll be certain levels of freezing and daily if not hourly transaction limits. It would get ugly quick.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Dec 12, 2017 - 04:45am PT
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Delhi Dog
climber
Good Question...
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Dec 12, 2017 - 04:52am PT
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I hear those pesky N. Koreans enjoys a bit of bitcoin too
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Dec 12, 2017 - 09:40am PT
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Bitcoin prices have again more than doubled. Its price has now gone up over 17 times this year, 64 times over the last three years and superseded that of the Dutch Tulip’s climb over the same time frame.
What could possibly go wrong? Perhaps it IS different this time.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Dec 12, 2017 - 04:39pm PT
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Bitcoin = Beanie Babies for millenials
Then again, who would have thought that there was so much free and loose "investment" money that a painting would fetch half a billion dollars at auction.
Maybe all that free and loose "investment" money will lift bitcoin from $20,000 to $20,000,000 before the bubble finally bursts.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Dec 12, 2017 - 04:56pm PT
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Seems to me market makers and liquidity are the two big issues facing bitcoin from a transactional viewpoint. AFAIK there are no market makers for bitcoin, and the long transaction times will be a huge problem if there is a run to sell.
By the way, I'll soon be introducing 'Winecoins®'. To get in at the bottom message me with your debit card info and I'll make sure you get what you deserve.
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Dec 13, 2017 - 06:29am PT
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This seems like a pretty balanced take:
Today, each bitcoin is worth $17,000, and all bitcoins in circulation are worth a much more substantial $280 billion. That seems like a lot for a payment network that only processes about four transactions per second.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 13, 2017 - 08:03am PT
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Bitcoin fever exposes crypto-market frailties
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-markets-bitcoin-risks-insight/bitcoin-fever-exposes-crypto-market-frailties-idUSKBN1E7254
“In July, U.S. authorities shut down the website of the BTC-e exchange, saying it had "facilitated transactions involving ransomware, computer hacking, identity theft, tax refund fraud schemes, public corruption, and drug trafficking".
BTC-e, which is no longer operating, could not be reached for comment.
The top three exchanges out of more than 100 - Bitfinex, GDAX and bitFlyer - are home to more than 60 percent of all trading, according to data provider Bitcoinity.
Another issue specific to the market is the risk of hacking and theft. More than 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from exchanges, Reuters has found, with the Mt. Gox heist accounting for the majority.
Last week, a Slovenian cryptocurrency mining marketplace, NiceHash, said it had lost about $64 million worth of bitcoin in a hack of its payment system.”
What a sh!t show. It’s like it’s run by a bunch of 15 year olds from their parents’ basements. Oh, wait, it more or less is.
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Dec 13, 2017 - 08:37am PT
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More than 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from exchanges,... Given that Bitcoin is designed to only ever have 21 million coins, that's 4.7% of all the "coins" that will ever exist, which is absolutely nuts compared to the cost of FDIC insurance and credit card fees. And that's only the theft so far.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 13, 2017 - 09:03am PT
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According to CNBC, " People are taking out mortgages to buy bitcoin."
Yeah, braj, sure beats working, huh?
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Moof
Big Wall climber
Orygun
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Dec 13, 2017 - 03:58pm PT
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Tami,
Glossed over in that "article" is that even if crypto coins become the new currency, it says nothing about Bitcoin, any of Bitcoin's various forks, Doge-coin, or Pot-coin being of any value in a sea of state issued digital coins.
If the USA tomorrow made US-Dollar-coin's using the ledger technology but not Bitcoin itself it would undermine faith in existing stateless crowd sourced coins rather than bolster it. Would you rather have a coin backed by no-one or one you can use to pay your taxes with?
After all, other than the printing press being constrained Bitcoin is no better than Monopoly money it its inherent value.
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