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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 10, 2017 - 11:50am PT
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a software upgrade planned for...
Software as currency - pushing code to production should be a cause for monumental trepidation; disagreements significant enough to cause a given developer faction to fork the codebase even scarier. Who's in charge of this rodeo anyway...?
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Bargainhunter
climber
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Nov 10, 2017 - 04:31pm PT
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Personal anecdote:
I bought my first bitcoin the day after Thanksgiving in 2013. It cost ~$1200.
Turns out, I had purchased at a peak and it proceeded to rollercoaster downward, then back up but mostly downward to the $300-400 range. The volatility was extreme, sometimes changes of 25% in a single day. Great if it's going up but not so great the other way.
I bought more during this time (hey, it's on a discount!), lots more, but ultimately got spooked by the volatility, and cashed out a year later with a hefty but tolerable losses, as I understood I was just speculating on a weird security and was basically gambling, not investing. I was aware all along that the money could vaporize at a moment's notice.
If I had held onto my original bitcoin in 2013 bought around $300, I would have seen more than 20x increases today. I could have retired early.
Back in 2013, I gifted my sister 0.10 bitcoin for her birthday, then worth $95. It's now worth $660+.
Pretty wild to think of the early adopters making millions just by the simple click of a few buttons, if one's timing was lucky, getting in on bitcoin when it was worth a few dollars, or pennies...
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Nov 10, 2017 - 04:51pm PT
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Pretty wild to think of the early adopters making millions
The creator, whatever name he, she, or they go by, did well, too.
Far as we know.
Reminds me of what a computer scientist friend of mine said years ago about the promise of things to come: "Some people in my field play a game of 'fleece the venture capitalist.'"
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 10, 2017 - 05:36pm PT
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A young programmer I know retired, verrrry comfortably, at the ripe old age of 28. But he actually wrote code that people paid for because they saw actual value in it.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Nov 10, 2017 - 06:17pm PT
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he actually wrote code that people paid for
Sort of like Microsoft did, huh?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 10, 2017 - 06:21pm PT
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Kinda, but he wrote stable code. 🤓
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:26pm PT
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^^^^^ This is a nerd's wet dream, a computer game that can actually make you rich. So what happens when the interwebs go down? It's amazing how much we have come to depend on the internet in such a short time. All my business transactions go through it; I'd be f*#ked without it. All the more reason for net neutrality.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Nov 17, 2017 - 07:06am PT
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You misunderstand me DMT, or perhaps I wasn't clear. All my communications re lab results and billing go through the internet. Snail mail would be possible but slow. Fax could work, but who has one now? Texting is okay for quick response, but not for technical stuff. Do you think Amazon might depend a bit on the interweb?
The internet isn't free. I pay $200/year for a web site and a domain name. Explain to me how the internet has not become very important, no, essential, for commerce worldwide. More and more entertainment is web based, as cable customers abandon the ship. It's critical that the net be neutral and not controlled by two or three companies who can pick and chose who they will speed stifle for their own benefit.
I wish I had some options as to a service provider, but have only a single choice. Since this is essentially a monopoly there must be certainty that my ISP not favor certain businesses or political views, that the internet be open and neutral.
Don't talk down to me without knowing what I do or how I do it. I pay $70/month for internet access; some of that money goes to infrastructure support via the provider.
And there's nothing wrong with free wine.
Edited to add:
DMT, a number of people on this site have gotten free wine from me just by asking. I used to have a policy that whenever someone asked they got a bottle via UPS. Reilly, I think you asked once and I messaged you for your address, but got no reply.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 17, 2017 - 07:36am PT
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Wino, with all due respect, what does yer love of the intardnet got to do with Bitcoin?
Yer use of the net is legit.
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Nov 17, 2017 - 07:44am PT
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Reilly, not a love story. What I was suggesting is that
So what happens when the interwebs go down? bitcoins don't exist without the net. The way hundreds of millions of dollars of perceived value can simply vanish with the click of a button as it did with Mt. Gox is, or should be, scary stuff.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 17, 2017 - 08:26am PT
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Ah, pre-coffee reading comp fail. My bad. ;-) Well, the world’s whole financial system is dependent on the web with the critical difference being all other transactions are (theoretically) backed up ad nauseum. Oh, there is that one other little difference - those transactions are real. OK, real as long as you think a credit default swap is real. :-)
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Nov 27, 2017 - 11:25am PT
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I'm curious what caused BTC to spike to $9500 over the holiday weekend after puttering around $8000 for at least a few days.
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
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Nov 27, 2017 - 11:29am PT
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what caused BTC to spike to $9500...
What caused the Da Vinci to sell for $450 million? :)
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 27, 2017 - 11:36am PT
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seano, if yer looking for rationality yer on the wrong warpath.
B B B B U B B B B L E!
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seano
Mountain climber
none
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Nov 27, 2017 - 12:02pm PT
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What caused the Da Vinci to sell for $450 million? :) Russians? :-) A bubble tends to inflate gradually, then suddenly pop. The latest bitcoin spike seems like a reaction to some recent event. Rich preppers fleeing Mount Agung?
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