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    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    This from MIT is good.

    This may be a bit more accessible to those (unlike GY and me) who haven't been following this for years.
    That's helpful.

    I don't really understand how bitcoin works, though, in the sense of I don't understand how it can just invent a new currency without paying for it in an old one. How is it different from confederate money, for example?

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      Confederate currency was issued by a state that claimed sovereignty (and was treated by some as sovereign), and was kind of, sort of, maybe backed by Confederate gold reserves

      Bitcoin doesn’t have any of that. It is “worth” something because some people are willing to use “real money” (aka “fiat currency”) to acquire it and because a smaller group of people are willing to accept it in exchange for goods and services.

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        I don't really understand how bitcoin works, though, in the sense of I don't understand how it can just invent a new currency without paying for it in an old one.
        That's by no means unique to bitcoin. There have been plenty of invented currencies which certain communities agree to use for goods and/or services without necessarily being redeemable in existing fiat currency (or gold). Ithaca Hours is a pretty famous example. My favourite is Norton Imperial Dollars.

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          It's basically a faith-based currency. If everyone who believes in it continues to believe in it, it's real.

          My faith in it is so small as to be almost immeasurable using current instruments.

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            All currency is faith based.

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              It is “worth” something because some people are willing to use “real money” (aka “fiat currency”) to acquire it and because a smaller group of people are willing to accept it in exchange for goods and services.
              That makes sense after the fact, of course. That's how money works. But it's a chicken-and-egg thing. Nobody is going to want to use it or hold it if its hard to find somebody taking it and no store is going to take it unless their vendors will take it, etc.

              I guess what I don't understand is how anyone can get that going without a massive market player - like the government or the company in a one-company town - participating.

              I also don't see why one would want to bypass the banks given that the banks are FDIC insured.

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                It helps a lot if you are a libertarian tech bro with lots of disposable income and an appetite for illegal goods and services.

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                  Well, that's Reed...

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                    It helps a lot if you are a libertarian tech bro with lots of disposable income and an appetite for illegal goods and services.
                    And are a goldbug.

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                      I'm out of gold and bits completely, and totally in on tulips.

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                        Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                        It helps a lot if you are a libertarian tech bro with lots of disposable income and an appetite for illegal goods and services.
                        Other than being male, I can't imaging being less of that.

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                          That was the point I was trying to make.

                          I’d be worried about you if you “got” crypto currencies

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                            More on the Tezos foundation snafu

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                              Who needs ICOs to lie about your blockchain offering?

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                                I think GY and I are on some similar email lists. Bitcoin Bitcoin Bitcoin.

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                                  To be honest, most of this stuff is via Alphaville or Matt Levine.

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                                    I thought that was how the list was defined

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                                      D'oh..

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                                        Everything old is new again.
                                        Cryptocurrency exchanges are rife with "pump and dump" scams that would be illegal in most markets and leave unsuspecting investors at risk of large losses, a Business Insider investigation has found.

                                        +

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                                          FCA to regulate binary options, and it's issued a warning on crypto CFDs.

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                                            Alarming however you interpret it.
                                            5. Have you heard of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO)?

                                            a. 24.90 percent of respondents answered "Yes".
                                            b. 75.10 percent of respondents answered "No".


                                            6. Definition of ‘Initial Coin Offering (ICO)’ -- An unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture. An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is used by startups to bypass the rigorous and regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists or banks. In an ICO campaign, a percentage of the cryptocurrency is sold to early backers of the project in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies, but usually for Bitcoin. (Source: Investopedia)

                                            True or False. Is investing in an Initial Coin Offering illegal in the United States of America?

                                            a. 21.00 percent of respondents answered "Yes".
                                            b. 17.90 percent of respondents answered "No".
                                            c. 61.10 percent of respondents answered "Unsure".


                                            7. Do you plan on investing in a startup or venture via an Initial Coin Offering?

                                            a. 15.10 percent of respondents answered "Yes".
                                            b. 57.00 percent of respondents answered "No".
                                            c. 27.90 percent of respondents answered "Unsure".

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                                              Also, it's looking like the ICO enforcement actions may be coming soon, or at least they definitely should.

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                                                His faith in the nobility of the concept is charming.

                                                I wonder how many suitability complaints are coming to come out of this when it bursts.

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                                                  Inside an ICO conference:
                                                  “Decentralization will change more in our lives over the coming years than possibly any other technological shift we’ve seen,” he says, likening the crypto rush to the Reformation. He describes building anarcho-capitalist city-states on the back of the blockchain. “If you’re going to built a new city, you’re not going to have the DMV – we don’t like the DMV,” he says at one point. Later: “We can actually tokenize the moon with a startup society.”
                                                  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not too keen on living in a city without a DMV.

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                                                    Do they save on costs by holding simultaneous with the Seastead crowd?

                                                    i can actually see real upside from sending all of these yahoos to a suitably remote atoll.

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