Topic Wiki

Editor’s note: I know enough about this topic to be dangerous, but I’m not a true expert so please feel free to add to or edit anything in this wiki that will improve it. The FAQs contain many oversimplifications but that is intentional to make the information relatable to the audience. Thanks!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are blockchains and bitcoins and what is the difference?
A blockchain is the fundamental element in a crypto currency system. A blockchain is an accounting ledger. Each block contains a bunch of journal entries (i.e. a chronological record of transactions) that gets encrypted (by miners) but can be downloaded and read by anyone on the network. Why the blockchain ledger is secure and how we can vouch for its integrity is a slightly more advanced topic.

An accounting ledger typically keeps track of money, and a blockchain is no different. But the only type of money that it can accurately track is digital money that lives on the blockchain network. So dollars, euros, etc are out. The digital money that lives on the blockchain is called a crypto currency, and the most well-known one at this time is Bitcoin.

Currently there are a few major blockchain networks: the Bitcoin Network, the Ethereum Network, and the Litecoin Network. Each one has its own currency, which are Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin, respectively.

I’m just a simple DDFer and not an accountant + cryptographer + hacker all at the same time. Can you make this a little simpler to understand?
Let’s try an analogy. There is a certain website called Dansdeals.com and it has quite a following. Some of the followers are just users/readers but others are more active and produce value for the website. When they provide value, they earn currency for their work – called “EQP” and “HT”. So we have something we will call the Dansdeals Blockchain Network that is simply a record keeper of various ongoing deals and it issues a native currency that is fractionable (10,000 EQP = 1 HT). This is similar to the Blockchain network recording financial transactions and issuing bitcoins. The ones who work for the network (miners) earn bitcoins and everyone else needs to buy it to participate.

The analogy improves if you imagine that the Dansdeals website visitors have to pay a small amount, let’s say 5 EQP, in order to access a deal or a code that is recorded on the network. If the website has 30,000 followers who love deals, but only 1,000 active members who earn EQP, then you can see that there is a need for a marketplace to be created where you can buy EQP for later use.

Of course, websites are not networks, and this analogy is far from perfect. But useful.

How much is a Bitcoin worth
No one knows. A few people are speculating its worth based on the potential that Bitcoin will one day become a major world currency that people use in their daily lives. Most people though are speculating its worth based on what the next new investor will pay them for it (google “Greater Fool Investing”).

Even if a crypto currency becomes dominant, who says it will be Bitcoin? Maybe it will be Schmitcoin?
This is completely possible. Bitcoin and Ether are the most likely at this point, but their long term survival is not at all guaranteed.

So why all the fuss about Bitcoin? Shouldn’t we wait for Schmitcoin and its cousins to come out?
You could, but you don’t want to ignore how hard it is to start up a network from scratch. It may be that as little as one person can create rival code to compete with the existing digital currencies and blockchains, but one person is not a network. You need a lot of highly technical and motivated people to join you and also to invest their time, energy, and money in making that network run. It’s a highly specialized group of people, and most of the people who would fit that profile are already tied up with an existing network. So it’s not impossible, especially in the long-term, but even if it does happen it would be unlikely to pop up overnight and so Vegas odds for Bitcoin are way shorter.

Let’s go back to the Dansdeals analogy. Imagine that Dansdeals is not the only such website, and there are other websites in existence that provide similar services. For the sake of the analogy let’s call them MMS and OMAAT. They too have big enough followings to survive independently, and even though each one offers a slightly different flavor that differentiates them, anyone on one of the networks could also get their most important needs met on one of the other networks. In this analogy, do you think it’s worth collecting EQP/HT or not? After all, Schmansdeals.com could open up one day and all the business could move there.

The argument for the difficulty of starting up a rival blockchain network is much stronger than in the analogy (especially if we start to include “smart contracts” in the discussion), but the basic idea that you need a critical mass of follows to be successful and compete with existing rivals is the same.

« Last edited by yuneeq on December 25, 2017, 01:05:21 AM »

Author Topic: BitCoin Master Thread  (Read 347489 times)

Online Abebee

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #620 on: January 03, 2018, 01:17:50 PM »
Everyone should be doing research before they throw money into anything....when the coins start becoming popular is when they are already ending their bullish run - I bought ripple when it was .40 cents (just a small amount)....it hit $2 and now everyone is running to buy - this is dangerous, for all everyone knows the price now could be its benchmark...before it corrects. It may be a smaller risk to put in $200 in 10 random coins worth .00001 and hope a few at least triples then put everything in one of the big four coins (bit coin, ethurem, litecoin and ripple).
So far its up to $2.73 today, so even once it becomes popular it can still grow.


Offline yuneeq

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #621 on: January 03, 2018, 04:32:51 PM »
So far its up to $2.73 today, so even once it becomes popular it can still grow.

Just remember that price is meaningless, all that matters is the market cap.
Ripple will have a circulation of 100b coins which means to hit $10 it would need to have a $1 trillion market cap.

Right now it's market cap is almost half of BTC, so don't be fooled to think it might still shoot up like it did in the past.

If you want the next Ripple, Stellar - XLM - is founded by the same founder of Ripple, is decentralized, fast, has great partnerships, and is almost a tenth of Ripple's market cap.
Visibly Jewish

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #622 on: January 03, 2018, 05:37:02 PM »
Just remember that price is meaningless, all that matters is the market cap.
Ripple will have a circulation of 100b coins which means to hit $10 it would need to have a $1 trillion market cap.

Right now it's market cap is almost half of BTC, so don't be fooled to think it might still shoot up like it did in the past.

If you want the next Ripple, Stellar - XLM - is founded by the same founder of Ripple, is decentralized, fast, has great partnerships, and is almost a tenth of Ripple's market cap.

Lol, the guy founds one, then founds another to replace it

Offline yuneeq

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #623 on: January 03, 2018, 07:58:39 PM »
Lol, the guy founds one, then founds another to replace it

FWIU he got into a disagreement about the direction so he left and started a new coin.
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Offline shlonx

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #624 on: January 03, 2018, 08:07:38 PM »
Etherum rose sharply
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but floridity is its spirit.

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Brevity may be the soul of wit, but floridity is its spirit.

Offline eli232

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Offline a good yeshiva bachur

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #627 on: January 11, 2018, 12:58:01 AM »

Offline ludmila

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Bitcoin crashing?
« Reply #628 on: January 11, 2018, 01:10:41 AM »
https://www.tradingview.com/x/25rqCsKO/

Was down $2000 earlier, now down $1650 to $13270, if it breaks $12800 it will accelerate the downside move, I am tempted to take my profit on the remaining half position, but I'll try to sit tight and capture the bigger move.

All other crypto --- are down big, LTCUSD,XRPUSD and the rest
https://www.tradingview.com/x/BrccpwJ4/

https://www.tradingview.com/x/7ypii22J/
« Last Edit: January 11, 2018, 01:21:05 AM by ludmila »
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
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Offline elimmm

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #629 on: January 16, 2018, 05:58:58 PM »
anyone lose a whole lot of money today?  marketcap went down by approx 40% this week
maybe the bubble burst   :'(

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #630 on: January 16, 2018, 05:59:46 PM »
anyone lose a whole lot of money today?  marketcap went down by approx 40% this week
maybe the bubble burst   :'(

maybe it will swing in eternity, and ppl can keep making big

Offline SuperFlyer

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #631 on: January 16, 2018, 06:06:36 PM »
maybe it will swing in eternity, and ppl can keep making big
Will go back up.
Not sure how much, but won't stay that low.

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #632 on: January 16, 2018, 06:08:10 PM »
Will go back up.
Not sure how much, but won't stay that low.

I don't put my money where my mouth is.

I put my mouth where my money is.

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #633 on: January 16, 2018, 06:16:16 PM »
I put my mouth where my money is.
TMI
I just found a new supply of forks!

Offline ExGingi

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #634 on: January 16, 2018, 07:54:08 PM »
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/cryptocurrencies-resume-slide-as-bitcoin-tumbles-to-december-low

I love how this guy pronounces Bubbles. Can't stop playing it over and over.  :)
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #635 on: January 16, 2018, 11:18:13 PM »


maybe it will swing in eternity, and ppl can keep making big



Not sure how much, but won't stay that low.

Maybe it will go lower

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #636 on: January 17, 2018, 08:40:46 AM »
I just found a new supply of forks!

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #637 on: January 17, 2018, 12:01:54 PM »

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #638 on: January 17, 2018, 01:20:59 PM »
And then higher!!
...and then lower lows. Chart doesn't look good.
I just found a new supply of forks!

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #639 on: January 17, 2018, 01:30:14 PM »
...and then lower lows. Chart doesn't look good.
Fundamentals look even worse....

See here and here (and listen over and over to how the guy pronounces bubble.
I've been waiting over 5 years with bated breath for someone to say that!
-- Dan