Bitcoin Link Dump

[Absurdity]

Bitcoin is something that has been on the periphery of my radar for some time now, and as a result has never been given the attention I feel it deserves. I am hoping that this thread could serve as a sort of library for Bitcoin-related articles and papers. Ideally, I would like the focus to be on longer/in-depth articles and papers discussing the mechanics, applications, and possibilities of Bitcoin, other similar crypto-currencies, and the infrastructure that supports them. Theoretical and speculative pieces are welcomed to be included as well, but please refrain from posting inane news commentary from major media outlets who don't have a clue what they're talking about.

So far this paper (PDF) has served as the best layman's introduction that I have found. Here are some other articles that I have found interesting:

Bitcoin 2.0: Distributed Corporations, Derivatives, and Information Markets
The Irony of Bitcoin's Growing Pains
Can Namecoin Obsolete ICANN (and More)?
Bitcoin Arbitration

 

[Ribald]

https://www.ethereum.org/ - A project called Ethereum that, if I am to understand, takes the bitcoin protocol and turns it into its own programming language that can take distributed applications to a wide range of domains other than currency, including "voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kind, intellectual property, and even smart property thanks to hardware integration".

Seems exciting but I would like to understand it better. Thanks for the above links.

 

[Absurdity]

https://www.ethereum.org/ - A project called Ethereum that, if I am to understand, takes the bitcoin protocol and turns it into its own programming language that can take distributed applications to a wide range of domains other than currency, including "voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kind, intellectual property, and even smart property thanks to hardware integration".

Seems exciting but I would like to understand it better. Thanks for the above links.

Just heard about that yesterday. Also somewhat related development is urbit.

But more specifically, Urbit is a personal cloud computer. Right now, the cloud computers we use run OSes designed for minicomputers in the '70s. An ordinary user can no more drive a Linux box in the cloud than fly an A320. So she has to sit in coach class as a row in someone else's database. It's definitely air travel. It's not exactly flying.

The user of the future will fly her own computer. She will own and control her own identity and her own data. She will even host her own apps. She will not be part of someone else's Big Data. She will be her own Little Data. Unless she's a really severe geek, she will pay some service to store and execute her Urbit ship - but she can move it anywhere else, anytime, for the cost of the bandwidth.

A user can't manage a general-purpose computer unless she basically understands what it's doing. She may not be a programmer, but she needs at least a rough mental model of her computer's state.

So a personal computer has to be a *simple* computer. This is why we built a new system software stack from scratch, with the goal of bringing it in under 10,000 lines of code. Urbit is about 50% over this complexity budget, but nobody's perfect.

 

[Analyzer]

http://insightsintoamodernworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/apps-what-web-30-looks-like.html

 

[Absurdity]

Dark Wallet article in Wired

 

[Absurdity]

Profile of Dark Wallet creators

Ethereum blog

 

[Analyzer]

Profile of Dark Wallet creators

Comments on the bottom are lovely. People unfamiliar with anarchy and the philosophies of liberty are going through lots of confusion.

 

[Absurdity]

Speculative Attack

Hyperbitcoinization

 

[Black Rose]

What is the ratio of bitcoin to one silver ounce?
Gold is historically 1:20 to silver but could be 1:1 because silver is now used in computers.

 

[Architect]

I have a friend who programmed his own FPGA miner quite early. Made a bundle of cash too, but he thinks he sold too early.

 

[Analyzer]

What's special about Bitcoin is the technology involved. The blockchain, a distributed asset ledger system has the potential to be the Internet of the 2000's as far as inventions/protocols go.

 

[QuickTwist]

Isn't there a limited number of cryptocurrencies? I hear half of bitcoin is gone.

 

[Absurdity]

I have a friend who programmed his own FPGA miner quite early. Made a bundle of cash too, but he thinks he sold too early.

Spoiler

 

[deadpixel]

Is anyone here currently doing any mining? It doesnt really seem cost effective anymore really, building a barebones rig with 6 or 8 r9's is going to be at least $2500+ dollars and currently that only equates to about $65 a day the last time that I checked, and that number only decreases daily. It seems like the best option would be to just buy a bunch of new cryptocurrency coin from a new startup and hope that you get lucky. Once upon a time some lucky guy bought $27 worth of bitcoin and forgot about it, then just a few years later he was a millionaire. The same thing happened with litecoin, about a month ago I was interested in vericoin since any vendor that accepted bitcoin now accepted vericoin and it was only like 26 cents per coin.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

I will start using bitcoin when its price stabilizes and prices of goods are in terms of bitcoin.

 

[Absurdity]

SWARM: Crypto-equity

 

[Absurdity]

A new textbook for a course on Bitcoin taught at Princeton University is now freely available.

 

[Reluctantly]

Is anyone here currently doing any mining? It doesnt really seem cost effective anymore really, building a barebones rig with 6 or 8 r9's is going to be at least $2500+ dollars and currently that only equates to about $65 a day the last time that I checked, and that number only decreases daily. It seems like the best option would be to just buy a bunch of new cryptocurrency coin from a new startup and hope that you get lucky. Once upon a time some lucky guy bought $27 worth of bitcoin and forgot about it, then just a few years later he was a millionaire. The same thing happened with litecoin, about a month ago I was interested in vericoin since any vendor that accepted bitcoin now accepted vericoin and it was only like 26 cents per coin.

It's still profitable if you purchase the latest asics at the right price and your power cost isn't too high. Though with the bitcoin halving coming soon, a lot of miners will probably start to unplug. We'll see.

 

[wanderingSpark]

“Here is the problem with Bitcoin: the tank, I think, will pop. This is not due to any technical fault in Bitcoin’s algorithms or economics. It is due to a political fault in our society, which is that we’re governed by dumb people. Because we’re governed by dumb people, here is what I think will happen with Bitcoin. Stage 1: Bitcoin does not exist. Stage 2: Bitcoin exists, but is worthless. Stage 3: Bitcoin exists, and is used by strange and desperate weirdos and geeks. Stage 4: Bitcoin is used by Slashdot readers, perhaps slightly less desperate. (You are here.) Stage 5: Bitcoin is used by criminals. Stage 6: All Bitcoin exchanges are shut down by USG. Stage 7: Bitcoin exists, but is worthless. Stage 8: Bitcoin does not exist.” - Mr Moldbug