So are all currencies, even gold. It's why it's measured, drilled and under goes acid test to verify that it is what it is. The mathematical equation removes the human element and your trusting machines to verify that the coin is real, and not counterfeited.Originally Posted by Horn
"Paper is poverty, it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788
"The greatest threat to the state is when the people figure out they can exist without them." - Twisted Titan
"Some Libertarians are born, the government makes the rest."
"Voting is nothing more than a slaves suggestion box, voting on a new master every few years does not make you free."
https://seattle98.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/126.jpg
I happen to share Blink's apprehension. According to you, no one is personally responsible for the integrity of Bitcoins and anyone can "improve" the code. What or who prevents someone from "improving" the code to divert credits into their own Bitcoin Wallet?
If our Bitcoins get stolen who do we call?
.gif "what the heck")
Trust with gold is inherit that it isn't created by man or machine, and is intrinsic.
His removal of trust was solely based in the transaction (powered by fiat) is my understanding, there isn't a single code created by man that won't be broken by men.
The original intent was finite based on some specific market of fish bait, or how long it might take before noticed & broken.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Bit...e.27s_behavior
Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behavior
The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.
Though the developers of the original Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.
Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 25 to 50 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.
There are also other Bitcoin clients made by other developers that adhere to the Bitcoin protocol. As more developers create alternative clients, less power will lie with the developers of the original Bitcoin client.
Lets say I wanted to alter the code myself. I could, and know how to. I make my own client, and do like you said. My client would be rejected by the network and any transactions I tried to do would be ignored/declined.
The protocol itself is set in "stone" so there are limitations on what can be changed or updated. Enhancements to the wallet, like maybe you want to add an automatic backup feature, that's allowed.https://seattle98.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/126.jpg
I happen to share Blink's apprehension. According to you, no one is personally responsible for the integrity of Bitcoins and anyone can "improve" the code. What or who prevents someone from "improving" the code to divert credits into their own Bitcoin Wallet?
If our Bitcoins get stolen who do we call?
The way the system works it would be entirely impossible for someone to modify the code to divert coins into ones wallet. When you make a change or "mine" coins each coin has to get the approval of all nodes on the network to make sure that it is what it is. The same way a transaction occurs, it has to be approved by all the nodes on the network in order for the transfer to take place. If you have a bitcoin / litecoin wallet, you'll get a payment. It shows up on an "Unconfirmed" field. Then once it has been verified it ends up in your wallet and is valid. It can take about 5-10 minutes (depending on network speed) to verify the transaction. All those miners mining bitcoins are also the ones verifying all the transactions. So you would have to deceive every single one in order to create fake coins, or to transfer authorized coins.
"Paper is poverty, it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788
"The greatest threat to the state is when the people figure out they can exist without them." - Twisted Titan
"Some Libertarians are born, the government makes the rest."
"Voting is nothing more than a slaves suggestion box, voting on a new master every few years does not make you free."
I thought yur girlfriend ximmy had hers plucked, didn't she?If our Bitcoins get stolen who do we call?
Ask her.
No one. You're fucked. Me and ximmy both had Bitcoins stolen for different reasons. I sold Bitcoins for a fiat currency and got them stolen in a chargeback scam where they claimed the money they gave me was stolen. Ximmy had her wallet/Bitcoins stored with someone else and they got stolen there (I think that's her story, she can clarify.) In my instance my Bitcoins weren't actually stolen, but the money I sold them for was basically, so in turn the Bitcoins where "stolen". If you steal Bitcoins from a website its like stealing physical cash or physical gold/silver from a cash register at a store.
If our Bitcoins get stolen who do we call?
The safest thing to do is keep your Bitcoins in your OWN wallet, and keep it encrypted with a password until you use it. Have it split into multiple wallets too and have copies of it in multiple locations. For instance, I keep copies of my wallets on free upload servers, in Gmail accounts, and so forth, and they are all password encrypted so only I know where they are. I can also rename them as .doc or .pdf files or whatever so no one will suspect what they are.
I believe there will be intermediaries that will exist, sort of like for insurance, as time goes on. Theft is a real issue with Bitcoin, but it really deals with that fact that people aren't used to the concept of trusting people we don't know with our Bitcoins, when we should store them in our own wallets, or learn to only buy/sell them from reputable sources like exchanges.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Bit...s_isn.27t_good
Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good
Why some people think this is bad: Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.
Why it's actually a good thing: Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing inherent in the dollar or euro or any other currency is necessary for chargebacks to be possible, and likewise, nothing prevents the creation of PayPal-like services denominated in Bitcoin that provide chargebacks or fraud protection.
The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the OTC Web of Trust.
ximmy (9th April 2013)
Yep that is a significant risk with crypto-currencies in general. If they are stolen there is no insurance, no FDIC, and no safety deposit box. The same could be said that if your house catches fire and you didn't back up your bitcoin wallet offsite. Your SoL. That was also the same risk that the gold standard had. If a bank got robbed and a good portion of the patrons gold was taken, the people who had gold that was stolen were screwed. That was also the time that Wells Fargo transported their gold under armed coaches. The ONLY time you have insurance is a fractional reserve system where the banks can just print up (debase) and give you what was taken at the cost of depreciating the asset that everyone else had.
"Paper is poverty, it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788
"The greatest threat to the state is when the people figure out they can exist without them." - Twisted Titan
"Some Libertarians are born, the government makes the rest."
"Voting is nothing more than a slaves suggestion box, voting on a new master every few years does not make you free."
Btw, I never said anything like that, or eluded to it. Whoever figures out how to compromise it would never be so stupid.You act like governments or banks can just flip a switch and shut it down. THEY CAN'T!!
They could double their dough by doing it slowly as they've done in the past with commodities.
Anyway my trust in the GSUS still holds.
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