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Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and You: Navigating the Future of Tech (a NeoGAF discussion thread)

MadAnon

Member
Yeah that is a bit ignorant if i'm being honest.. Tulips are literally a flower the grows in the ground; Bitcoin is one of the most secure networks in the world, not to mention a global payment network at that. Seems to me you just haven't taken the time to understand why Bitcoin is still around.

If you are throwing other crypto currencies into the same basket as Bitcoin, it proves you don't understand the value of Bitcoin. That, or you're willfully in denial about learning why its valuable.
But Bitcoin is just open source code running over a network. Anyone can copy, fork it. There are several popular forks of it like Litecoin. They just change some values in the code (like block size) and voila. There's nothing unique about it except being THE FIRST.
 

Ascend

Member
How do you determine what coin is worth a damn versus a shit coin? Because I think it is pure luck if someone just happens to start buying the damn things based off my observations of this currency.
Well... First thing's first... You should generally know what the coins in the top 20 or so do and what is unique about them. Not ALL of them, but a good portion of them. You should know the difference between PoS, PoW, Oracles, the difference between coins and tokens, the difference between blockchain and digital currency, and the difference between centralized coins vs decentralized coins. If you don't, you have homework to do.
You can start with finding out the difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum, then investigate what Ripple does differently, then Cardano, then Chainlink, then Uniswap, then Monero, and yes, even Tether. That should give you a good basic overview on how things work differently from each other and the vast amount of functionality that is out there. Then you can go to the next step.

For new coins, the first thing to check is what they bring to the table. Is it something that other coins already do, does it do the same thing in a different way, is it a blatant copy, or is it something completely new? If it doesn't do anything original, it's a shitcoin. If it uses the name of another coin or asset and looks to be using that as a way to attract users, it's a shitcoin. If it advertises something, but is functionally incapable of doing that thing, and there are no signs of a roadmap or everything keeps getting delayed with no progress, it's a shitcoin.

For existing coins, you can do the same thing, and see if there is a coin with a higher market cap that already exists... Additionally, you can verify if the team behind the coin is still active, and how long they have been active.
Above that, you can check on which exchanges they are available. If they are on the biggest ones like Binance, there is a smaller chance of them being a shitcoin, simply because exchanges like Binance have a steep entry for the ones wanting to list their coin, and they have no issues removing coins either. There's a reason coins that get (announced to be) listed on Coinbase generally tend to increase tremendously in price.

The coins that are highly likely not shitcoins are the ones that focus on DeFi or focus on being oracles. But there are always exceptions. Yes, this world is complicated and it takes time to learn and understand. If you click a coin at Coingecko for example, scroll down and read its description. It should give you an idea of what each coin does. If its description is only about its price, it's most likely a shitcoin.

But Bitcoin is just open source code running over a network. Anyone can copy, fork it. There are several popular forks of it like Litecoin. They just change some values in the code (like block size) and voila. There's nothing unique about it except being THE FIRST.
This is a perfect example of what to look for. Litecoin might be a fork of Bitcoin, but, the difference is that Litecoin uses Scrypt algorithm rather than SHA-256 algorithm.
If you ask why they changed the algorithm, it's a good question. It was supposed to solve the problem of Bitcoin becoming too centralized. ASICs were being developed for SHA-256, meaning normal people could no longer compete with mining against the ones that were mining with ASICs. Mining was only viable with ASICs, and using a graphics card would mean running at a loss. Litecoin was created to solve that problem, to be ASIC-resistant, so that people could mine with their normal hardware at home.

Ultimately, ASICs were created for Litecoin as well, sort of defeating its initial fork purpose. Does that mean that Litecoin is now irrelevant...? Well, not really.
Two reasons... Just like the USD doesn't make the EURO irrelevant, Bitcoin does not make Litecoin irrelevant. Just like separate country/regional currencies can exist, Bitcoin and Litecoin have become separate currencies within the crypto space. Moreover, Litecoin's team is still active, and they are working to implement private transactions, something that Monero and ZCash are already doing, but in a completely different way from each other. Only time will prove which implementation is better, but chances are that they will simply co-exist and interact with each other through Oracles in the future.
 
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keraj37

Contacted PSN to add his card back to his account
I lost around $2.5k:
I bought around 6000 XRP at a price of $0.26.
Next week or so I had a dream that the price goes down by $0.17.
So I sold immediately at a spot of $0.29.
Just 3 days later it reached the price of $0.67, going straight up.
I sold at the very dip, man.

Don't trust your dreams too much.
 
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But Bitcoin is just open source code running over a network. Anyone can copy, fork it. There are several popular forks of it like Litecoin. They just change some values in the code (like block size) and voila. There's nothing unique about it except being THE FIRST.
Just because they can fork the code, doesn't mean people are actually using it. Take Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, etc, etc, etc. These networks have a sliver of the hash rate that the real Bitcoin network has, because THEY ARE NOT BITCOIN. Litecoin got popular doing initial run-ups when transaction fees started to soar, and got popular on that basis that it had cheaper transactions.

Now a days, I like to think of Litecoin has bitcoins live test-net due to majority of the code base is similair and functions nearly the same. It is only a matter of time before things like Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, etc are completely dead. The only reason they continue to hold value is because anyone who was smart enough to hold Bitcoin before the hard forks got free Bitcoin Cash. These same people are smart enough to realize that people are still dumb, and will likely buy them thinking they are the next Bitcoin.
 

Ascend

Member
I lost around $2.5k:
I bought around 6000 XRP at a price of $0.26.
Next week or so I had a dream that the price goes down by $0.17.
So I sold immediately at a spot of $0.29.
Just 3 days later it reached the price of $0.67, going straight up.
I sold at the very dip, man.

Don't trust your dreams too much.
That was your fear of losing money being reflected in a dream... You should recognize that whatever you are feeling, others are feeling as well, and, combine that with what Warren Buffet once said;

"We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful."

Use your own emotions as a guide of what others are also feeling, and act according to the quote above.
 
How do you determine what coin is worth a damn versus a shit coin? Because I think it is pure luck if someone just happens to start buying the damn things based off my observations of this currency.
dont fall down that rabbit hole. for the average person, yes, it is luck to pick a coin and win big. dont listen to anyone shilling coin advice, unless you legit know what youre doing.

you'll just fuck yourself up learning about all the awesome tech, only to realize that the tech is a small fraction of the equation.

bitcoin and ethereum are the least risky and most trustworthy at this point and EVEN THEN they carry an enormous amount of risk. if youve got the balls and fiat to handle the risk in other coins - thats fine - but dont think you can just find coins in the top 10/25/50 market cap lists that sound appealing and jump into them expecting riches and lambos.
 

MadAnon

Member
Just because they can fork the code, doesn't mean people are actually using it. Take Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, etc, etc, etc. These networks have a sliver of the hash rate that the real Bitcoin network has, because THEY ARE NOT BITCOIN. Litecoin got popular doing initial run-ups when transaction fees started to soar, and got popular on that basis that it had cheaper transactions.

Now a days, I like to think of Litecoin has bitcoins live test-net due to majority of the code base is similair and functions nearly the same. It is only a matter of time before things like Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, etc are completely dead. The only reason they continue to hold value is because anyone who was smart enough to hold Bitcoin before the hard forks got free Bitcoin Cash. These same people are smart enough to realize that people are still dumb, and will likely buy them thinking they are the next Bitcoin.
The reason why those forks still hold value is the same reason why Dodgecoin hold value - just mindless speculation with no real basis. They were supposed to die during the last crash but they didn't. The last crypto craze was so retarded that even penny stocks with name crypto, blockchain in it rocketed in value.

Who actually uses Bitcoin/Litecoin? It only changes hands for speculative purposes. There's not even incentive to use it as a means of payment because of it's speculative nature. Who would want to spend something that's extremely deflationary in nature? People count their $ value increase during mooning, not their BTCs.

So tell me what's the actual value behind it?
 
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The reason why those forks still hold value is the same reason why Dodgecoin hold value - just mindless speculation with no real basis. They were supposed to die during the last crash but they didn't. The last crypto craze was so retarded that even penny stocks with name crypto, blockchain in it rocketed in value.

Who actually uses Bitcoin/Litecoin? It only changes hands for speculative purposes. There's not even incentive to use it as a means of payment because of it's speculative nature. Who would want to spend something that's extremely deflationary in nature? People count their $ value increase during mooning, not their BTCs.

So tell me what's the actual value behind it?
"If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry" - Satoshi Nakamoto
 

MadAnon

Member
"If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry" - Satoshi Nakamoto
So just you know. The original Satoshi paper presented Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer cash system. And currently it's anything but a viable cash system. So you can keep that quote to yourself.
 
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Larlight

Member
I've been casually following the stocks, but has everyone given up on GME, AMC, NOK, and BB? Did people sell their losses or are they still holding on?
 

Ascend

Member
So just you know. The original Satoshi paper presented Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer cash system. And currently it's anything but a viable cash system. So you can keep that quote to yourself.
That's how it was presented, but, I think we can expect some unmentioned intent behind Bitcoin. Some obvious questions arise, like;
Why limit the total amount of coins to 21 million from the get go?
Why is there a halving event?
Why is the halving approximately 4 years?

Those are the most basic of questions. You don't need those to have a working currency. In fact, from the perspective of currency, Dogecoin is better suited than Bitcoin (at least compared to the current way of doing things), because it is fundamentally inflationary rather than deflationary. They must have understood that a limited supply and a limit in the total amount is going to create scarcity, which means people will rather hold it than spend it.

Maybe it was supposed to be a way for only the elite to transact large sums of money, which is why there is only 21 million of them. Maybe it was intended as a store of value in the first place, but saying that might stifle adoption or create more resistance . We will never know.

We do know they were smart enough to create this system, and I doubt the numbers and functions they picked were accidental. Besides, the original intent in the paper means very little for ultimate use. I doubt the internet was invented with the intention of online banking, watching Netflix, YouTube, direct contact with celebrities or multiplayer gaming. But those things flourished out of it.

It is more about what the technology enables, than what it was originally intended to do. Right now, Bitcoin enables storage of value that is independent from the traditional financial system, and independent of any single centralized entity whatsoever. That alone is enough of a use case, even if it is not being used as a cash system as supposedly originally intended. With banks going bust and needing bailouts, the fed printing money like there's no tomorrow, there really is no safer place for storing your value than crypto.
Yes, you have to stomach the volatility, which is exactly why it's important to get in during bear markets rather than bull markets.
 

bigsnack

Member
Regardless of whether you believe that crypto has a real purpose, the proof is in the pudding that it’s now a permanent part of finance. If market cap increases, and demand increases, price will go up on all of these coins. Once major financial institutions start participating and diversifying in more than just the big obvious ones, it will be a whole new world from where it even is now. I foresee major brokerages like TD ameritrade and etrade eventually getting on board. I think this is still very early in the growth of crypto, it’s definitely here to stay.
 
How do you determine what coin is worth a damn versus a shit coin? Because I think it is pure luck if someone just happens to start buying the damn things based off my observations of this currency.
This is not me telling you or anyone to buy any of the following coins, so do not regard it as such. As a starting point you should research these projects: LINK, BAT, VET, DOT, UNI, ADA. I think that's a good starting point if you're not interested in BTC.

Full disclosure I only own 2 of those 6 coins and even then they represent less than 1% of my crypto. I'm about 80% BTC and 20% CRO. Best thing anyone can do in a market like this is research, research, research! Find a project you think has potential, something you believe in. That's where you should invest.

Good luck!
 
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Ascend

Member
I generally don't recommend people to investigate DOT to start, because, that is probably one of the most complicated, complex and confusing blockchains out there, right up there with the likes of VeChain.
 
I generally don't recommend people to investigate DOT to start, because, that is probably one of the most complicated, complex and confusing blockchains out there, right up there with the likes of VeChain.
Interesting... perhaps you're right about DOT. I thought it was fairly straightforward but then again I've been in this space for over a year now. I think the idea behind vechain is fairly easy to grasp but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
 

Ascend

Member
Interesting... perhaps you're right about DOT. I thought it was fairly straightforward but then again I've been in this space for over a year now. I think the idea behind vechain is fairly easy to grasp but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
VeChain is easy to grasp in concept. But when you get to the workings, it's a lot more complicated, simply because it has two coins for two different functions. I wonder how many newbies would know that VET and VTHO are from the same project, and that's the most basic of basic things of the coin.

When people research the difference between BTC and ETH, they will encounter the first true complexity of the space. I mean, Ethereum is also straightforward at its basis, but how do we explain how gas works to someone just entering the space? It's easier to say that it's a well established coin. They have to do their own homework as to the main workings and differences between BTC and ETH.

For DOT, ask the majority here what a parachain or relay chain is... Yeah... For DOT, I'd prefer to say it's from the maker of ETH which has a good track record, which makes it a good investment. Because if I have to explain what it does, it would take a while.
 
How do you determine what coin is worth a damn versus a shit coin? Because I think it is pure luck if someone just happens to start buying the damn things based off my observations of this currency.
At this point it's still mostly luck what rallies in the short term so make sure you are invested in a healthy variety of coins. That's not to say that research is useless by any means, but that's a long term thing that will pay off over years and decades. And there are still so many variables that predicting how it all will shake out in the end is nigh on impossible.
 
I have no idea what the deal is with DeFi coins using food as names... Sushiswap. Pancakeswap... There's even Sashimiswap.

Edit:

Another good video;

Love Ben Cowens videos. This one is spot fucking on. I think everyone who is new to the space needs to watch it and pay extra attention to the first 2-4 minutes.
 

n0razi

Member
How do you determine what coin is worth a damn versus a shit coin? Because I think it is pure luck if someone just happens to start buying the damn things based off my observations of this currency.

Well you can actually purchase stuff with Bitcoin (not everywhere but the places that accept it is growing: see Paypal, Tesla, etc). Ether is used daily by major decentralized finance operations and has real utility. Something like Dogecoin on the other hand has unlimited inflation and no real use outside of memes and speculative investment.
 

Myths

Member
I wonder how long this uptrend in Bitcoin Cash will last? Either way, it might soar past its 2017 high at this rate.
 

PSlayer

Member
I wonder how long this uptrend in Bitcoin Cash will last? Either way, it might soar past its 2017 high at this rate.
I'm actually quite surprise with this uptrend. I tought it would crash when it got close to 38k but it kept going up
 

Type_Raver

Member
New to the crypto party!

Got myself very small volumes of BTC, ETH and some GNT (Golem).

Also, since i was one of the luckier ones (albeit 4 mths later) to get my RTX 3080, i thought Id try and mine some ETH.
Talk about a grind, but I'll hold out and try and get 0.1ETH and see if the effort was worthwhile. Got a sneaking suspicion that our aussie power bills make it hard to justify the effort.

On that, I typically get 95MH/s on my undervolted 3080, pulling about 290W, holding 60 degrees.
I dont leave it on 24/7, just overnight, which means it will take me 3 to 4x as long to get my target.

Anyone else mine here?
 

keraj37

Contacted PSN to add his card back to his account
New to the crypto party!

Got myself very small volumes of BTC, ETH and some GNT (Golem).

Also, since i was one of the luckier ones (albeit 4 mths later) to get my RTX 3080, i thought Id try and mine some ETH.
Talk about a grind, but I'll hold out and try and get 0.1ETH and see if the effort was worthwhile. Got a sneaking suspicion that our aussie power bills make it hard to justify the effort.

On that, I typically get 95MH/s on my undervolted 3080, pulling about 290W, holding 60 degrees.
I dont leave it on 24/7, just overnight, which means it will take me 3 to 4x as long to get my target.

Anyone else mine here?
95mh/s? From just one 3080? Really great number - on my 2080ti I go max to 60mh/s.
 

MrMephistoX

Gold Member
So every crypto I'm tracking just dropped a ton. Something newsworthy cause this?
Elon tweeted the below and Dodge at least started tanking immediately after. Seems like it stopped at around $0.049 and BTC stabilized took bought some more.

RmIAppY.jpg
 
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Elon tweeted the below and Dodge at least started tanking immediately after. Seems like it stopped at around $0.049 and BTC stabilized took bought some more.

RmIAppY.jpg
Ya I saw that tweet and checked the market. Didn't see any movement then but massive selloffs just recently here. Hard to say if it's related.
 
So every crypto I'm tracking just dropped a ton. Something newsworthy cause this?
Your XYZ coins can't fly to the moon nonstop without giving some back.

Seriously now, it looks like the beginnings of a correction which is completely normal and 100% fine and healthy for any market. A couple weeks of short-term downside would be nice because it give these alts an opportunity to put in some higher lows. Not financial advice, I'm not a financial advisor, but I see this as a potential buying opportunity.
 
Your XYZ coins can't fly to the moon nonstop without giving some back.

Seriously now, it looks like the beginnings of a correction which is completely normal and 100% fine and healthy for any market. A couple weeks of short-term downside would be nice because it give these alts an opportunity to put in some higher lows. Not financial advice, I'm not a financial advisor, but I see this as a potential buying opportunity.


I understand this. Just odd that of the 15 or so coins I track every one was down between 5 and 25 percent. Every single one. Something had to drive a massive selloff. This doesn't seem like natural ebb and flow.

Also, not just alts. Eth and btc down.
 
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MrMephistoX

Gold Member
Yeah for sure I’m glad I didn’t over invest but it’s a good lesson I invested about what I’m comfortable not losing into Crypto and am just going to play around with what I have.
 

Blade2.0

Member
I lost around $2.5k:
I bought around 6000 XRP at a price of $0.26.
Next week or so I had a dream that the price goes down by $0.17.
So I sold immediately at a spot of $0.29.
Just 3 days later it reached the price of $0.67, going straight up.
I sold at the very dip, man.

Don't trust your dreams too much.
You didn't actually lose 2500 though. You bought low and sold for a profit.
 

Ascend

Member
Whatever happens during the weekends, generally, is not what would happen during the week. In weekends the volume dries up, and a smaller group of people can more easily manipulate the market. Look at what happened. In the weekend everything started dropping significantly. In comes Monday, everything started pumping again. We'll have to wait and see how things develop further in the week.

There will be many attempts to scare you with significant drops so that you sell your coins prematurely. Don't fall for it. The tricky thing is though, that there will come a point where they drop like this and will not recover. Always be careful, and try not to chase pumps. Try and have a position in the coin before it starts pumping.
 
is anyone involved with crypto collectibles like crypto-punks or top shots?
I've been into NBA TopShot since the 3rd release of packs, currently sitting on around 50~ moments with majority of them being series 1 base 1
Total spent on packs: Just over 300 USD
Total value of ALL moments as of Monday: Just under 5000 USD
 

DonMigs85

Member
Do you guys think Binance Smart Chain has a good future ahead? I'm holding some BRY (Berry Data tokens). CAKE and especially BNB are doing really well
 
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Ascend

Member
Do you guys think Binance Smart Chain has a good future ahead? I'm holding some BRY (Berry Data tokens). CAKE and especially BNB are doing really well
Binance is basically trying to compete with Ethereum. Who knows how that will turn out. As of right now, the centralized solutions are more user friendly than the decentralized ones. So that means it's bound to do well for now.

Crypto.com is doing the same thing, but they started with VISA cards, while Binance started as an exchange. Both of them are basically arriving at the same place now, more or less. Crypto.com still offers a DeFi wallet though, so... That's one of the reasons I have a preference for them over Binance. Binance is more ahead, since Crypto.com still needs to launch their native blockchain.

I do use both still.
 
Binance coin has pumped up 4X in the last 3 weeks. Weekly RSI is getting way up there and the prior weekly low is around 41 USD. Some of these Altcoins are getting way up there man. Ethereum too hasn't put in a new low on the weekly since 350 USD. Jesus Christ 😅
 
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