Out of curiousity, down in puerto rico, was that cryptocurrency
buying any gas, water ot food?
On Nov 17, 2017 4:48 PM, "Sean Heskett" <af...@zirkel.us
<mailto:af...@zirkel.us>> wrote:
Hey Travis and gang,
Here's a really good audiobook that does a deep dive into all
things cryptocurrency. It was written by a couple of Wall Street
Journalist. The link below is to audible.com
<http://audible.com>. It answers a lot of the questions you are
asking.
********************************************************************
Hi,
I've listened to this audiobook, "The Age of Cryptocurrency: How
Bitcoin and Digital Money Are Challenging the Global Economic
Order" by Paul Vigna, Michael J. Casey, and thought you would
enjoy it, too.
It's totally free and you won't need a credit card if it is your
first time accepting an Audible book from a friend.
Get it here <http://a.co/69VdGfJ>
---------
After you accept the book, you will be prompted to download the
Audible app to start listening.
Enjoy!
-Sean
On Fri, Nov 17, 2017 at 1:43 PM, Travis Johnson <t...@ida.net
<mailto:t...@ida.net>> wrote:
Hi,
I agree with most of what you said here... however, the
original premise for BTC was that everyone was tired of the
"banks" controlling the money... and charging fees to do so.
I just really don't see how that has changed much... I
currently have 4 or 5 bank accounts, all at different
banks... and I control all of them from my computer. I can
send/receive/wire/transfer money in and out of any of them at
my own will.
Also, how is sending BTC from wallet to wallet not free? I
have sent BTC to other people without being charged a fee...
I was doing it from my own wallet on a computer, not using a
service.
For me it just doesn't make sense... I can have a totally
free bank account with an ATM/VISA card that I can use
anywhere and not have to worry about getting hit with fees or
the value of my "money" changing every 5 seconds... and it's
insured and if there is an issue (fraud, etc) the bank covers
it. I get none of those features with BTC, and I have to pay
a much higher "fee" to use it.
The current state of BTC is not how it was envisioned when it
was first created. It has become commercialized and everyone
is after their 1.5% fee. :(
Travis
On 11/17/2017 12:28 PM, Chris Wright wrote:
Many of the negative things you say here about BTC are
questions I had when I was still learning. Let me clear
some things up.
Coinbase charges for when you want to buy BTC with fiat
(USD). They have a business to run. Everyone here knows
that processing debit/ACH payments is NOT free.
Onboarding your US dollars to crypto currency will
require a gateway, and every gate requires a gatekeeper,
and every gatekeeper has mouths to feed.
Sending BTC from wallet to wallet is not free. Current
transaction fees on Bitcoin are ~$10 USD at the time I'm
writing this. Other crypto currencies like Ethereum are
more robust in this area (~$0.30 currently). Every
transaction needs to be written to the blockchain, which
requires mining time, electricity, and processing.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are doing what the
banks have been doing for years... it's an electronic
ledger. What's a bank statement worth? It's only a piece
of printed paper or numbers on a screen that show how
much currency to which one is entitled. It has no value
in and of itself. A US dollar bill is simply paper; its
value is whatever we all agree it is. The *big* thing
cryptocurrencies bring to the table is that your "bank
account" is no longer controlled by one central building.
Your account, or "digital wallet" is controlled by
thousands of computers, each checking themselves against
the other.
The only way someone can hijack the blockchain would be
if they controlled more than 50% of the compute power in
the mining world. Think about how many vectors of attack
from which our traditional banks are vulnerable.
This video answered even more questions I didn't even
think to ask... I highly recommend giving it your time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC-nXj3Ng4>
Chris Wright
Network Administrator
-----Original Message-----
From: Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com
<mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com>] On Behalf Of Travis Johnson
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2017 1:42 PM
To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
Subject: [AFMUG] BTC
Hi,
The entire idea and goal of bitcoin was to take away the
financial institutions from having "control" and charging
fees to handle money. In exchange for no fees (sending or
receiving BTC is free), you also have no security. Once
it's sent, it's gone.
However, now the banks have just been replaced with
places like Coinbase... bitcoin "exchanges" that charge
roughly 1.5% for every buy/sell transaction... and they
take 7-10 business days to convert btc to cash or visa versa.
I don't see how this is a long term thing? Once all the
"mining" is being done by huge datacenters (for another
3-4 years is all), then I don't see it becoming the new
money standard like everyone thinks. You will still have
to pay fees, and someone else is still in control of your
money. :(
Travis