Old news on BTC-e

Looks like once again, I have some old news I never published. So check it out now, months later!

BTC-e has been raided.

Well it looks like another bitcoin exchange is shutting down. This is different though, because it is for money laundering. There are lots of allegations going around. Some people are saying stolen funds from Mt. Gox ended up there. Others say 80% of Bitcoin ransom (payments to Ransomware) go through BTC-e. Well the U.S. government figured enough is enough and has shut the exchange down. The exchange has promised everyone that they will be paid.

This has perhaps put some people on edge, as they are worried another exchange will shut down. Many people openly worry about polo, which was offline a few hours earlier this week.

However, perhaps this worry is unwarranted. At least there is a reason it might be less than it was a few days ago. With the BCC split, many users took their crypto off of exchanges. This, in a way, audited these exchanges to see if they really have enough crypto to cover an increase in demand, and it seems like they passed. So perhaps things are a tiny bit safer than before.

Here you can even see the still seized website. Also here is another update by coindesk.

Don’t forget to check out my faucets for my favorite faucets! Get some of your own bitcoin and other coins!

Shine Bright like a Dimon (or not)

Like normal, traditional finance people discredit Bitcoin, this week Jamie Dimon did as well.

Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JP Morgan. Dimon was also the CEO prior to the great recession/ financial crisis of 2008/2009.  Here is the article.

One quote from the article is a little perplexing:

“The bank chief said he wouldn’t short bitcoin because there’s no telling how high it will go before it collapses. The best argument he’s heard, he said, is that it can be useful to people in places with no other options -- so long as the supply of coins doesn’t surge. [emphasis added]”

It seems Dimon misunderstands a very fundamental aspect of Bitcoin, the supply of coins is totally predictable. How Bitcoin comes into existence is literally written down and, in essence, set in stone. So attaching uncertainty to the supply of Bitcoin is pointless.

That being said, I think Dimon’s comparison to tulip bulbs does have some merit.  Bitcoin prices have risen dramatically, and it's hard to really justify it. Sure, some speculators say it will keep going up and up.  John McAfee, yes that McAfee, said some slightly crass things about it.

Then again, Dimon did say, “If you were in Venezuela or Ecuador or North Korea or a bunch of parts like that [how about Belize?], or if you were a drug dealer, a murderer, stuff like that [how about a drug kingpin?], you are better off doing it in bitcoin than U.S. dollars.”

I wonder if McAfee was ever potentially involved with any of that?

Don’t get me wrong, I actually like John McAfee. I watch him debate in the libertarian debates last election cycle.

Lastly, it looks like some redditors want a debate with Dimon. We probably won’t respond. But McAfee would be an ideal opponent.

Ethereum and Eternium

This is a post I meant to publish a while ago about Ethereum. On a slightly related note, I was browsing the play store recently and saw an app that I thought was called Ethereum. I assumed it was an Ethereum wallet and since I’m studying Ethereum, I thought it would be a good idea to check it out. Well, the app was actually called Eternium, and it is actually a Diablo 2 style game. It is pretty decent. Anyways, here is my post of Ethereum.

New cryptos are a dime a dozen and a new currency generally isn’t particularly noteworthy. But sometimes a new currency gets so much attention it warrants my attention. And ETH is now one of those currencies. ETH is most noteworthy due to contracts. Contracts can be set up and executed when particular conditions are met. So a deal between two individuals can be enforced using the ETH blockchain.

In recent news, the price of ETH has raised dramatically. In addition, there is a lot of GPU miners of ETH. This demand seems to be so high, that many AMD graphics cards are out of stock. At this time, AMD cards are preferable for this kind of mining (note, this isn’t a SHA 256 encryption like bitcoin, which is best done with a ASIC).

Another thing to be aware of is that ETH is not the same as ETC. ETC is branded as Ethereum Classic. It is a hardfork from ETH (or ETH is a hardfork form ETC perhaps is a better way to say it). To explain a bit, a hardfork is essentially a point where two currencies are formed out of one. One coin follows a new, different protocol from the other. Up to this point, the blockchains are the same for the two coins, but after a hard fork, this is no longer the case. To my understanding, a hacker stole 50 million worth of ETH. The devs were able to stop this, the money was under restriction for 28 days, by altering the coins code. Some 90% of nodes supported the change. Those that didn’t became ETC. There also seems to be some distrust for ETC. Then again, people using ETC seem to distrust ETH. The point is, be aware of what you are getting into, if you want to get into ETC, just know it's not ETH.

Over the next few weeks I will try to investigate ETH more and show how to get started with it.