Official BGOL Crypto Currency Thread ★★★★★
- Thread starter Matt Beesy
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An IRS wet dream.
good problem to have
A failure to understand proof of work is a failure to understand #Bitcoin.
A thread.
Decentralized systems, by definition, do not have a single source of truth.
Satoshi's breakthrough was to build a system that allows all participants to zero in on the same truth independently. Proof of work is what allows this to happen.
The point of proof of work is to create an irrefutable history. If two histories compete, the one with the most work embedded in it wins.
The chain with the most work is the truth, by definition. This is what we call Nakamoto consensus.
Why does this work?
In short: because work requires energy. You can't cheat it. You can't argue with it. You can't lie about it. The proof that you did the work is self-evident in the outcome of the work.
In Bitcoin, work is computation. Not any kind of computation, but computation that has no shortcut: guessing. There is no shortcut because there is no progress. Every guess stands on its own.
The beautiful thing is that the work itself is embedded in the solution. The data speaks for itself. The map is the territory. There is no external source of truth required. The work is implicit in the data due to the probabilistic nature of guessing.
Other mechanisms, such as proof of stake, don't have this property. You can never be sure that what you are looking at is actually the truth since there is no external cost to create an alternative truth.
Computation is the only bridge between the realm of information to the physical realm. When dealing with information, all we have is information and the transformation of information: computation.
Computation requires energy. Energy is the bridge. Energy is real.
Remove this bridge to the physical world and you will stay in fantasy land: you can't tell what actually happened. You will have to trust others to tell you what happened. You can't verify it yourself. You have to rely on trust.
Proof of stake has plenty of other problems, such as fair validator selection (who decides?), naturally centralizing effects (more stake = more reward = more stake), and having no natural resistance to timestamp manipulation attacks, for example.
Proof of work solves these exact problems. It decentralizes the selection process, creates physical proof of what happened, has real externalized costs, and decentralizes time.
Bitcoin Is Time | dergigi.comKeeping track of things in the informational realm implies keeping track of a sequence of events, which in turn requires keeping track of time...https://dergigi.com/2021/01/14/bitcoin-is-time/
The question of whether proof of work is wasteful or not can't be asked without understanding the problem it solves.
Understanding the problem properly will lead you to the conclusion that there is no other way to solve it in a trustless manner.
Thus, the question becomes: how useful is trustless digital sound money? Is it worth the energy expenditure?
For fridges, cars, smartphones, and a myriad of other things, society answers this question in the affirmative.
For Bitcoin, those who understand the societal benefits of sound and censorship-resistant money answer in the affirmative.
To summarize: proof of work is not only useful but absolutely essential. Trustless digital money can't work without it. You always need an anchor to the physical realm. Without this anchor, a truthful history that is self-evident is impossible. Energy is the only anchor we have.
Proof of work = trust physics to determine what happened.
Proof of stake = trust humans to determine what happened.
Addendum: I have a lot of sympathy for everyone who thinks that Bitcoin is wasteful. I thought so too, and I had to shift my perspective. Like most people, I didn't know anything about (sound) money.
Bitcoin's Energy Consumption - A shift in perspective | dergigi.comWhy the energy expenditure of Bitcoin's network is not as bad as you might think.https://dergigi.com/2018/06/10/bitcoin-s-energy-consumption/
Addendum, part two: The problem of agreeing on a common time in an adversarial decentralized system can't be solved precisely, not even in theory. Proof of work is a practical, probabilistic solution to this intractable problem.
Addendum, part three: I wrote "trustless" for brevity. There is no such thing. It is always about the minimization of trust.
Lesson 16 - Reflections on "Don't Trust, Verify" - 21Lessons.com21 Lessons Learned from Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole.https://21lessons.com/16/
Addendum, part four: It should go without saying that energy expenditure doesn't equal carbon footprint and that both are decoupled from transaction throughput.
See this thread by @LynAldenContact:
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Missed???
Nah... MATIC is the new purchasing platform for Ethereum. It's gonna be be one of the big boys in a year, so getting in at under $10 is gonna be profitable.
I missed it but will look for a pullback .
Right now whats hot for the day:
MATIC POLYGON
CARDANO
USDC
Polkadot
What's Suspect:
Tether
any coins made on Binance smart chain
Obviously tommorow this changes
That's an estimated 2 - 2.5 years away at the least, in which speculation has ETH absorbing MATIC into it's own, due to it's proven functionality.
Grabbing MATIC now while it's still fairly cheap would be ideal as ETH is still highly attractive and obtainable.
How is $USDC a hot coin when it will never barely appreciate in value and only pays a weak APY?
Thanks. What should we look to buy today?
Nah, that's estimated to be end of this year through early next year.
APY is low but I am looking at what is going on in the background.
Its a stable coin you can move your money in and out of instead moving it in and out of a bank.
It is backed by big private firms and VISA.
To me it is more reliable than a shady Chinese stable coin.
I'm still learning about Polkadot but I'm holding. Because of Polkadot and its limited slots, I also have kusama. Kusama is basically the testnet for projects trying to earn one of the limited slots on Polkadot. Projects that don't earn a spot on Polkadot will stay on Kusama.
Because of ETH cost issues I also have matic/polygon. It's a second layer solution to help with the problems with Ethereum. It seems to be gaining adaption unlike other layer 2 solutions I can think of in the past.
I only stake Cardano for now. I use the Daedalus wallet. The process is pretty straight forward once you download the wallet and move your Ada to it. You could also use the Yoroi wallet too. It's kind of hard to help without knowing what you don't understand but the link below should be able to get you started.
Daedalus Mainnet – IOHK Support
iohk.zendesk.com
good stuff
Regardless of the release, MATIC is designed to run with ETH. As long as ETH grown, MATIC grows
It's not suppose to change value. It's a STABLE COIN
It's always worth a dollar. The Market Cap grows cause people stabilize
their accounts by selling their coins and keeping the balance as $USDC
They can't gain money or lose it at that point.
Voyager gives you up to 10.25% per annum for holding it on their platform.
Stable coins are suppose to have fiat sitting in a bank account MATCHING the amount they have minted
FYI - $USDC is owned by CIRCLE. Circle owns 14% of Voyager #Boom
Side Note - You need to educate yourself a TON before you dive into the space dogz
you lack fundamental knowledge imo
It's not suppose to change value. It's a STABLE COIN
It's always worth a dollar. The Market Cap grows cause people stabilize
their accounts by selling their coins and keeping the balance as $USDC
They can't gain money or lose it at that point.
Voyager gives you up to 10.25% per annum for holding it on their platform.
Stable coins are suppose to have fiat sitting in a bank account MATCHING the amount they have minted
FYI - $USDC is owned by CIRCLE. Circle owns 14% of Voyager #Boom
Side Note - You need to educate yourself a TON before you dive into the space dogz
you lack fundamental knowledge imo
Thanks for this. So do yall use USDC to stash "cash" and lock in profits at times, or just keep rolling your currency into ETH or BTC when in between trades?
It's not suppose to change value. It's a STABLE COIN
It's always worth a dollar. The Market Cap grows cause people stabilize
their accounts by selling their coins and keeping the balance as $USDC
They can't gain money or lose it at that point.
Voyager gives you up to 10.25% per annum for holding it on their platform.
Stable coins are suppose to have fiat sitting in a bank account MATCHING the amount they have minted
FYI - $USDC is owned by CIRCLE. Circle owns 14% of Voyager #Boom
Side Note - You need to educate yourself a TON before you dive into the space dogz
you lack fundamental knowledge imo
if you look at the chart for today, it was not a dollar. (Got as low as $0.9986 and I bet you a dollar you can’t tell me why).and you skipped around the question because like most people, you have no idea how the money system works. Anything basing its value off of the US Dollar is flawed unless it is backed by an actual commodity of equal value (accounting 101).
You also butchered the definition of market capitalization so let’s start off with that lesson. How can an asset’s market capitalization increase if the value and outstanding supply is flat? You need to learn basic finance before you try to question anyone.
I use $USDC to lock profits.
Once it's there I just keep it on Voyager and collect the monthly interest.
Now, if the market dips significantly and I see an opportunity I will use that money to buy
and you skipped around the question because like most people, you have no idea how the money system works. Anything basing its value off of the US Dollar is flawed unless it is backed by an actual commodity of equal value (accounting 101).
You also butchered the definition of market capitalization so let’s start off with that lesson. How can an asset’s market capitalization increase if the value and outstanding supply is flat? You need to learn basic finance before you try to question anyone.
Stable coins change in value SLIGHTY cause of liquidity and supply & demand but it's temporary.
Also redemption isn't always instant. I've also seen it fractions over a $1.04
The Market cap will go up for $USDC as new tokens are "minted"
but as I mentioned fiat needs to be sitting somewhere in equal value.
Go ask Tether.....
Anyway I'm not claiming to be J.P. Morgan.
I know my way around crypto and changed my life and several others
If you wanna sit up here an pop shit go on. I was telling the guy he needs to
at least know wtf the basics are.
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Is it worth buying back into doge right now? Matic?