hi all. bitcoin is going crazy at moment. its spiked rapidly in last few months and nearly $15k per coin as of this writing. talk about critical mass!
my 1st blog on bitcoin on this blog is early 2014. ahead of the curve™.
have mixed feelings on its success. feel it is still insecure/ vulnerable in a lot of ways. its not good for the price to spike so high in so short of a time. think “what goes up must go down”. it feels like a partial bubble to me. feel there will be some commensurate pain in the near future.
there are a few areas bitcoin seems vulnerable
- large energy cost to sustain its footprint
- regulatory pressures/ legal ambiguities/ uncertainties by governments
- criminal use: tax evasion, money laundering
- scalability issues, it might break under heavy use
- related to scaling, the forking can increase complexity/ risk
- governance issues. the protocols/ algorithms need to evolve some based on intelligent/ coordinated human oversight.
- international conflict. different countries have different views on how to handle it.
- volatility. the price changes dramatically. technically not a desirable feature in a currency.
it reminds me of that old question, “what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object”™. we are seeing it in motion!
am interested to see what the nouveau wealthy such as the winklevoss twins, 1st certified bitcoin billionaires, do with their winnings. mansions, yachts, trust funds, endowments, philanthropy, drugs?
a. surge
- 1. How the Winklevoss twins became the world’s first bitcoin billionaires | Technology | The Guardian
- 2. This Company Added the Word ‘Blockchain’ to Its Name and Saw Its Shares Surge 394% – Bloomberg
- 3. A Bitcoin Is Worth $4,000–Why You Probably Should Not Own One
- 4. High-Speed Traders In Search of New Markets Jump Into Bitcoin – Bloomberg
- 5. Bitcoin Guns for $10,000 as Cryptocurrency Mania Defies Skeptics – Bloomberg
- 6. Bitcoin Is The New ‘Gold’
- 7. Investors poured millions into a storage network that doesn’t exist yet | Ars Technica
- 8. A Trader So Secret They’re Only Known by a Number Just Made Over $200 Million in One Month – Bloomberg
- 9. Cryptocurrency Craze Sends GPU Prices Skyrocketing – Again – ExtremeTech
- 10. Bitcoin soars above $1,400 to all-time high | Reuters
- 11. This Is What Could Pop the Bitcoin Bubble – Bloomberg
- 12. AI and Bitcoin Are Driving the Next Big Hedge Fund Wave | WIRED
- 13. Achievement Unlocked: Bitcoin Surpasses 1,000 ATMs Worldwide
- 14. ‘I’m a Bitcoin Millionaire’ – MEL Magazine
- 15. Bitcoin is Outperforming Every Fiat Currency So Far in 2017 – Bitcoinist.com
- 16. Why More And More Single-Family Offices Are Investing In Bitcoin
- 17. Why Tim Draper Bought All Those Bitcoins | Fox Business
- 18. The Art of Bitcoin’s Millions, Via The Lower East Side – The Daily Beast
- 19. Goldman Sachs exploring bitcoin trading operation, report says
b. intl
- 1. Starting 2018, using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in Vietnam will be illegal and subject to a $9,000 fine – BlockExplorer News
- 2. Head of the Pack: Japan Endorses 11 Bitcoin Exchanges
- 3. China’s Central Bank Declares Initial Coin Offerings Illegal – Bloomberg
- 4. Japan’s Internet Giant GMO Launching Bitcoin Mining with 7nm Chips – Bitcoin News
- 5. Bitcoin Technology Can Help Russia Dodge Sanctions: MP
- 6. Why Is the Kremlin Suddenly Obsessed With Cryptocurrencies?
- 7. Singapore Startup Takes Bitcoin Into Real World With Visa – Bloomberg
- 8. Putin’s Aide Seeks $100 Million to Rival China in Bitcoin Mining – Bloomberg
- 9. Malta Approves National Strategy Draft to Embrace Bitcoin – Bitcoin News
- 10. How Japan Prepares to Recognize Bitcoin as Method of Payment on April 1 – Bitcoin News
- 11. Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power
- 12. Bitcoin to Gain Legal Status in India, Reports Local Media – CryptoCoinsNews
- 13. Venezuelans Are Seeking a Haven in Crypto Coins as Crisis Rages – Bloomberg
- 14. Bitcoin Booming in India Due to ‘Underlying Benefits’ – Not Demonetization
- 15. Can blockchain technology help poor people around the world?
c. ethereum
- 1. Putin And Ethereum: A Match Made In Fintech
- 2. A Mysterious New Cryptocurrency Is Surging After Being Endorsed by Putin | Vanity Fair
- 3. Vladimir Putin Is Getting Interested in Bitcoin’s Biggest Rival – Bloomberg
- 4. An AI Hedge Fund Goes Live On Ethereum – Numerai – Medium
- 5. Vitalik Buterin: The cryptocurrency prophet | Financial Post
- 6. Ethereum Is Coding’s New Wild West | WIRED
- 7. I was wrong about Ethereum – WhalePanda – Medium
d. analysis/ stories
- 1. Charlie Shrem: ‘It’s Not About The Technology Anymore, It’s About Power’ – Bitcoinist.com
- 2. Central Banks Are Driving Many to Cryptocurrencies | Mises Wire
- 3. Cryptoeconomics: Paving the Future of Blockchain Technology
- 4. Yes, Bitcoin Has No Intrinsic Value. Neither Does a $1 Bill | WIRED
- 5. Nvidia CEO: Cryptocurrencies Are ‘Here to Stay’ – CoinDesk
- 6. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake: Basic Mining Guide – Blockgeeks
- 7. Why Bitcoin Matters More Than Blockchain
- 8. How One Scrappy Startup Survived the Early Bitcoin Wars | WIRED
- 9. The Creator of Bitcoin Comes Clean, Only to Disappear Again
- 10. Not all post 2011 Satoshi appearance has been debunked
e. regulation/ govt
- 1. US Lawmakers Draft Bill Protecting Cryptocurrencies from Gov Interference
- 2. IRS Nabs Big Win Over Coinbase In Bid For Bitcoin Customer Data
- 3. The Feds Are Terrified of Cryptocurrencies — but Powerless to Stop Them » The Event Chronicle
- 4. IRS Now Has a Tool to Unmask Bitcoin Tax Cheats
- 5. IRS to Obtain Identities of 14,355 Cryptocurrency Users » Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!
- 6. Bitcoin Banks? A Major U.S. Regulator Thinks They’re Coming
- 7. EU Parliament states Virtual Currencies cannot be anonymous » Brave New Coin
f. scam
- 1. Jamie Dimon: Bitcoin ‘is a fraud’ that will ‘blow up’ | Daily Mail Online
- 2. Who Pulled Off the Biggest Bitcoin Heist in History?
- 3. Why Bitcoin Unlimited should be correctly classified as an ‘attempted robbery’ of Bitcoin, not a… – Medium
- 4. Bitcoin: JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon faces market abuse report after his comments about bitcoin | City A.M.
- 5. Cryptocurrency Company That Scammed Investors Was Run by Fake People
- 6. The Great Bitcoin Heist Ends in Itty Bitty Charges
- 7. First He Beat Up His Girlfriend, Now He’s Selling Cryptocurrency With Paris Hilton
g. strain
- 1. BU Critical Bug ‘Damage Would Have Been in the Millions’ During Fork
- 2. Bitcoin Mining Has a Massive Carbon Footprint | WIRED
- 3. Bitcoin Is Splitting in Two. Now What? | WIRED
- 4. ‘I Forgot My PIN’: An Epic Tale of Losing $30,000 in Bitcoin | WIRED
h. numerai
- 1. An AI Hedge Fund Created a New Currency to Make Wall Street Work Like Open Source | WIRED
- 2. Numerai is a crowdsourced hedge fund for machine learning experts | TechCrunch
- 3. New Hedge Fund Relies on an Anonymous Army of Coders to Turn a Profit – MIT Technology Review
i. cartoons
Turing Machine 
