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
