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
