@ThisIsChris The software developers are already paid by the few largest companies dependent on the crypto networks, like Coinbase and BitPay. Yes, others do get to ride the investment for free, but the big dogs have enough on the line to justify the investment. Just because other people benefit doesn't take away from the benefit experience by the big dogs. And some of the development issues are a result of controversy, not a result of development labor, and instead solved by competing networks, like BCH vs BTC.

@everyone going to make my first IE donation (albeit small) pretty soon, thanks to #cryptocurrency help I've finally started cashing out some of my currency earnings...

Woohoo! Coinbase is working fine now that I made a new bank acct

HODL

@Volkmom nice!

@Tanner - SC , the contention that you can run your own full node to ensure network uptime is in opposition to the block chain purpose - as you said in your second reply. Running mining rigs is like runnig hair dryers and because you are wasting money on colling the room where hair dryers are running you get to give your self some hair dryer coin [HDCs]. The problem it purports to solve just does not exists in the real word. The entire world operates on trust, how could it not? I mean what possible sector of economy could be trust-free. Ok, I suppose you could have a system of BTC to LTC converters (i.e.) that escrows the transaction but what outside block chain is block chain usefull for? Every example is convoluted, a solution looking for a problem.

Note, I said this before but in the interest of full dicslosure: I mine(d) coins since 2012, i speculate in crypto coins, I am not saying people should not be playing with it or making money with it. If you are living in 2003,4,5,6 you might as well speculate in the housing market. I am just saying that probably not every home is going to be worth 1 billion dollars so don't put your savings at risk because there is a bunch of uncertanty.

Nodes and miners are not the same thing. You can run a node without mining.

The problem it solves does exist in the real world. What application outside of currency is block chain useful for? I don’t know, I don’t spend much time thinking about that, but blockchain tech is very useful for the application of a competing currency.

What are you all finding the average mining cut is when donating bitcoin to IE or another group etc?

I don't know, but Bitcoin has retardedly high fees

@Tanner - SC blockchain decentralizes things. so anything you can think of on the internet can be done in this way. first two things past bitcoin that have had moderate success is a blockchain based social media and, in the word right now, a blockchain ISP.

you dont especially need to use blockchain to decentralize either. torrent already does a that, bitchute implements that.

but decentralizing is the future of the internet

OpenBazaar also works this way

oosh, yeah BitConnect is one of the bigger coins accused of being pump and dump , produced some funny videos from a BitConnect conference in Thailand of this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMYIc4gnM-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbR1SXIje1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Fe_oUKP3U

Not a pump and dump, but an actual pyramid scheme

Good point

Interesting perspective from a while back https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/

That't can't be true, that guy that lost 500K. No one who has 500K (unless it is lottery winnings i guess) would be dumb enough to do that. 500K into crypto coins haha.

I really hope nobody here is risking anything they are not comfortable losing. Please don't do that. If you have serious money to invest, invest in your health, or property in eastern europe or New Zealand. That being said, once BTC hits 50K it is time to go short MBS-style.

@here just a generic and friendly reminder to not risk money you can't lose. Also that no one here has a crystal ball and unforseen risks can arise.

XRP TO THE MOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN EVERYONE BUY IN NOW!

What Chris said.

Don't buy Tether
https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/7rl2jo/tether_supply_surpasses_2_billion_550_million/

How do we sort out the Tether situation?

I could see it going wrong if everyone sells at the same time

hahaha is this for real? There is a fiat currency built on top of non-existent 'digital' currency build on top of electricty wasting tech that makes gaming graphics card had to get. I can't even tell who is jewing who anymore.

https://www.altcoinss.com/news/news-gdax-will-launch-bch-eur-trading-on-january-24?uid=6621

BTC trickling up since news of successful Lightening Network uses have been coming out. Checkout /r/Bitcoin for more examples like this https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/7rkunw/lightning_the_future_just_arrived_at_my_doorstep

/r/Bitcoin is heavily censored, I don't trust anything from that sub

That's true, it's a pro-Bitcoin subreddit. That being said, I'm interested in any news that makes any crypto more valuable. Even though there are many alternative cryptocurrencies that introduce improvements over certain features of BitCoin's technology, I am still interested in any improvement to BitCoin's technology because I think investors' biggest concerns are about solutions to scaling problems in blockchain technology and BitCoin's transaction volume puts it at the frontier of needing innovative scaling solutions. If Bitcoin can't scale then we will need to fundamentally rethink if and how to use cryptocurrencies because if Bitcoin can't scale then eventually any other cryptocurrency will have to confront and try to solve scaling problems, with lots of market uncertainty.

Heavy censorship and "pro-Bitcoin" are not the same thing.

Criticism is literally not allowed, shoah'd immediately in /r/Bitcoin

You will not find a comment there that critiques the lightning network.

There is no debate or discussion.

That's unfortunate

@Tanner - SC Is there a website where I can compare fees and transaction times?