nostr:note1n55vtjd2uejzj89pum6p3cwant3jf37gj4yqlg53e0u03ekk5u5qreyktl
dsdsd


Introducing the cockroach theory of crypto Chopping off their heads does not work: cockroaches can live without one for as long as a week. Whacking them is no guarantee either: their flexible exoskeletons can bend to accommodate as much as 900 times their body weight. Nor is flushing them down the toilet a solution: some breeds can hold their breath for more than half an hour. To most, roaches are an unwelcome pest. Their presence is made all the worse because they are indestructible. An unwelcome pest is how many financiers and regulators would describe the crypto industry. Criminals use cryptocurrencies to launder money. Terrorists use them to make payments. Hackers demand ransoms in bitcoin. Many crypto coins are created simply so their makers can make off with the money. The industry also appears to be indestructible. Crypto prices were crushed by higher interest rates in 2022. The industry’s head has been chopped off: Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founders of the world’s biggest and second-biggest crypto exchanges, now both await sentencing for financial crimes (breaking anti-money-laundering laws and fraud, respectively). Regulators are cracking down. Yet not only has crypto survived, it is once again soaring: bitcoin climbed to a two-year high of almost $45,000 on December 11th, up from just $16,600 at the start of the year. What is going on? For one thing, indestructibility is built into the technology. Bitcoin, ether and other coins are not companies—they cannot go bankrupt and be shut down. They employ blockchains, which maintain a database of transactions. Their lists are verified by a decentralised network of computers that are incentivised to keep maintaining them by the promise of new tokens. Only if the tokens fall to zero does the whole architecture collapse. And there continue to be lots of reasons to believe some crypto tokens are worth more than nothing. The first is that holding crypto is a bet on a future in which use of the technology is widespread. People in despotic countries already use bitcoin and stablecoins (tokens pegged to a hard currency, like the dollar) to store savings and sometimes to make payments. These could be used more widely. Artists and museums are still creating or collecting non-fungible tokens (nfts). As are those looking to flog an image. Donald Trump is selling his mugshot for $99 a piece. He plans to have the suit he was booked in cut into pieces, made into cards and given to punters who buy at least 47 nfts in a single transaction. During the boom times, the crypto industry raised a lot of money and hired plenty of smart developers. Those that remain are working on new uses, like social-media applications or play-to-earn games. Perhaps these will never be widely adopted. But even the small chance that they work out is worth something. The second reason is that, with each boom-and-bust cycle, it becomes clearer crypto is not a bubble like tulip mania in the 1630s or the craze for Beanie Babies in the 1990s. Although bitcoin is a volatile asset, its price history looks more like a mountain range than a single peak, and appears closely correlated with tech stocks. Yet it is only moderately correlated with the broader market. An asset that swings up and down, and not in parallel with other things people might have in a portfolio, can be a useful diversifier. That bitcoin has established itself as a serious asset seems to be the source of the latest surge. In August an American court ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission, America’s main markets regulator, had been “arbitrary and capricious” when rejecting an effort by Grayscale, an investment firm, to convert a $17bn trust invested entirely in bitcoin into an exchange-traded fund (etf). Doing so would make investing in bitcoin easier for the average punter. In October the court upheld its ruling—in effect ordering the sec to give way. The biggest fund managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have also applied to launch etfs. Given the returns bitcoin has offered in the past, and its correlations with other assets, the result could be a rush of cash into bitcoin, as even sensible investors consider putting small slices of their pension pots or portfolios into crypto for diversification. Many feel instinctive revulsion when they spy a roach. But in spite of their flaws, the bugs have uses—they turn decaying matter into nutrients and eat other pests, such as mosquitoes. Crypto has its uses, too, such as portfolio diversification and keeping money safe under despotic regimes. And, as has been shown, it is just about impossible to kill. ■

Why bitcoin is up by almost 150% this year

"g the cockroach theory of crypto

Chopping off their heads does not work: cockroaches can live without one for as long as a week. Whacking them is no guarantee either: their flexible exoskeletons can bend to accommodate as much as 900 times their body weight. Nor is flushing them down the toilet a solution: some breeds can hold their breath for more than half an hour. To most, roaches are an unwelcome pest. Their presence is made all the worse because they are indestructible.

An unwelcome pest is how many financiers and regulators would describe the crypto industry. Criminals use cryptocurrencies to launder money. Terrorists use them to make payments. Hackers demand ransoms in bitcoin. Many crypto coins are created simply so their makers can make off with the money.

The industry also appears to be indestructible. Crypto prices were crushed by higher interest rates in 2022. The industry’s head has been chopped off: Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founders of the world’s biggest and second-biggest crypto exchanges, now both await sentencing for financial crimes (breaking anti-money-laundering laws and fraud, respectively). Regulators are cracking down. Yet not only has crypto survived, it is once again soaring: bitcoin climbed to a two-year high of almost $45,000 on December 11th, up from just $16,600 at the start of the year.

What is going on? For one thing, indestructibility is built into the technology. Bitcoin, ether and other coins are not companies—they cannot go bankrupt and be shut down. They employ blockchains, which maintain a database of transactions. Their lists are verified by a decentralised network of computers that are incentivised to keep maintaining them by the promise of new tokens. Only if the tokens fall to zero does the whole architecture collapse. And there continue to be lots of reasons to believe some crypto tokens are worth more than nothing.

The first is that holding crypto is a bet on a future in which use of the technology is widespread. People in despotic countries already use bitcoin and stablecoins (tokens pegged to a hard currency, like the dollar) to store savings and sometimes to make payments. These could be used more widely. Artists and museums are still creating or collecting non-fungible tokens (nfts). As are those looking to flog an image. Donald Trump is selling his mugshot for $99 a piece. He plans to have the suit he was booked in cut into pieces, made into cards and given to punters who buy at least 47 nfts in a single transaction.

During the boom times, the crypto industry raised a lot of money and hired plenty of smart developers. Those that remain are working on new uses, like social-media applications or play-to-earn games. Perhaps these will never be widely adopted. But even the small chance that they work out is worth something.

The second reason is that, with each boom-and-bust cycle, it becomes clearer crypto is not a bubble like tulip mania in the 1630s or the craze for Beanie Babies in the 1990s. Although bitcoin is a volatile asset, its price history looks more like a mountain range than a single peak, and appears closely correlated with tech stocks. Yet it is only moderately correlated with the broader market. An asset that swings up and down, and not in parallel with other things people might have in a portfolio, can be a useful diversifier.

That bitcoin has established itself as a serious asset seems to be the source of the latest surge. In August an American court ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission, America’s main markets regulator, had been “arbitrary and capricious” when rejecting an effort by Grayscale, an investment firm, to convert a $17bn trust invested entirely in bitcoin into an exchange-traded fund (etf). Doing so would make investing in bitcoin easier for the average punter.

In October the court upheld its ruling—in effect ordering the sec to give way. The biggest fund managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have also applied to launch etfs. Given the returns bitcoin has offered in the past, and its correlations with other assets, the result could be a rush of cash into bitcoin, as even sensible investors consider putting small slices of their pension pots or portfolios into crypto for diversification.

Many feel instinctive revulsion when they spy a roach. But in spite of their flaws, the bugs have uses—they turn decaying matter into nutrients and eat other pests, such as mosquitoes. Crypto has its uses, too, such as portfolio diversification and keeping money safe under despotic regimes. And, as has been shown, it is just about impossible to kill. ■"

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"Introducing the cockroach theory of crypto
Chopping off their heads does not work: cockroaches can live without one for as long as a week. Whacking them is no guarantee either: their flexible exoskeletons can bend to accommodate as much as 900 times their body weight. Nor is flushing them down the toilet a solution: some breeds can hold their breath for more than half an hour. To most, roaches are an unwelcome pest. Their presence is made all the worse because they are indestructible.

An unwelcome pest is how many financiers and regulators would describe the crypto industry. Criminals use cryptocurrencies to launder money. Terrorists use them to make payments. Hackers demand ransoms in bitcoin. Many crypto coins are created simply so their makers can make off with the money.

The industry also appears to be indestructible. Crypto prices were crushed by higher interest rates in 2022. The industry’s head has been chopped off: Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founders of the world’s biggest and second-biggest crypto exchanges, now both await sentencing for financial crimes (breaking anti-money-laundering laws and fraud, respectively). Regulators are cracking down. Yet not only has crypto survived, it is once again soaring: bitcoin climbed to a two-year high of almost $45,000 on December 11th, up from just $16,600 at the start of the year.

What is going on? For one thing, indestructibility is built into the technology. Bitcoin, ether and other coins are not companies—they cannot go bankrupt and be shut down. They employ blockchains, which maintain a database of transactions. Their lists are verified by a decentralised network of computers that are incentivised to keep maintaining them by the promise of new tokens. Only if the tokens fall to zero does the whole architecture collapse. And there continue to be lots of reasons to believe some crypto tokens are worth more than nothing.

The first is that holding crypto is a bet on a future in which use of the technology is widespread. People in despotic countries already use bitcoin and stablecoins (tokens pegged to a hard currency, like the dollar) to store savings and sometimes to make payments. These could be used more widely. Artists and museums are still creating or collecting non-fungible tokens (nfts). As are those looking to flog an image. Donald Trump is selling his mugshot for $99 a piece. He plans to have the suit he was booked in cut into pieces, made into cards and given to punters who buy at least 47 nfts in a single transaction.

During the boom times, the crypto industry raised a lot of money and hired plenty of smart developers. Those that remain are working on new uses, like social-media applications or play-to-earn games. Perhaps these will never be widely adopted. But even the small chance that they work out is worth something.

The second reason is that, with each boom-and-bust cycle, it becomes clearer crypto is not a bubble like tulip mania in the 1630s or the craze for Beanie Babies in the 1990s. Although bitcoin is a volatile asset, its price history looks more like a mountain range than a single peak, and appears closely correlated with tech stocks. Yet it is only moderately correlated with the broader market. An asset that swings up and down, and not in parallel with other things people might have in a portfolio, can be a useful diversifier.

That bitcoin has established itself as a serious asset seems to be the source of the latest surge. In August an American court ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission, America’s main markets regulator, had been “arbitrary and capricious” when rejecting an effort by Grayscale, an investment firm, to convert a $17bn trust invested entirely in bitcoin into an exchange-traded fund (etf). Doing so would make investing in bitcoin easier for the average punter.

In October the court upheld its ruling—in effect ordering the sec to give way. The biggest fund managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have also applied to launch etfs. Given the returns bitcoin has offered in the past, and its correlations with other assets, the result could be a rush of cash into bitcoin, as even sensible investors consider putting small slices of their pension pots or portfolios into crypto for diversification.

Many feel instinctive revulsion when they spy a roach. But in spite of their flaws, the bugs have uses—they turn decaying matter into nutrients and eat other pests, such as mosquitoes. Crypto has its uses, too, such as portfolio diversification and keeping money safe under despotic regimes. And, as has been shown, it is just about impossible to kill. ■"

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nostr:note1en540u3ygvj02ee7u5k6duxp9msqketfg4emd238vppkgzcjls0swplvq5
again


"An unwelcome pest is how many financiers and regulators would describe the crypto industry. Criminals use cryptocurrencies to launder money. Terrorists use them to make payments. Hackers demand ransoms in bitcoin. Many crypto coins are created simply so their makers can make off with the money.

The industry also appears to be indestructible. Crypto prices were crushed by higher interest rates in 2022. The industry’s head has been chopped off: Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried, the founders of the world’s biggest and second-biggest crypto exchanges, now both await sentencing for financial crimes (breaking anti-money-laundering laws and fraud, respectively). Regulators are cracking down. Yet not only has crypto survived, it is once again soaring: bitcoin climbed to a two-year high of almost $45,000 on December 11th, up from just $16,600 at the start of the year.

What is going on? For one thing, indestructibility is built into the technology. Bitcoin, ether and other coins are not companies—they cannot go bankrupt and be shut down. They employ blockchains, which maintain a database of transactions. Their lists are verified by a decentralised network of computers that are incentivised to keep maintaining them by the promise of new tokens. Only if the tokens fall to zero does the whole architecture collapse. And there continue to be lots of reasons to believe some crypto tokens are worth more than nothing."

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"Maybe you think it is irrelevant. Perhaps you are right. Maybe not. Consider that there need not be a universal answer to some questions. Maybe, just maybe, it is the mystery that keeps things interesting.

Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine knowing everything. Every detail about everything that has ever happened and will happen. Scary, isn’t it?

The thought makes me shiver.

Next, try imagining nothing. Nothing at all. No sound, no word, no color, not even being able to come up with a concept of that weird word - nothing. Impossible.
We can only imagine it as we compare it to something that is. As such, nothing is a logical impossibility. It cannot exist.

So there we are. Without shelter or warmth. Only the vastness of the universe to consider.

What is that sound? Is it a venomous snake in the shrubbery? Some unholy monster to strike you dead? Maybe it is your stomach, craving some grub. This is how it was for a lot of living things. And how it still is, for plenty. Albeit less so than it was, or so it seems, at this time of writing, block height #816333, in the year of our Lord (sorry) of Satoshi, no, no… Let me try again… I think block height will do. For old times’ sake, let’s also include the Gregorian calendar. It is the 11th of November, 2023, and things are confusing AF. (AF does not stand for Ass-Fuck, you dirty mind, you!)

Not to say things haven’t always been confusing. I mean, they probably have been. I certainly would be weirded out if a flood suddenly drowned my entire village, without any warning or apparent reason, while some other guy had the foresight to build a bloody ark! Unbelievable! That bastard left me stranded on the shores of seeming Armageddon, while I — just moments before — started to eat that fish I had caught by aiming my spear at the exact spot where the fish wasn’t optically residing. Anyone would lose their appetite!"

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nostr:note1hhg3jn6k33epqn6wlyu6epcsgk2rpsplqa4wmzeu7j00mh860rjs9z3e3m
Is this interesting


"Reading a book is like reading somebody’s mind. You open the page, and you travel in time and imagination to what that person thought. They took the time and effort to jot down these weird symbols on whatever medium they had available at the time. I find it strange. But it is also quite wonderful. Wouldn’t you agree?"

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In 2008, Preliminary Ideas About Bitcoin Started to Spread Around the Internet The online registration of the domain name bitcoin.org took place in relative obscurity in August of 2008. A document named “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was circulated on a cryptography email group around two months later. The document is the first known appearance of the enigmatic individual known as Satoshi Nakamoto on the internet. It also irrevocably connects the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” to the digital currency. The first Bitcoin transaction took place on January 3, 2009, and it included 30,000 lines of code. People interested in acquiring bitcoins participate in a system based on a lottery, and this program that operates Bitcoin is autonomous software. The circulation of a total of 21 million coins is scheduled to occur during the subsequent 20 years. To this day, almost 90% of Bitcoin, equivalent to around 18.7 million, has been mined. Satoshi Nakamoto did not carry out all his efforts in isolation One of the original proponents of Bitcoin was Hal Finney, a console game developer who was also an early participant in the “cypherpunk movement.” Finney learned about Nakamoto’s idea for Bitcoin via the cryptocurrency mailing list. Finney was also one of the initial members of the “cypherpunk movement.” Finney expressed his enthusiasm for the concept of a decentralized digital currency in a post he wrote on his personal blog in 2013. Finney volunteered to mine the first coins after Nakamoto declared that the program had been released. These coins were the 10 initial bitcoins from block 70, which Satoshi had given over to Finney as a test. Finney claims the following about his encounters with Nakamoto: “I had the impression that I was dealing with a young guy of Japanese heritage who had a high level of intelligence and was completely honest. Throughout my life, I’ve had the good fortune to meet many really intelligent individuals, and as a result, I can spot the signals.” Finney has categorically refuted any allegations that he was the creator of Bitcoin and has always said that his participation in the cryptocurrency was never more than a supporting role at any point in time. Finney passed away in 2014 as a result of the neurodegenerative illness known as ALS. In one of his last postings on a Bitcoin forum, he said that the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto was still a mystery to him. This was one of his final remarks. Finney claims that he is proud of his legacy concerning Bitcoin, and that he has given his family an offline wallet with his stockpile of bitcoins as an inheritance for them to use. He added in his letter, “Hoping that they would be worth something to my descendants.” One bitcoin is now worth more over $54,000 as of today. A little over a year later, Bitcoin is inching closer and closer toward becoming a legitimate currency In 2010, a small number of retailers began taking bitcoin as payment in place of more traditional currencies.

"n 2008, Preliminary Ideas About Bitcoin Started to Spread Around the Internet

The online registration of the domain name bitcoin.org took place in relative obscurity in August of 2008. A document named “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” was circulated on a cryptography email group around two months later.

The document is the first known appearance of the enigmatic individual known as Satoshi Nakamoto on the internet. It also irrevocably connects the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” to the digital currency.

The first Bitcoin transaction took place on January 3, 2009, and it included 30,000 lines of code.

People interested in acquiring bitcoins participate in a system based on a lottery, and this program that operates Bitcoin is autonomous software. The circulation of a total of 21 million coins is scheduled to occur during the subsequent 20 years.

To this day, almost 90% of Bitcoin, equivalent to around 18.7 million, has been mined.

Satoshi Nakamoto did not carry out all his efforts in isolation

One of the original proponents of Bitcoin was Hal Finney, a console game developer who was also an early participant in the “cypherpunk movement.” Finney learned about Nakamoto’s idea for Bitcoin via the cryptocurrency mailing list. Finney was also one of the initial members of the “cypherpunk movement.”

Finney expressed his enthusiasm for the concept of a decentralized digital currency in a post he wrote on his personal blog in 2013. Finney volunteered to mine the first coins after Nakamoto declared that the program had been released. These coins were the 10 initial bitcoins from block 70, which Satoshi had given over to Finney as a test.

Finney claims the following about his encounters with Nakamoto: “I had the impression that I was dealing with a young guy of Japanese heritage who had a high level of intelligence and was completely honest. Throughout my life, I’ve had the good fortune to meet many really intelligent individuals, and as a result, I can spot the signals.”

Finney has categorically refuted any allegations that he was the creator of Bitcoin and has always said that his participation in the cryptocurrency was never more than a supporting role at any point in time.

Finney passed away in 2014 as a result of the neurodegenerative illness known as ALS. In one of his last postings on a Bitcoin forum, he said that the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto was still a mystery to him. This was one of his final remarks. Finney claims that he is proud of his legacy concerning Bitcoin, and that he has given his family an offline wallet with his stockpile of bitcoins as an inheritance for them to use.

He added in his letter, “Hoping that they would be worth something to my descendants.”

One bitcoin is now worth more over $54,000 as of today.

A little over a year later, Bitcoin is inching closer and closer toward becoming a legitimate currency

In 2010, a small number of retailers b"

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Zap me my soup


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