I used to process Western Union transactions. At least back then, you had to give a security question or phrase for the receiver to answer to prove their identity (probably especially if you're sending to a country where people might not have IDs). If you're ever trying to steal someone's Western Union money, the security question amd answer were the same like 90% of the time--so, for example, if the phrase was "juice box" the one the receiver needed to give was also "juice box."

Oh, good to know. Uh..

I gotto go..

do that..




thing.






Bye.

I learned about this Western Union security procedure in the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden.

The corner store by my house has a bitcoin machine now, and I watched 2 dudes roll up in an SUV and cram $600+ dollars into it one night.

Was almost temped to ask them to sell me drugs right after that, but I try to remain composed at this point in my life.

August 1st is a big date. Mark your calendars.

pretty great interview on the currency, though 2014 might as well be 1814. Doesn't really scratch the surface on what the technology might be capable of.



The only problem I see is the transaction speed, which is much slower than credit cards, but that will probably get solved.

to the moooooooooooooooooon

How'd this turn out?

It was very strange. It's difficult to explain. Everyone thought the problem was solved a week in advance, with 90% agreement on proposed changes, but then some miners went rogue and decided to fork the currency anyway, on the same date (Aug 1). By fork I mean to create a new currency out of the blue with the same value as bitcoin that everyone gets for free (!).

Then people thought it would hurt bitcoin, and the fork (some bullshit called "bitcoin cash") would go to zero. But someone propped up BCC for long enough for most people to dump it. Meanwhile bitcoin surged.

It almost seems like billions of dollars were created out of thin air, but more likely some rich idiots lost a shit ton of money trying to take over, and everyone else had a good day.

I love lamp

I have no idea how the fuck all this shit works. It all sounds like stuff from a bad 80s science fiction movie.

I watched the Vice video posted above and a few others about bitcoin last night before bed. Peer to peer ledgers make sense, but that's about as far as I can get. All this talk of wallets, cryptosigs, and worldwide queues has me like... I did learn that there's a finite number of bitcoins in the world, so there's that.

This video with Aaron Paul and a Kentucky Wildcats fan is the one that ultimately did me in.

I don't trust anyone in a flat brimmed cap.

- I have no idea how a coin becomes two coins without losing value, and in fact gains value, but here we are. I guess some big investors were waiting for this fork controversy to blow over before getting in.

- wallets are a bit weird, but they are basically vaults or accounts to store your coins. But if your physical wallet is lost or stolen, or if the online wallet is hacked, you could be totally fucked; there is no FDIC to bail you out.

- I feel like bitcoin as a store of value isn't really going anywhere anytime soon, and maybe none can work as a regular currency, but the potential of some of these altcoins could be huge, especially the industry specific ones. Like Ripple could allow for banks to wire money internationally far cheaper and more securely. It's ironic that some big banks are getting into the game given the libertarian origins of the concept. Some of the hardcore types aren't happy about that. They just want their stupid virtual gold.

- most of those coins are pump and dump scams though.

- smart contracts are fascinating.

You're referring to digital currencies within apps or businesses on a small scale and Ripple (not really sure what that is but I can guess) on a larger scale, right? This is the part that I can most easily wrap my head around. I'm intrigued by the idea of many specific digital currencies that each have a USD value. It's fun to start imagining the possibility of exchange rates between digital currencies. Could I swap Neko Atsume Fish for credits on my Venmo account or Snap Kitchen card, for instance? That would be interesting.

Hit $5700 last week. The forks don't seem to be worrying investors, but I have a feeling it will dip after the next one.

bitcoin is beginning to remind me of when i was staring amazon stock in the face at ~$25 and was like 'nah... these guys won't ever get their shit together...'