L.A. Cryptocurrency and Many, Many Questions.

in #cryptocurrency7 years ago (edited)

Hey guys, I'm just now leaving L.A. and I have had a perhaps life-altering trip that lasted just 3 days. I went to go visit my brother, who is very involved in the cryptocurrency community. What I found while visiting was a brand new option to explore when I decide to get out of the Army in roughly 9 months, I found that I am extremely interested in pursuing a future working with cryptocurrency and expanding my incredibly small knowledge base on the subject. Seeing how my brother worked from home and had this type of incredible freedom from the shackles of "institutional income" (I decided to call it that, because it seems cool and deep and describes money that the government creates fairly well) really thrilled me and I want to be a part of this big movement, this revolution. One thing that I do want to point out is that this entry is simply about me trying to understand things about cryptocurrency on the simplest levels, so if you would like to correct something for me, feel free to comment and tell me. I truly want to learn and would love the input.

It is my understanding that there is something called a blockchain that I have a very rudimentary understanding of. Blockchain seems to be like a way to keep record of transactions using Bitcoin or whichever cryptocurrency. Two things truly amaze me about Blockchain; Firstly, the way that blockchain is able to keep track of transactions but still remain anonymous. The major draw in cryptocurrency seems to be decentralization (as anyone would tell you) and anonymity, which is incredibly important and isn't something that most people have come to know prior to cryptocurrency because the government monitors everything they spend money on. That seems wrong and tyrannical and intrusive. The second thing that amazes me about blockchain is the permanent nature of how the blockchain keeps records. What I understood is that all the blocks of information are tied to one another, or CHAINED to one another (woah, I just got it), so if you were to try to retroactively change one block, you would effectively be setting off a chain reaction that would eventually get you "locked out"(?). Also, how does the issue of a piece of cryptocurrency being used more than once? Is there a system in place that can prevent these same pieces from being used more than once? Double-spending?

Another thing that I want to understand is the stigma that the government is trying to place on cryptocurrency. Is the stigma based on the fact that they can't control and track the currency? Is it based on the misconception that the only reason someone would possess and use cryptocurrency is to provide payment for an illicit service or product? At the same time that the government is projecting these sentiments about cryptocurrency, they are also holding a large amount of cryptocurrency, this was noted after the arrest of Ross Ulbricht and the government's seizure of all the Bitcoin that he possessed. The government seems to hunger to control this form of currency as well and obviously it is not because they are interested in helping cryptocurrency along, but for the far more insidious purposes of either gaining control of it, or because they want to eliminate it from their precious economic stranglehold made up mostly of phony fiat money. ANYWAY, the point is that I want to understand the role that the government plays in crypto development and the role that they will play in the future. I would also love for you guys to comment your thoughts on this.

Finally, I would like to comment that I am growing and learning in this community. I just want to understand the basis of the subject of cryptocurrency and its little intricacies. I want to meet the people who are involved in this community and I want to push forward this incredible and potentially revolutionary movement. As I pick things up, I will be able to contribute more and more!

-Rico

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First, thank you for your service. I'm an Army vet as well who got out not too long ago now.

You have the concept of a block chain being a distributed ledger correct. Each block stores transactions. Using a tool like https://etherscan.io or similar is a picture worth a few thousand words.

As far as privacy, most block chains are pseudo anonymous, some are a bit better on this front than others (Dash, Monero, and ZCash come to mind). I say this because, well all of the information is public and unless a user takes a few precautions, it is possible to associate a public key with an individual and get a fair idea of who they have had transactions with. It takes some research but government is great at "encouraging" companies and organizations to collect this type of data.

As far as double spending or replay attacks, methods may very slightly per crypto. This usually involves timing (block time) as well as the transaction to be confirmed by several nodes before it is finalized.

On to the US government and speculation. Currently our currency is based on I owe you're (debt) and is printed / managed by a private for profit bank (The Federal Reserve). It wouldn't take an intelligent person more than five minutes to design a better system that didn't engineer loss to a percentage of users but it is the FIAT system we have.

Congress has little incentive to change this. They have a few members on the Federal reserve board. They basically can ask the Fed for funds, create bonds and the Fed creates money out of things air deflating the value of our currency. As a matter of fact, the government tries to depreciate the value of the USD annually so the deficit seems more manageable. I will leave this here, fractional reserve banking is a Ponzi scheme and sums up the rest.

The primary thing all governments do is try to stay in power. The best way to control people is occupying their time and leveraging their finances against them (sounds like an article 15 to me).

I do not believe there is an effective manner to regulate cryptocurrency out of existence. The ginnie is out of the bottle and too many have tasted freedom, not to mention the lobbyist funding crusty old Fiat pumping tarts are starting to play with crypto now and they would be upset if their new toys were taken away.

Great post, hope this information helps, I would apply your own BS filter as parts are certainly my opinion. I am not an expert yet but as and old IT professional/programmer, I am catching up quick.

Thanks Smitty, I have just started reading the book, "The Creatures of Jekyll Island" and it has begun to open my eyes to the massive fraud that the Federal Reserve commits on a daily basis and the cartel-like organizational structure of it. I am going to continue to educate myself on this subject and like you said the occupation of one's time and leveraging of their money sounds exactly like an Article 15, their own brand of UCMJ. The powers that be should be able to see the potential that is cryptocurrency, financially at least.

Awesome! @ricorolla thanks for the great post and taking the time to read my lengthy reply.

Rico, if I may I would like to suggest a book to you that will change your way of thinking of how money works - as far as how we were taught about our monetary system. The book is "Creatures from Jekyll Island"

Thanks Eugene, it's actually a very cool coincidence that you mentioned this because as I was leaving LA yesterday, my brother gave me "The Creature from Jekyll Island" to read! It must be a great book, it seems to be very well respected.

I like bitcoin ...!!!
By keeping Bitcoin storing it simply and in theory at least reduces bloat in the main blockchain.
It can also help reduce future arguments and subdivisions due to protocol changes, as it will be a bit incentive to add new features to try to keep up with new projects.
So in short, I think keep Bitcoin
Good post ,,
Thank you...

That makes sense, since Bitcoin is such a prolific cryptocurrency, in order to keep pace with all the new coins coming out they will have to keep evolving, this is a very good point.

I think your understanding is right. I am also learning and hope can gain more knowledge and get involved more.

Thank you, it's very exciting stuff, isn't it? To imagine that everything that we know about the financial system and these institutions is changing before our very eyes.

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It is my understanding that there is something called a blockchain that I have a very rudimentary understanding of. Blockchain seems to be like a way to keep record of transactions using Bitcoin or whichever cryptocurrency.

It's a chain of blocks. The blocks are records of transactions. New transactions get bundled up and assembled into a block. It's "chain-like" because, once a block is generally accepted, it takes extremely expensive computational effort to dislodge it. (Basically, you have to provide a plausible alternative chain that can replace the accepted one, and that's very hard to do).

Firstly, the way that blockchain is able to keep track of transactions but still remain anonymous.

Be careful with this. BitCoin is pseudo-anonymous. As critics have pointed out, the moment you send 0.0001 from your account to someone else, that person can now link you to all the other accounts you sent to. Granted, they don't have your name, or the name of the owners of those other accounts - yet. If they can link one of those payments to an exchange, they can snoop on (or subpoena) the exchange to find out the identity of the person who asked for their deposit to be sent to their address. Then they've got you. If the government really wants this information, they can track IP addresses or even network switches. They have some tricks up their sleeves, too. tl;dr don't assume perfect anonymity.

Also, how does the issue of a piece of cryptocurrency being used more than once? Is there a system in place that can prevent these same pieces from being used more than once? Double-spending?

They call that the double-spend problem. Google your cryptocurrency of choice and double-spend for a mathy explanation of the details.

At the same time that the government is projecting these sentiments about cryptocurrency, they are also holding a large amount of cryptocurrency,

My guess is that the government does have quite a few cloaked fingers deep into cryptocurrencies. It's not because I'm a conspiracy theorist. It's really very simple; a LOT of the top cryptographic talent either worked directly for, or had their research funded by, the government. You could compile a dream team of cryptocurrency developers from the NSA, for example. I don't know what the ultimate truth is, but I certainly wouldn't count them out, or assume they've been outsmarted.

Thanks for answering those questions I had, and for clearing up the pseudo-anonymity thing for me. I was wondering how it could possibly guarantee absolute anonymity and now I see that it doesn't do that, but provides a measure of it instead where if you aren't careful will unravel your identity to those seeking it. Also, that makes sense because it seems like the biggest and best developers seem to have a deep understanding of ways the government operates. Thanks again.

Bitcoin is great, and it seems like it'll just keep growing exponentially.

Great write up. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for reading, I hope to put out alot more stuff!

I would like to learn more about this

I've found that the information that I have been drawing in is from watching
Crypt0's videos on Steemit: https://steemit.com/@crypt0
and his Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/obham001

also, look up the term "cryptocurrency" first and then "blockchain" and try to understand those definitions and the way they are related. Soon you will start to understand the way cryptocurrency works, I'm definitely still working on it, I'm a rookie.

Thank you for the shout-out, sir! :D

Hey @crypt0 ! im a huge fan bro. Ive recently added you to my new series "Why This Crypto" hope you enjoy it man! :P https://steemit.com/crypto-news/@vizualsamuri/why-this-crypto-ep-2-omar-bham-aka-crypt0-ethereum-201777t13421939z www.https://steemit.com/@crypt0

Nice to meet you Brother Bham :)