Post A89XEp4UXV0EGRlaVs by freakazoid@retro.social
(DIR) More posts by freakazoid@retro.social
(DIR) Post #A84FGkbDMsZi0Y2hBQ by cjd@mastodon.social
2021-06-08T03:09:44Z
3 likes, 1 repeats
People seem to have this idea that everyone working on proof-of-work coins is some kind of cartoon villain whose life work it is to ruin the environment.Even if you know nothing about blockchain, the whole mental model of a "cult of planet destroyers" just makes no sense.
(DIR) Post #A84FGl9bJ253jC89mS by wolf480pl@mstdn.io
2021-06-08T06:29:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd people think that? o.OI thought people viewed miners more like a paperclip maximizer that will incidentally destroy earth because it doesn't care, it just needs to make more paperclips
(DIR) Post #A84FGmC7R9gmxIJgLQ by cjd@mastodon.social
2021-06-08T03:13:01Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
And if you know about Ethereum, and the fact that they've been TRYING to move to a non-proof-of-work consensus algorithm for like the past 3 years, it makes even less sense.
(DIR) Post #A87gHqklFmbtcW8VY8 by kotovalexarian@liberdon.com
2021-06-09T10:15:31Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2
(DIR) Post #A87h28gku0i4ZCKplI by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-08T04:01:50Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@cjd Honestly I think most people just start from the conclusion that they're evil and work backward from there, because money. If it weren't for PoW people would just find another thing to point to as "proof" that they're evil.
(DIR) Post #A87rgiT2IR4eeouBUm by waxwing@x0f.org
2021-06-09T23:39:19Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@cjd sorry for nitpick, but it's a lot more than 3 years. Vlad Zamfir assured me in mid 2017 that PoS would be live at the start of 2018. (Remember Casper?). I think a substantial effort went into it in eth land from 2015.(Doesn't really change your point).
(DIR) Post #A87rn39oHiD0Yzvsae by clacke@libranet.de
2021-06-10T00:13:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@kotovalexarian @cjd ... while noting that banking on double the energy consumption does orders of magnitude more transactions.
(DIR) Post #A87rn3cWYxB403MoLY by Moon@shitposter.club
2021-06-10T00:25:16.517964Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@clacke @kotovalexarian @cjd It's very difficult to compare the two. why do people have faith in the dollar? It probably costs a lot less carbon to secure faith in the bitcoin network. It doesn't require an army.
(DIR) Post #A89IHNihBoTozWKkts by stevenroose@x0f.org
2021-06-10T16:56:44Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @cjd Yeah I agree with this. Before the environmental argument (I've been associating myself with #Bitcoin since 2012) it was mostly drugs. Sometimes money laundering.I feel that it's mostly people holding a grudge because some people got rich by buying Bitcoin. And they didn't. And they feel that it's not fair.I can't blame them. It's kinda unfair. But it's probably as fair as it could have gone. Way more fair than any shitcoin.
(DIR) Post #A89J4tMWKgslJlZOYi by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:05:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @cjd Bitcoin isn't the source of any unfairness. It's not like its properties were kept secret from anyone. Anyone could look at it and make a decision for themselves. I can't say I feel bad that people who demonize the entire field of economics failed to understand enough about economics to realize that Bitcoin had potential.
(DIR) Post #A89JWwcFpRkdW9J116 by cjd@mastodon.social
2021-06-10T17:10:42Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @freakazoid The suffering that comes from suboptimal allocation of resources is a serious problem, and one I wish the crypto community would take a bit more seriously.But as you say, the grapes one cannot reach are the sour ones.That said, I see the dynamic just as much in the everything-that-is-not-bitcoin-is-a-scam maximalists.
(DIR) Post #A89KfHeVbFmh20ttUO by orionwl@x0f.org
2021-06-10T17:23:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd it's really bad, and when they're done with one kind of ridiculous FUD they move onto the next, it's kind of an all-out psychological attack
(DIR) Post #A89LSkoTy97Vf69fLE by orionwl@x0f.org
2021-06-10T17:32:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd can't say i did never consider quitting just due to seeing the sheer number of people who want to destroy the project i work oni mean far most are simply misinformed by stupid media, but it gets to your head at some point if everyone sees you as a monster, i don't have the energy to argue anymore at alli was hoping to do a good thing, once
(DIR) Post #A89Lqn6l5Z4TjGAIgy by cjd@mastodon.social
2021-06-10T17:36:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@orionwl Now that this pandemic crap is supposedly coming to an end (at least here in Europe), we should think about getting together for a beer.
(DIR) Post #A89MZZlVXl7LNWa2c4 by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:15:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd @stevenroose This is a problem across all of libertarianism. On the one hand libertarians acknowledge that the current system is suboptimal, but on the other hand they fail to see how the disparities created by the current system can be exacerbated by things that appear, in isolation, to be incremental increases in liberty.This is something I've been arguing for a long time without much success.
(DIR) Post #A89MZaKFSauH7GpmlM by theruran@hackers.town
2021-06-10T17:20:47Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @cjd @stevenroose in the past, bitcoin was bad "because criminals!" now it's bad because the feds can seize the crime money anyway!https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/technology/bitcoin-untraceable-pipeline-ransomware.htmlhttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-seizes-23-million-cryptocurrency-paid-ransomware-extortionists-darkside
(DIR) Post #A89MZalBqQSQSpRIky by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:26:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@theruran @cjd @stevenroose I wonder how and when they obtained the private key? Was there an address statically encoded in the ransomware that the FBI managed to get the private key for, did they get it from a computer they seized later, or did they have malware on one or more of the suspects' machines?This doesn't seem like cause for concern beyond the already-known caveats of using cryptocurrency. A hardware wallet with a passphrase would have prevented the problem.
(DIR) Post #A89MZarZShYsmcQOhc by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:17:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd @stevenroose Any American with a bank account can open a Coinbase account, but the thing that makes Bitcoin inaccessible to people without a lot of wealth is its volatility. The same thing makes stocks or any other investment instrument with any kind of yield inaccessible. And as far as I can tell the root cause of that problem is our artificially low interest rates, which we keep from causing inflation by splitting the economy into 2 tiers and paying the banks not to lend.
(DIR) Post #A89MZbC8EG0ZoO2oka by theruran@hackers.town
2021-06-10T17:30:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @cjd @stevenroose right. the article suggests it was "good old-fashioned police work." the FBI won't say exactly how they did it. basically they hired Cryptalysis and Elliptic to analyze it backwards and forwards from Colonial Pipeline's transaction, and traced it to 210 wallets. seems the criminals weren't smart enough to keep their private keys safe.that seems to be a big dent in the common legislator's argument for encryption backdoors.
(DIR) Post #A89MZbe8Y8PTDF9BOy by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:33:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@theruran @cjd @stevenroose No cryptanalysis is required to trace Bitcoin transactions, because each one has to specify the output(s) it's spending and the address(es) to spend to. It's trivial to implement in software, and there are web services that do it for you.
(DIR) Post #A89MZc9Kg9Malzk61g by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T17:37:36Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@theruran @cjd @stevenroose The thing they remain very quiet about is that they cannot do the same thing with Monero. But it's not like everyone involved with crypto doesn't already know that. Monero's a lot less liquid at the moment, but if governments continue to show success using Bitcoin's lack of privacy to seize funds and arrest people, I'm guessing Monero will start getting a lot more traction.
(DIR) Post #A89NES9ujEIZf1UJSi by orionwl@x0f.org
2021-06-10T17:52:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd i surely hope so; at least finally getting my vaccinations later this month, they've been kind of slow hereand agree, we should !
(DIR) Post #A89VuptPfyuZ48UT32 by stevenroose@x0f.org
2021-06-10T19:29:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @theruran @cjd Well a simple coinjoin would also have prevented this. Or simply using a non-custodial Bitcoin wallet.
(DIR) Post #A89VzjD3x1fNmp0wF6 by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T19:30:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @theruran @cjd Do we know they were using a custodial wallet? I somehow missed that if so.
(DIR) Post #A89X9O8PGKtXH00SKO by cjd@mastodon.social
2021-06-10T19:34:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @stevenroose @theruran Wait, custodial what? #AmericasDumbestCriminals
(DIR) Post #A89X9OeJLiPorwvw3c by stevenroose@x0f.org
2021-06-10T19:43:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd @freakazoid @theruran I think that's what I heard. Also they said he was a teenager. He put the money on a custodial wallet or even an exchange. Supposedly the government just subpoena'd the service's server(s) and forced them to send them the money.Don't trust me on this, I might have been lied to 😅 But it seems plausible to me, how else could they have "hacked" his wallet.
(DIR) Post #A89XEnzqXHh0vkaMdM by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T19:36:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @theruran @cjd I think it probably won't be long before the government establishes a list of "tainted" outputs that aren't allowed to be in the ancestry of certain kinds of transactions. It'll be difficult, but look at how the recent auctions are being handled: they only accept payments from certain wallets so that they get identity information. How long until that's the norm, and Bitcoin ceases to be non-repudiable in any meaningful way?
(DIR) Post #A89XEoXAXOLcb6AyZc by stevenroose@x0f.org
2021-06-10T19:44:22Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @theruran @cjd CoinJoin, CoinSwap, Lightning, plenty of ways to make coins more fungible.
(DIR) Post #A89XEp4UXV0EGRlaVs by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T19:39:50Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @theruran @cjd Banks put holds on checks. The government-blessed wallet providers will just do the same thing with any funds deposited from non-blessed wallets. If you happen to have accepted money from someone who used a tumbler, that's just your bad luck. Best case the wallet provider returns your funds, minus a small fee for their trouble, and now you can only dispose of them at a deep discount.
(DIR) Post #A89XEqI00lOy2d5tCq by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T19:41:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @theruran @cjd And people will accept it because the government will put a limit on how old of outputs they can add to the list.
(DIR) Post #A89YSlmvdvxY5clYPY by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T19:58:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @cjd @theruran Plenty of ways, but I was thinking they might have infiltrated or seized his computer. The way they phrased it made it seem like they already had the key or were otherwise able to obtain it, whereas if it were a custodial wallet I'm guessing they would have just asked them to transfer the funds.
(DIR) Post #A89awyhWOjc4jYljsm by KMemzy@maly.io
2021-06-08T03:23:11Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@cjd I mean, people have done WAY dumber stuff before. Some crazy art-school dropout somehow convinced a whole nation of people that liking to wear little hats and circumcise children was a crime punishable by death. But honestly, the only cryptocurrency I care about right now is Monero.
(DIR) Post #A89eiSLOIrIS8vkTA0 by MrManor@fosstodon.org
2021-06-10T04:32:59Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@kotovalexarianWhile I know the banking system handles way more transactions, I find this quite interesting. Anyone know other sources to veryfy this gold vs. digital coin comparison?@cjd
(DIR) Post #A89f4YPKRKTbJs7xVA by Hyolobrika@counter.fedi.live
2021-06-10T21:12:11.112595Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@kotovalexarian @cjd In the first bar, there are only 3 sections but 4 labels next to them.
(DIR) Post #A89fc2GET0itSpq0Xo by theruran@hackers.town
2021-06-10T20:20:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@freakazoid @stevenroose @cjd I think it is a tactic of theirs to confuse the issue and leave it uncertain so that the general public will believe cryptocurrency wallets and encryption schemes can be broken whenever the feds feel like it, in order to weaken the idea in the collective consciousness of the security and usefulness of cryptosystems for general use.yes, you are right about tainted coins and it is a known issue among Bitcoin developers. the surveillance technology and integration into the commercial space are advanced enough for us to assume this is true. CoinJoins and CoinSwaps would help, but last I checked, most wallet software do not support them. Schnorr signatures would improve privacy and fungibility but they require a hard-fork.
(DIR) Post #A89fc2sABz43MTaIfQ by stevenroose@x0f.org
2021-06-10T21:18:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@theruran @freakazoid @cjd Nah, Schnorr signatures are part of taproot and will probably be supported starting mid November this year.
(DIR) Post #A89fsViCjgl5RFmGOW by freakazoid@retro.social
2021-06-10T21:21:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stevenroose @theruran @cjd As the ransomware folks themselves have pointed out, even if it gets harder to pay (and get paid) ransoms, there are plenty of other ways to monetize access to computer systems. Many of which are much harder to trace than a ransomware payment.