An interesting argument people make for the long-term viability of Bitcoin is this: It’s fine to use Dash for fast transactions and private transactions, buying cups of coffee or whatever… but for big transactions people don’t need fast confirmations, and so they will probably continue to use Bitcoin for certain large, cryptocurrency clearing-house transactions. My question is always, okay, they don’t need fast confirmations, but they don’t really gain anything by having slow confirmations. So why are people going to continue to use Bitcoin?
The forthcoming answer is security. It’s true, Bitcoin has been around longer, has had more tests, and so the network is more secure. However, having a secure network resistant to hacking is actually only one part of security. Another part is, how many people have lost thousands or millions of dollars over the years due to negligence or malicious actors? A lot.
If you have to be a tech nerd to secure your Bitcoins, that means it’s actually not secure, and it’s definitely not ready for mass adoption.
The other thing is, if you’re trying to defend Bitcoin compared to Dash, you’re fighting a retreating battle. Sure it does privacy, speed, user experience and adaptation to a changing market better than Bitcoin, but other than that, what does it do? If Dash has the incentives in place to improve in all these areas, then surely it has the potential to improve in security as well. After all, security is one of the most important parts of user experience. If your coins are constantly getting stolen or the network is going down, that gives the worst possible user experience.
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The Cash:
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The Story:
The Panopticon was a well-crafted piece of architecture which allowed just a couple of guards to watch an entire prison. The prisoners never knew exactly when they were being watched, but they always knew that the potential was there. Juan Galt made the case in his article “Anne Frank Had ‘Something to Hide’ and Something to Fear“, that this is a perfect analogy for the modern surveillance state, the many programs which officially exist to keep us safe from terrorism, but in fact are one of the greatest examples of mass government overreach that the world has ever seen, short of genocide.
It’s common that when you present these facts to regular people, they will say “But why does it matter? I really don’t think I’m that important that they’ll want to see my information.” Yet, when one organisation, or one agent of an organisation, has this much power, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re important or not. When someone is that powerful, they can dig up your personal information, and probably destroy your life, for a personal vendetta or even for a joke. So what can we do about this?
I had another chance to interview Juan Galt and talk about security, privacy, a few things you can do to protect yourself, and how technology will be used by regular people in the near future to evade the clutches of domineering governments.
Join us both on this next exhilarating episode of… The Paradise Paradox!
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
The Cash:
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox here! Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link.
The Story:
In 2008, an unknown, man, women or team going by the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” released some code to a cryptography mailing list, informing the small group of nerds that he had created something interesting, and say they should use it if they liked it, giving birth to the world of “cryptocurrency”. What has happened since has created a strange kind of chaos and order, and formed a foundation for a new world. People have used Bitcoin for charity, such as the organisation Bitcoin Not Bombs and Sean’s Outpost. Others have used it for profit or (what some might consider) more questionable means, such as gambling, selling drugs, firearms. Other, more nefarious agents have used it as an excuse to prosecute, destroying the lives of people such as Charlie Shrem and Ross Ulbricht.
Yet the march of progress continues. The pace of technological development is increasing so rapidly, we don’t necessarily even know how the technology is going to be used when it arrives. Bitcoin has been compared by some to the combustion engine, in terms of how it will change the way it will permeate our lives, changing the nature of every transaction it touches. And yet, thousands of clever people are scrambling to devise the next iteration, the next generation of blockchain technology that fully exploits the potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s gift. One of those new iterations is Ethereum.
The other day The Paradise Paradox had a chance to interview Juan Galt, journalist for Cointelegraph, traveller, and all-round cool guy. What kind of developments will Ethereum allow? Can we make lawyers and escrows obsolete using smart contracts? What threats and benefits do autonomous Internet economic actors present to us?
We ask all these questions and more in this exciting development of … The Paradise Paradox!
