Tag: Bitcoin

Bitcoin Price Explosion: Luis Fernando Mises – Episode 167

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The Story: The prices of digital currencies are going crazy

In late 2013, the price of Bitcoin started exploding, going from around $120, to close to $1200, within 3 months. People in the digital currency realm were stunned and amazed, and many people (including myself) started buying up currencies, chasing the Bitcoin bullet train. “This time it’s different,” we thought. “Who knows if the price will ever come down?” we thought. A few months later, the price came rolling down, eventually settling around $450. A lot of people surely lost a lot of money in those months, buying high and selling low. That was when I learned a simple lesson: the best time to buy an asset is when nobody gives a shit about it.

Now it’s June 2017, and in the past three months we’ve seen Bitcoin shoot up from around $1000 to more than $2500 – even to $3000 in some markets. I see people on social media boasting about their winnings, parading the fact that they have assets worth hacking. I tell them to be careful, that trading at all time highs can be a recipe for disaster. They tell me “The dollar is crashing against crypto!” and “This time it’s different!” I know some will probably lose a lot when the bull market ends, still believing that they’re digital currency genii and know how to pick winners. Others will prudently and consistently take profits, and wait for another opportunity to buy big.

In this episode, I welcome back Luis Fernando Mises, business consultant, entrepreneur, spiritual healer and digital currency investor, to discuss the latest rise in Bitcoin and altcoins, and what pitfalls people should look out for. We talk about ease of use in virtual currency, potential problems with Bitcoin, and spiritual perspectives to be gained when you lose a lot of money. We also discuss the problems with gossip in the liberty movement, how many are focused on the “telenovela” of liberty, and how that energy can be directed into something more fulfilling.

Join us on another bank-breaking episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Shamanic aliens – Luis Fernando Mises: Episode 146

Shamans with guns – Luis Fernando Mises: Episode 95

The Links:

Emancipated Human

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

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. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

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.

Infiltrators: Bitcoin Paranoid – Episode 162

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The Story: Have government agents infiltrated Bitcoin?

If you created a system that could potentially displace a lot of existing organisations – large, powerful organisations – rendering them obsolete and removing their sources of funding, you could reasonably expect that some people from those groups wouldn’t be too happy about it. They will most likely decide to take action – perhaps even criminal action – in order to protect their interests. That’s why when Bitcoin was created, it made sense that its inventor (or inventors) decided to remain anonymous.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains unknown, and as far as we know, no longer has anything to do with the project. So they are most likely safe from reprisal. Yet, what about the people who are involved in the project today? If powerful people wanted to slow down or even destroy Bitcoin, how would they do it? The decentralised, anti-fragile nature of the system makes it too strong for an attack using software. But the developers’ identities are public, and the discussion boards are public. Anyone with sufficient resources could begin to corrupt these groups using money, violence, threats of violence, and sowing seeds of confusions in public forums – perhaps even creating entire companies to subtly undermine the integrity of the project.

In this episode, Kurt looks at a couple of historical examples of how “law enforcement” organisations are willing to get their hands dirty for questionable purposes, and speculates how similar strategies could be used to unhinge the Bitcoin community – or other digital currency communities. He discusses how Hoover used the FBI to act out his prejudices against black Americans, how London Metropolitan policemen were involved in sexual relationships as part of their undercover operations, and the types of unusual comments that float around among prominent Bitcoiners, that raise the question of whether Bitcoin has been compromised.

Join me on a journey of infiltration, deception and mystery in the next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Dash digital cash vs Bitcoin: Which will achieve mass adoption first? – Episode 154

Bitcoin vs Dash: Ridiculous comments about Dash – Episode 157

The Links:

Anarchast – Opening Yourself Up to The World, Living Freely and Enjoying the Ride with Kurt Robinson

Just being black was enough – The Nation

Tape shows Nixon feared Hoover – NY Times

Undercover agents fathered children – The Antimedia

Undercover police had children with activists – The Guardian

Luke JR’s $5 comment on Reddit

Lesser known reasons to keep blocks small in the words of Bitcoin Core developers

In-Q-Tel on Wikipedia

In-Q-Tel’s website

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

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. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

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 Dash instamine and why it doesn’t matter

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When a digital currency is mined before it’s released to the public, that may be a symptom of a scam – but it doesn’t prove without a doubt that it’s a scam. It may be an indicator that the creators just intend to boost up the value of the currency a little, sell their holdings, and leave. However, if we find that the creators continue to work on the coin long after any get-rich-quick scheme should have expired, is it still reasonable to say that the coin is a scam?

 

The Dash Digital Cash D.R.E.A.M. – Kurt Robinson Raps

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Every couple of years we look at our bank accounts and realise that our money buys less than it did. We work so hard for our money, and yet it seems difficult to get ahead. Why? It’s not by accident. The monetary system is structured that way. Central banks continue to print money, and bankers get rich, but as the currency supply increases, the value of our dollars decrease.

What’s the solution? Many people thought that Bitcoin could free us from this mess. The promise of decentralised currency – not controlled by any central authority, but instead governed by algorithms, using cryptography – could mean the end to central banks. Yet, it seems like Bitcoin hasn’t yet lived up to that dream. We can’t spend Bitcoin at the corner store, we can’t tip in it, and if we tell our bank manager that we have some bitcoins as collateral for a loan, he’ll probably laugh. And, as transaction fees go higher and higher, it seems less and less likely that Bitcoin will ever live up to our highest expectations. It seems that Bitcoin might not be anything more than Internet nerd money.

Dash is based on Bitcoin, but has certain other features which might just make it live up to those expectations. It allows the stakeholders to form a consensus to make decisions about where the project is going, and it has a focus on user experience. If the team manage to create virtual money which is stable, accepted, and so easy that your grandma could use it – could Dash be the currency of our dreams?

Here’s a rap song which explores those concepts.

To download the track, right click here and press “Save as“.

Lyrics

Dash rules everything around me
D.R.E.A.M. get the money, digital cash y’all

I grew up where half dollars have 12 sides
Queen’s head on the front, roo & emu behind
But instead of gaining value the Aussie lost it
So I wondered what could have possibly caused it
In the minds of politicians corruption’s forming
Abusing the system of inflation we’re born in
To make an honest livin’ you work, it takes time
But central banks just print their money – that ain’t right
Now I’m living in Mexico, collecting the pesos
stash a little silver case the bank goes broke
Once upon a time a peso was “buen dinero”
1990 it got away & they dropped “tres ceros”
Your man Trump – I don’t believe in him
Puppet Peña Nieto – you can see the strings
Politicians criminals thieves & kings
See your money float away like leaves in the wind

Dash rules everything around me
D.R.E.A.M. get the money, digital cash y’all
Dash rules everything around me
D.R.E.A.M. get the money, digital cash y’all

I guess I wondered ’bout a way out the struggle
Starvin children dotcom housin’ bubble
The system’s rigged, the dollar has to topple
That’s when I heard the name Satoshi Nakamoto
Stranger emerged to the world to give it code
& change it forever through digital gold
He’s still vanished, with the code it could manage
To give us an exit from the whims of banksters
And as it rose, nouveau riche control the cheese
A new breed of millionaires promoting peace
But as the years passed we found we had a problem
This nerdy tech wasn’t ready for mass adoption
Some still suspect the government payroll
Agents provocateurs COINTELPRO paid trolls
Thought Bitcoin’d save us from one thing we wanted it
Instead fell victim to the same thing – politics

Dash rules everything around me
D.R.E.A.M. get the money, digital cash y’all
Dash rules everything around me
D.R.E.A.M. get the money, digital cash y’all

You’re never gonna get, outta debt
When every cent you’ve met is borrowed from the Fed
They’ve got you in an awkward position
But the dream’s still alive, I can see it in my vision
They arrested Von Nothaus, stealing his ingots
they got charlie shrem for laundering digits
They snapped up Ross saying he sells dope
They arrested so many, but you can’t arrest hope
The goal is to create a system so resilient
It evolves whenever it’s fisted out of commission
The dream is to cast off these banker’s shackles
That have been for centuries on our hands & ankles
The dream is this, whatever cards you dealt
Whoever you are, can find a path to wealth
They’ll get lines blurred, nothing’s what it seems
No matter what occurs, don’t give up the dream

Dash Rules Everything Around Me – D.R.E.A.M.
Get the money – digital cash y’all
Dash Rules Everything Around Me – D.R.E.A.M.
Get the money – digital cash y’all
Dash Rules Everything Around Me – D.R.E.A.M.
Get the money – forget the dollar bills y’all
Dash Rules Everything Around Me – D.R.E.A.M.
Get the money – forget the dollar bills y’all

Bitcoin vs Dash – Ridiculous comments on Dash

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The Story: Fun, interesting and exciting comments about Dash

If you bring up the cryptocurrency Dash among people who know anything about it, you’ll probably get a diverse range of opinions. Some people hate it and believe it’s nothing but a fraud. Other people love it and believe it’s the currency of the future. And others still believe its rise has more to do with sex appeal than any usefulness.

In this episode, Kurt digs into the cesspool known as “the YouTube comment section” and responds to the most interesting and bizarre among them. He discusses SegWit and how it causes mental blocks among Bitcoiners, user experience, Bitcoin as a blue chip company or international clearing house, the security of Bitcoin compared to Dash, the sex appeal of Dash, the fantastic dream of cryptocurrency, what Dash’s marketing says about it, Dash as a business, centralisation, whether someone could control 50% of masternodes, the instamine or fast mine of Dash, what is a Ponzi scheme and whether Dash is one, and finally whether Dash is just a big scam in general.

Join us on a crypto adventure in the next exciting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

Why Amanda B. Johnson loves Dash – Episode 155

Dash vs Bitcoin – which will reach mass adoption first? – Episode 154

The Links:

Dash Central

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.

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. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

To download the audio, right click and press “save as”.

Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.

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.

Bitcoin vs Dash – Security & Bitcoin as blue chip

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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.