Governments, especially the big ones, will rather develop their own systems they can control than use something decentralized. And it is happening already, there are countries developing they own blockchain based financial systems. And businesses and institutions can only accept them as payment method if the laws allow them to do it, and if there are enough demand for it.

For common citizens, cryptocurrency is viewed as a high risk and unstable asset. Who is going to take their monthly salary and buy Bitcoin for example? No way. What if its value drop 50% next day? It can happen, and it is an unnecessary risk. At this moment they are not stable enough to be used as a currency, but only as a form of long term investment.

Anyone can write a post on Binance Square.

As far as I know, Gold has unique properties; you cannot simply replace gold by another metal when you really need gold. The value of gold goes beyond its beauty; it is useful, it serves many purposes. On the other hand, Bitcoin does not work like this. And I believe it will soon be considered fools gold if it continues in the path it is taking. There are cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin (a.k.a. gold) but is capable of doing everything it can and better (a cheaper/better gold?!). One cannot replace gold, but one could easily replace Bitcoin by something equal or better. That is the danger.

Silver cannot replace gold nor gold can replace silver, because each one has their unique properties. If silver could change its color and copy all the qualities of gold and yet retains its unique properties, which one will you buy?! Why buy gold and silver when I can simply have both in a single metal?!

I have been a crypto enthusiast for many years. And to me it seems Bitcoin deviated from its intended purpose.

Many things have change these years, and even the average Joe is now buying crypto.

But many people are not buying Bitcoin because of its usefulness, they are buying to speculate (hoping its price will increase).

And yes, there are better alternatives to Bitcoin, simply because Bitcoin refused to improve. It is in the proud of being the first, but that alone won't make it successful in the long run. It is just not as useful, efficient and cost effective as other options available in the market.

To me, Bitcoin's price is overvalued. And when people see that, Bitcoin will get the price it actually deserves. And when it happens, it may be too late to reclaim the throne.

I received this email today:



I clicked on the button and I was redirected to a website with a strange domain name:

http://i4tprol8ckgjwhlysqxabacf.alimentaegypt.com/

And see what they asked me to do:



It is very certain it was made to steal Exodus wallets.


And this official page from the real Exodus app alerts:

https://support.exodus.com/article/638-i-received-an-email-from-exodus-asking-me-to-provide-my-12-word-phrase-password#action

Well, it all started yesterday when I received a message in Telegram from this supposed exchange.

They told me I received a prize in Bitcoin of approximately 0.38 (about 14 000 USD).

The message I received from them told me that it was very easy to withdraw funds:

   Нow уou can сollect уour winnings?

   1.Register аn aсcount оn thе ехchаngеr: http://bit.ly/xlmcahype
   2.Gо tо settings
   3.Yоu can аctivatе thе рromo cоde on thе «Sеttings» -> «Referral prоgrаm»
   4.Withdraw BTС tо your addrеss
   5.Dоne

But it was not as easy as expected. I can only withdraw funds to external addresses if I make a deposit of 200 USD from that address.

It sounded suspicious to me. So, I am not going to make a deposit to try and get that 0.38 BTC because I probably will not get it (but surely they will get my 200 USD).

   ...let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’

      For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. - Matthew 5:37

You have been warned!

Sorry, there is no practical way to recover your funds if you do not know the private key.

And the address 1EvVR9JcUGvP2S9bHKvs7EzkoeXR12NTyS has already transferred all funds to another address.

It seems you have been hacked somehow. Someone stole your private keys.

No. I do not have a private key to that address.

It is just a randomly generated username.

Considering your password is truly random: No.

Salts are will be used like an extension of the password you provided.

By considering what most people are saying here, and the developers irresponsibility and inertia, I believe Bitcoin is a lost cause for now. They are not going to change their mind and just treat Bitcoin as their digital gold, rich maker, etc...

When Bitcoin infrastructure collapses due to lack of real world usage you will all be disappointed. If the majority of people really want this for Bitcoin then I can do nothing.

I'm looking for something with a future, with a goal, not just some sort of digital gold. Gold is valuable by itself, but Bitcoin is just a network, which without a sound goal it worth nothing.

You've just described Dash, which aims to be (real) digital cash.


Anyway, what the OP said makes sense. Bitcoin is going to the wrong direction, yet they do nothing.

What you feel when reading this page: https://bitcoin.org/en/innovation ? It feels like false advertising.

As a poor citizen of a rich country I can say the OP is right, Bitcoin forgot us completely. It is no longer usable for us, we feel scammed.

It is like being welcomed with open arms, and when they got what they wanted just close the door in our face. That is how I feel.

Now, I'm considering alternatives. Dash seems like something serious, don't know if they will do the same as Bitcoin, but it is worth a try in my opinion.


The poor population is big, I believe Bitcoin is making a big mistake by forgetting us. I'd say wake up, before it is too late.


EDIT:
And please, update this page: https://bitcoin.org/en/innovation

It seems like Dash is showing some serious competition.

I am starting to see some sites offering Dash as form of payment. If this trend continues, Dash may become popular.

It is interesting, I may buy some Dash. Who knows.

I can tell this is true, at least I never got any Bitcoin or anything stolen from here and I am not even that paranoid when it comes to security.

While on Windows, if you click on a mere link on a webpage you can open doors to hackers anywhere; that is the impression I got when reading from Windows users. This is hard to understand.

Respect their decision.

The problem is that there's a hidden character we cannot see, probably due to char encoding. But it gets copied and pasted anyway.

It is only seen when we analyze in binary:

Works fine without it: https://blockchain.info/address/1DJJoJ4sxwJdwExTsoDg8qXL1FEozDGQEF

That is very common, usually in the download section for most things you will find:

Download link for Windows: A compiled, ready to run package with binaries, sometimes even an installer. Just unpack and run.

Download link for Linux: Source code package for compilation that requires specific knowledge


It is frustrating sometimes, especially when you don't know how to compile or dependencies are missing and there is no information available.


If you can afford the problems, take your time to learn how to compile things in Linux, then go Linux.

If you can afford the extra cost of Windows, and you are satisfied with it then go Windows.


I'm Linux user myself, and I can tell you it is pretty frustrating when you want to run a program and it does not compile and they have it as an installer for the Windows and/or Mac.

Note to developers: Please explain what are the dependencies of your program detailed, accurately. What is used to compile and all. PLEASE!

OK, we know the risks of getting stolen are higher. But I still believe the benefits outweighs the risks, just be careful. But are there any technical risks?

BIP32 seems too complicated, I am looking for something I can calculate in mind without effort. Then can easily obtained by hand, without additional code I may not have access to, and still secure (i.e. not technically exploitable).


What if we change the way its range is obtained to a less obvious one, like this. The good thing is that we can set our own simple customized rules:

Random key:

Random mask:

In this case, valid range would be:

Not sure if one would even bother try the same thing you did with the other to figure out near keys, that is in case any of my keys are stolen.

Or we can try more tricky things, yet without loosing simplicity and portability (i.e. can be write down in a piece of paper, easily remembered, easy to execute).


Thank you for reading!

People said Bitcoin private keys should be random, and generated from a random source. OK, I agree.

But I see there is a problem with that kind of usage as losing keys are very easy and remembering all of them is not practical.

Deterministic wallets solve the problem, but you still have to rely on complicated parsing of data and software to interpret them.


Then why not simply one pick a random private key:

And mask it with a random pattern, for example I know I will not use more than 4 294 967 296 addresses in my lifetime then we can do:

Then I know all my private keys are within the range:


And this can be applied to most (if not all) coins. A single point of failure, we can even write it down on a piece of paper easily; no need to track thousands of random private keys that can get lost or a big and complicated to parse file you can't write down.


I am not saying everyone should adopt this method or anything, this choice is personal.


My question is: There are any known problems or risks of using such a method? Is there a weakness somehow for using addresses like that? It is OK "x and x+1" private keys, or should this be avoided?


Thank you!


EDIT:
Probably a less riskier, more realistic, yet simple alternative (about 1 million addresses, which is more than enough for most people):

Random key:

Random mask:

Addresses range:

It may be a bit inconvenient to generate many addresses, but just a quick script will do that. The important is that you just need one key and one mask, the rest is just simple.