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Showing 11 of 11 results by ThreeJay
Well...that's an interesting suggestion you make, Herodes.
But, I don't think it will work:
The identity of agents would have to be more or less public to make transactions of fiat money to them. That would make them vulnerable to crime. And we are talking non-virtual crime here: Kidnapping, blackmail, robbery, murder. Sort of ugly things...
You have to bear in mind not only the risk such agents would pose them selves but also the risk such agents would be exposed to. I for one, wouldn't want to be an agent.
But, I don't think it will work:
The identity of agents would have to be more or less public to make transactions of fiat money to them. That would make them vulnerable to crime. And we are talking non-virtual crime here: Kidnapping, blackmail, robbery, murder. Sort of ugly things...
You have to bear in mind not only the risk such agents would pose them selves but also the risk such agents would be exposed to. I for one, wouldn't want to be an agent.
I work in the IT of the finance industry for 7 years now...and what you seem to miss is that the problem is not purely a technical one. I am very certain that it is the more easy part of the task to develop a technically strong solution (scalable infrastructure, trading backend disconnected from web frontend, api for developing trading software and whatnot). I believe the hard parts are:
1. Security - You need a whole lot of infrastructure for that. Not only to secure your IT systems but also the processes around it. I mean, cold storage for bitcoins is the one thing, securing that cold storage is the other thing (good old fashioned bank robbery, anyone?). You also need to secure the company from it's employees. There is no such thing as 100% trust as long as there are millions of fiat currency involved.
2. Regulation - Everyone wants to escape regulation. But you should not. It is there for a reason. Regulation is one of the main reasons why you can actually trust a company to offer their service in a certain standard. Regulation forces you to keep your IT systems safe and to have disaster recovery plans and and and...But keep in mind that trust is never 100%.
3. Decentralization - I believe you can't. It's a wet dream, I get the notion of it. But a decentralized exchange would mean decentralized trades. And how do you fashion that? How are you going to send your dollars to someone else? By mail?
An exchange will always be a centralized, bank-like institution. And if you want to do that you should do it the 'old-fashioned' way. You should do it in a jurisidication which forces you to provide the service to a certain standard and thus will allow your customers to put some trust (not 100%!) into your company.
In terms of profit: We are talking about something which will need a lot of full-time employees. And which will need a lot of funding. How are you going to get that funding if you don't offer profit in return? shareholder-owned != community-owned.
The closest you can get to a decentralized exchange is developing a technical exchange solution and giving it away as free software. Then you can hope for many people around the world to open their own exchange. And still then, their earnings must cover their cost in the long run. Costs will be determined by regulation and thus by location. And you will probably end up with the cheaper exchanges in far-far-away-land being the most frequented and thus the market will not be much more secured than it is now.
That's just my 2 cents.
3J
1. Security - You need a whole lot of infrastructure for that. Not only to secure your IT systems but also the processes around it. I mean, cold storage for bitcoins is the one thing, securing that cold storage is the other thing (good old fashioned bank robbery, anyone?). You also need to secure the company from it's employees. There is no such thing as 100% trust as long as there are millions of fiat currency involved.
2. Regulation - Everyone wants to escape regulation. But you should not. It is there for a reason. Regulation is one of the main reasons why you can actually trust a company to offer their service in a certain standard. Regulation forces you to keep your IT systems safe and to have disaster recovery plans and and and...But keep in mind that trust is never 100%.
3. Decentralization - I believe you can't. It's a wet dream, I get the notion of it. But a decentralized exchange would mean decentralized trades. And how do you fashion that? How are you going to send your dollars to someone else? By mail?
An exchange will always be a centralized, bank-like institution. And if you want to do that you should do it the 'old-fashioned' way. You should do it in a jurisidication which forces you to provide the service to a certain standard and thus will allow your customers to put some trust (not 100%!) into your company.
In terms of profit: We are talking about something which will need a lot of full-time employees. And which will need a lot of funding. How are you going to get that funding if you don't offer profit in return? shareholder-owned != community-owned.
The closest you can get to a decentralized exchange is developing a technical exchange solution and giving it away as free software. Then you can hope for many people around the world to open their own exchange. And still then, their earnings must cover their cost in the long run. Costs will be determined by regulation and thus by location. And you will probably end up with the cheaper exchanges in far-far-away-land being the most frequented and thus the market will not be much more secured than it is now.
That's just my 2 cents.
3J
do you want a cookie?
Nah, heard they are only available to the dark side...
I would say it is one of the smarter positions on what is happening to bitcoin prices... Then again, a "crash" is very much needed for bitcoins to work because people do not spend much money as long as the value of the money is rising. If people don't spend money, others can't earn money. If you can't earn money then you will stop providing whatever service you were providing...and suddenly there is no more way to spend your bitcoins...
Dear Bitcoin community,
I would like to raise your attention to the following issue:
http://rt.com/business/german-households-poorer-than-cyprus-632/
Abstract:
As a lot of my income is currently diverted to the public budgets in Cyprus and Greece (in the form of taxes) I would like to humbly ask for your assistance in the form of bitcoin donations. You can find the address in my signature.
Thanks a lot.
3J
P.S. I mean no disrespect to people who are actually poor by an agreeable standard, of course this post is supposed to lack some seriousness. Still, the result of the ECB studys is an interesting topic. Opinions?
I would like to raise your attention to the following issue:
http://rt.com/business/german-households-poorer-than-cyprus-632/
Abstract:
Quote
The poorest households in Eurozone are in Germany, whereas households in Luxembourg and debt burdened Cyprus top the list as the wealthiest, according to the ECB study. [...]the report shows that the median net wealth of German households comes out to around 50,000 while in Greece the figure is above 100,000, In France it is around 110,000, and in Spain around 180,700. Cyprus is second wealthiest with 265,000 while Luxembourg tops the list with almost 400,000.
As a lot of my income is currently diverted to the public budgets in Cyprus and Greece (in the form of taxes) I would like to humbly ask for your assistance in the form of bitcoin donations. You can find the address in my signature.
Thanks a lot.
3J
P.S. I mean no disrespect to people who are actually poor by an agreeable standard, of course this post is supposed to lack some seriousness. Still, the result of the ECB studys is an interesting topic. Opinions?
Maybe interesting fields of research:
(1) The ability to mine for gold is determined by the natural resources available to a private or public entity. The ability to mine for bitcoins is determined by the amount of capital (investment needed into computing power) available to a private or public entity.
(2) The gold standard effectively eliminates exchange rates between countries (so-called pricespecie flow mechanism). Bitcoins are international, hence they will do the same.
(1) The ability to mine for gold is determined by the natural resources available to a private or public entity. The ability to mine for bitcoins is determined by the amount of capital (investment needed into computing power) available to a private or public entity.
(2) The gold standard effectively eliminates exchange rates between countries (so-called pricespecie flow mechanism). Bitcoins are international, hence they will do the same.
I am speaking as a customer. When I want to send 1 cent by paypal, I pay 26 cents (1 for the transaction + 25 as fees).
When I want to pay something in a shop or a restaurant I pay the price + 0 fee. I don't care if the shop does not receive 100 % of it. If I had paid with cash that would have been the same price.
Paying 1 million time the amount you want to send as a customer is just far away from acceptable.
But as a customer you do pay the cost of the transaction after all...
After reading that article...I figure that the author has missed the point about Bitcoin. Economically speaking it reduces the transaction costs of money transactions so massively that there is indeed a place for it...
Personally, I can't predict the future of Bitcoins but as I possess the technology necessary to participate I reckon it is an experiment to participate in
Personally, I can't predict the future of Bitcoins but as I possess the technology necessary to participate I reckon it is an experiment to participate in