Virtual Currency, TALK.

[bluezero5]

alright, so people went crazy with BTC (Bitcoins), I am cool with that, in fact I was one of those that mined very early and managed to get good profit too. However, I would like to talk about all the OTHER virtual currencies.

obviously, we will have inhouse experts, Ivan for example will know a lot more, so if he can chip in here it be great too.

my bite here is this:

what do you feel is important, is a Virtual currency?

might it be:

- no central control
- limited amount ?

cause it seems people like BTC for the FACT it is uncontrollable by outside forces, (ie, the rules) would be silly, (IMO) to launch a VRC that has a 'governing committee', also would be silly, launching CPU mining only currencies, cause to me (IMO again), these are just by people who are drop outs of the BTC mining league and now became all sour grapes about it. haha.



There are so many new ones..

NXT, WDC, PTS, FTC, etc, the list goes on..

 

[dyckah]

impossible/tough to fake/counterfeit.
doesnt rely on any one system to survive.
ability to use it to purchase items, over the internet, and hopefully be able to use it in-store at somepoint in the future

 

[TransformedBG]

Gives us nerds and advantage of currency!

 

[EarthDog]

The viability of this 'currency' (I use that term loosely), is really pretty low IMO. The volatility of this market makes things just way too unpredictable to use (for me). It is just a matter of time before the profitability of this goes permanently down the tubes. It is not something I will ever join, I assure you, but that said, I am really a pretty conservative investor... even if it is only in electricity and hardware. If you are not in already, the price, to me is too steep to start now because in a day, week, month, or year, that value will bottom out again and those with hundreds or thousands may be worth 10s of dollars.

 

[ChanceCoats123]

With regards to some of the other various "alternate" currencies, they are all general clones of the Bitcoin protocol, with a few parameters changed (for example, block solving time, hashing algorithm, block reward, etc.). Because none of the coins have shown real advantages over Bitcoin, none of the other coins will overtake BTC.

With regards to Joe, the volatility is just a product of the infancy of Bitcoin. There is really no established trading network, and at this point, I wouldn't hesitate to say that the price is almost 95% speculation.

But with that said, it does not mean that Bitcoin does not have its merits.

-Almost instant confirmation times. The only time you would have to wait for all 6 confirmations when being paid is iff the network was compromised by a 51% attack.

-Grizzly Adam's did have a beard.

-Completely public blockchain. The blockchain is BY FAR the biggest merit of Bitcoin. It solves a well known problem called the "Byzantine General's Problem." Basically, the blockchain allows the "generals" (which are actually the various network nodes) to communicate and transmit data publicly and know with certainty that the information is true.

-Divisability down to 8 decimals. This protocol can actually be changed to include more or less decimals, but it may come off to some people as "watering down" the bitcoin supply.

-Hashing algorithm is definitely a merit. SHA-256 is well known and widely used in applications like SSL and SSH encryption. So if the SHA-256 protocol is ever compromised, then we'd have bigger issues than the blockchain being compromised. And besides, the protocol would just be hardforked, and real users of the BTC network would change to a new hashing algorithm with a reset difficulty.

 

[bluezero5]

In the last 1 month, there were at least another 20+ new digital currencies, and many of which somehow establish an exchange as a proxy Bitcoin mining coin...

however, how many of the 'altcoins' will actually have a future?

this is something I would like to see if anyone has any insights. (besides my own. )