- “Facebook is exploring the creation of its own cryptocurrency … people familiar with Facebook’s plans told Cheddar.” This is a new wrinkle in the story that started with David Marcus’ Facebook post (archive) about the company’s blockchain explorations. The cryptocurrency angle was repeated in The Verge — but Cheddar’s entire substance for the cryptocurrency claim is: “‘They are very serious about it,’ said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing unannounced plans.” I can well believe they spoke to at least one person who thought this would involve an actual crypto coin or token of some sort … But let’s just contemplate Facebook actually trying to facilitate Cambridge Analytica, but on the blockchain.
Etherheads have nothing to offer but vague promises of decentralisation. Blockchains mean unending, unredactable surveillance culture enforced by code rather than by corporations/governments.https://t.co/MEFXfuUlvi
— Tom Morris 🏳️🌈 (@tommorris) May 7, 2018
- In a shocking twist, a copycat Bitcoin wallet, Electrum Pro, has absconded with everyone’s coins.
- South Korean prosecutors have raided the country’s largest exchange, UPbit, on charges of fraud. “Prosecutors allege that the company has been transferring funds from customer accounts to a separate account. The separate account is suspected to belong to an executive at UPbit.”
- Australia’s 2018 Budget includes a line item to “provide $0.7 million in 2018–19 for the Digital Transformation agency to investigate areas where blockchain technology could offer the most value for Government services.” They could buy 25,000 copies of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain — but sadly, they’re much more likely to just give the money to IBM to run search-and-replace over their white paper collection.
- Also in Australia, The IOT Group has an actual partner for its blockchain dreams, Royalti Blockchain Group — if the coal-fired power station deal goes ahead. Royalti is an “authorised integrator” for Bitmain’s AntMiner mining rigs. The chances of a reopened Redbank Power Station passing environmental muster are still approximately zero.
- Spanish crypto investors discover to their shock that they have to pay taxes too.
- You can now embed coin miners in Excel spreadsheets — because Microsoft is adding JavaScript as a supported scripting language. Currently only in developer preview versions.
- Jemima Kelly from FT laments the loss of her “blockchain score,” as Klout shuts down for no better reason than its entire business model being laughably illegal under the GDPR.
Privacy activists: destroy corporate/government surveillance and the database state!
Blockchainers: err, no just distribute them so we can all see what’s inside.
Anti-DRM activists: DRM is horrible.
Blockchainers: we are putting DRM on the blockchain because that’ll work.
— Tom Morris 🏳️🌈 (@tommorris) May 7, 2018
- An update on the crypto “hedge fund” sector, in which Dan McCrum from FT sticks his neck out by predicting hodlers won’t make another 17-fold return in 2018. It’s a bit volatile.
- Paul Sztorc, founder of TruthCoin, isn’t a fan of prediction market ICO Augur — “Not that I mind other people trying, but there is extreme deception in Augur. Their ‘March 2018’ whitepaper is basically just mine plus a bunch of bizarre decisions.” He also wrote up the case against Augur in 2015.
- I am sure this “Bitcoin Hack Cheat 2018 Get Unlimited Bitcoins Android ioS no generator no survey CLICK THE BELOW BUTTON for Bitcoin Hack Tips and Cheats Free Bitcoins for Android Bitcoin Hack Apk Unlimited Bitcoins” site is $100% legit.
- “Not surprisingly, the most enthusiastic bitcoin and blockchain proponents are the ones who understand neither databases nor economics.“
- “The insight that got me interested in Bitcoin was the planet Uranus is about to enter into Taurus,” says Ricky Williams. This is in CNBC’s “Entrepreneurs” section, because apparently literal magic is all CNBC can come up with to hype cryptos now.
- “We’ve never used Bitcoin but it sounds really complicated, so it’s a great way to deter problem drinkers. You’re not going to download a special browser or whatever just to get leathered. Actually you might do, it depends how determined you are I suppose.”
- Nouriel Roubini on initial Coin Scams: “There are now nearly 1,600 cryptocurrencies. It is time to start recognizing their issuers’ utopian rhetoric for what it is: self-serving nonsense meant to separate credulous investors from their hard-earned savings.” EOS is still my favourite — June 2017 and they’d already come up with the Platonic ideal of tokens. “This is literally worthless.” “I’m in!!!”
Please tell me about your favorite product that came out of an ICO.
Oh right, there's not a single product yet.
Yeah, you need more time.
Billions of dollars and years of development are not enough, I understand.
Ring me up when you've created anything more than empty hype.
— Trolly McTrollface (@Tr0llyTr0llFace) May 9, 2018
my explanation is that they're like if the Wright Brothers sold air miles to finance inventing the airplane https://t.co/tKWdretvL6
— Matt Levine (@matt_levine) August 29, 2017
- “As an alternative medium of exchange, bitcoin has gone essentially nowhere. It has thrived only as a speculative asset — and, in that capacity, trading in bitcoin is being pulled slowly into the very edifice it was meant to pull down.” (archive)
- Conservative radio host Ben Shapiro has been pushing Bitcoin IRAs, through the Ben Shapiro Gold Company. I tried sending away for the booklet — I put 202-456-1414 in the “phone number” field and got two emails asking me to fix the phone number so they could call and talk to me before they’d send me the booklet — so they’re pre-screening their suckers scrupulously. I’ve previously written up right-wing mail-order fraud, its own distinct variety of affinity fraud, on RationalWiki. Has anyone managed to secure a copy of this no doubt informative text?
LOGIC and REASONING tell us that the crypto boom will NEVER bust. checkmate, economists pic.twitter.com/4jBirNr9Sx
— lvl 45 chaos potus (@thetomzone) May 11, 2018
- I still have a box of books here, taking up space in my tiny house. If you want a signed copy, then contact me, they’re in stock! £13 each plus postage, £10 each for five or more!
Had to get this book specially ordered! Look where it's from! Pittsburgh to the Bronx! @nypl@carnegielibrary@davidgerard pic.twitter.com/ckRmKDnZKt
— J. Pitts (@jdotpitts) May 11, 2018
- It is true that crypto Twitter is always useful as an excellent and amusing space-filler.
#TBSCONF18 “blockchain-inspired” means, I think, “not a blockchain” pic.twitter.com/4dDE5t2UVh
— Dave “Data isn't the new oil” Birch (@dgwbirch) May 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/jcrainium/status/993803602375397376
https://twitter.com/ummjackson/status/994762005088165888
Data structures are passé. We need a cult, and coin, built around bogosort.
— David Gerard 🐍👑 (@davidgerard) May 9, 2018
<smallprint> the steadfast will of unstoppable code may destroy the universe</smallprint>
— Tired Bitterman (@tiredtechpriest) May 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/AdamSinger/status/995002951360905216
Between Billions and Silicon Valley it’s nice to see shows about two well loved segments of society getting into cryptocurrency
— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) May 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/vocibus/status/994480383512141824
"Guys, no one's using our 8 lane highway."
"We need 32 lanes."
"You’re a genius."#Overheard #TransactionSuperhighway #Bcash pic.twitter.com/RriMsWlz33— Samson Mow (@Excellion) May 8, 2018
The #Lightning Network has many unsolved (unsolvable?) problems However, it has one quality that trumps all those problems: no one can tell how well it is working, how many payments succeed or fail, or even whether the it is being used at all. >>
— Jorge Stolfi (@JorgeStolfi) May 1, 2018
you know what they say..if you fail constantly, if everyone thinks you suck ass, and you do other bad things. "You will get $1,000,000 soon"
— wint (@dril) December 23, 2017
what is bitcoin anyway?
A miserable little pile of nonces.
— Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) May 12, 2018
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