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The trust machine
The Economist ^ | 10/31/2015 edition | Jon Berkeley

Posted on 10/29/2015 9:16:43 PM PDT by Another Post-American

BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency, powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the “dark net”.

This is unfair. The value of a bitcoin has been pretty stable, at around $250, for most of this year. Among regulators and financial institutions, scepticism has given way to enthusiasm (the European Union recently recognised it as a currency). But most unfair of all is that bitcoin’s shady image causes people to overlook the extraordinary potential of the “blockchain”, the technology that underpins it. This innovation carries a significance stretching far beyond cryptocurrency. The blockchain lets people who have no particular confidence in each other collaborate without having to go through a neutral central authority. Simply put, it is a machine for creating trust.

(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: bitcoin; blockchain; cryptography; trust
Good general article on the subject of bitcoin. (And not to fixate on it or anything, but something lit 2nd-stage boosters on the price of bitcoin today. As of this posting the entire cryptocurrency market is on fire.
1 posted on 10/29/2015 9:16:43 PM PDT by Another Post-American
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To: gaijin; I Hired Craig Livingstone; Lurkina.n.Learnin; Major Matt Mason

Ping!


2 posted on 10/29/2015 9:18:46 PM PDT by Another Post-American (Jesus died for your sins.)
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To: Another Post-American; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; ...

3 posted on 10/30/2015 4:21:42 AM PDT by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Another Post-American

Is there a bitcoin ping list, because I want on.

I am a believer. It is high risk, but I own a couple. It will either sink or ‘go to the moon’.

The potential of the Blockchain for record keeping, legal documentation, and much more has not even begun to be exploited yet either.

And as a tool for the storage of wealth, impossible to inflate with only 23 million to be ‘mined’, but divisible to eight decimal points, and totally decentralized, I have a hard time thinking how this could not make a big move in our future. The Winklevoss twins have invested heavily in it’s applications.

I sound like a bitcoin advertisement, but I am not anything buy a hopeful investor (small scale)


4 posted on 10/30/2015 5:34:50 AM PDT by Wildbill22 (They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton Williams Abrams)
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To: Wildbill22

Yep, I have started a ping-list. You’re added!

So far I’ve done about 1 article a day, more or less, and intend to keep to about that level. I’ll skew towards less technical stuff, or at least articles that can explain the technical side to folks without much background in crypto.


5 posted on 10/30/2015 5:55:46 AM PDT by Another Post-American (Jesus died for your sins.)
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To: Another Post-American

Good ping, thx!


6 posted on 10/30/2015 1:16:12 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: noone
Testing image posting.
7 posted on 10/30/2015 1:24:38 PM PDT by Another Post-American (Jesus died for your sins.)
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To: Another Post-American
Hmmph. Why is this not working?
8 posted on 10/30/2015 1:27:02 PM PDT by Another Post-American (Jesus died for your sins.)
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To: Another Post-American
Hmmph. Why is this not working?

Good question. Your html looks fine:

<img src="http://imgur.com/FUkLeWS" />
Maybe the source doesn't allow cross-site posting of images?
9 posted on 10/31/2015 3:15:30 PM PDT by scripter
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