Web 3.0 (Ethereum) is happening, and most people have no idea what it even is.

[splok]

I don't know if Ethereum is the answer, but I do think that a ubiquitous and frictionless micropayment system would be MASSIVE. For the simple explanation, just imagine that your rep bank here were directly/instantly convertible into real dollars. Or maybe that each Like/Upvote/retweet or whatever sent a micropayment to the content creator...

Most people won't pay $1 (or the time/trouble of going through a checkout process) for consuming a good piece of content online, but there might be some amount that they would pay if it were easy enough. Maybe 1 cent, or 1/100 of a cent, or whatever. We won't do that now because of the trouble and the transaction fees. Most people online have to monetize their content indirectly (if they even monetize it at all), but sufficiently frictionless micropayments could completely change that, and I think that could be VERY big.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Let's not pretend if anyone else had made your "Options are fastlane, you just have to trade them like I do!" thread, they wouldn't deal with a barrage of posts like "What's Theta? What's Gamma? Butterfly spreads sounds like some stupid marketing BS. What value are you providing? What's your exit strategy? Sounds like gambling. Why not start a real business? I don't understand it so you're a poopy face fraudster!"

BTW, this actually just happened last week when a new user claimed to make $$$ trading markets, in a fashion I'm not familiar with.

Introduction - Hello to all - Risking it all for more
(Your ETH troll is there doubting results too lol.)

When someone demonstrates competency in a particular area I don't understand, I don't shoot them down. Solid, documented results (this guy said he traded successfully for years, and in my case, I provided documentation in my 30 page thread) speaks volumes. If I counter with skeptical questions its usually because someone has latched on to a concept where they clearly lack education, or they're making ambiguous undocumented statements, usually anonymously. ("I'm gonna load my account with $10K and trade futures with no experience!")

I just thought people spent their time to find good information on the subject and you made it sound like this was Stocktwits after earnings or the old Yahoo Finance message boards.

If I thought the ETH concept was a joke or something not worthy of a serious discussion (both sides) I would have NOT promoted it to NOTABLE, then GOLD. I appreciate how this thread has materialized into a wealth of information. The extensive links and commentary you and others have provided provides the solid foundation for someone like me to research it and make their own assessments... and that is what this forum is about.

(end thread hijack...)

 

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[Coalission]

European Parliament meeting this morning about blockchain/Ethereum:

Full video here:

Science and Technology Options Assessment - meeting 11/05/2017 (AM) | News | European Parliament

But who cares about all that, @fhs8 still hasn't given his stamp of approval so all of these nations need to slow their roll.

 

[parkerscott]

Driverless cars, VR, and smart home. All three offer advantages or greater experience. That's why they are going to become mainstream.

Driverless cars will never work. What if the car has to chose to have an accident to prevent a bigger accident. What happens if that car chooses to save will smith instead of a little girl?

VR will never work. The feeling is not immersive enough, and it is too expensive and creates motion sickness in a lot of users. There are also not a whole lot of developers in this space. Its just a fad, and it will die out. It just doesnt have enough practical applications, and there are a bunch of big wires the user will get all wrapped up in.

Smart homes will never work. What happens if the power on your home goes out for a few hours and you cannot even use your home? What happens if someone decides to hack all my cameras and sensors, and speakers in my home and the hacker looks at my naked wife and tells my dog to roll over constantly without giving him any treats. Having all of these devices for my smart home is also going to slow down my internet speed, and the electricity bill is going to be way too high.

This is exactly what you sound like, and I think these technologies are going to still work.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

This tech has been a pretty big discussion in the finance and entrepreneurial world -- kinda like a merging between the two -- I should probably take some time to learn about it if I run a forum that is heavy into the convo.

Aside from that, I've been around long enough to recognize a pattern of emergence, from "plastics" to "internet IPOS" to "mobile apps", it's the new big thing. And big things make people rich. I can see the front page of Business INSIDERS now... "Joe Schmo buys $180M Beverly Hills Mansion" and the inevitable question of "what does he do?" is answered with "bitcoin entrepreneur."

But then again, my investigation into this might signal the top of the bubble -- at this stage, I'm a late adopter and dumb money.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Love seeing the switch you've made

I still feel the same way about it being purely speculative. My involvement isn't based on full knowledge (I give my knowledge on it about a 3 of 10, with 1 being absolutely ignorant) but based on keeping an open mind, past experiences, and vocal detractors in banking and finance.

Any investment I make will be entirely with "f*ck you" money from the "f*ck you" pot.

 

[Andy Black]

Doesn't Warren Buffet have a rule to not invest in tech - because he doesn't understand it?

 

[Millenial_Kid5K1]

I did a bit of research yesterday and today, and this is what I came up with.

First, those curious about the technology should watch these two videos.

Also maybe read the wikipedia article on blockchain:
Blockchain - Wikipedia

While there's still a good bit I don't understand about it, my initial impressions:

1. I can definitely see the use for private organizations, such as banks. You don't have to worry about most types of hacking, because it'd be very hard to hack every single node in the network. Also, private organizations don't care much about whether or not every computer in their system has to do the same calculations.
2. Unlike the article that was posted earlier, I don't see how this will stop centralization in the sense of ending censorship and fees. This stuff will still be running through the physical hardware of the internet and/or cellular networks. Couldn't an interested party simply control or make deals with the DApp creator, or ISPs, or cellular providers like they do now?
3. I don't understand how privacy would be possible under this scheme. Every node will have a copy of the entire blockchain, how do you keep interested parties from monitoring every transaction made in the network?
4. I see it hard to go beyond private companies running this stuff. Under the selfishness principle, I doubt most people would be willing to use their private computer/phone to constantly be updating the blockchain, thus taking their processing power. I probably wouldn't, unless the pros majorly outweighed the cons.
5. Scalability. As a single blockchain grows, it takes more processing power to update for every node in the network. Is there a way around this?
6. The 2016 fork raises a pretty big red flag. Who are the winners and losers here? How do we know it won't happen again?

I'm glad you brought this to my attention. I think this (or something like it) can/will play a huge role in future software development, though I have too many questions in my mind to want to turn down other modes of doing business for this.

I'm keeping an open mind. I'd love to hear anyone's corrections, responses, or refutations of the questions I have.

 

[maverick]

Blockchain is not just 'currency'. The ability for 2 parties to come together with a binding contract without an intermediary creates massive opportunities. As people seem to need examples, I'll provide a few:

- Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance is a massively inefficient, manual and repetitive set of activities that financial institutions have to do for each customer they have. So if you're a customers across 3 different banks, they will all follow their processes and procedures to get to the same net result. With a private blockchain instance they could pool together their resources and save a tremendous amount of time and effort.
- Build a Data Management Platform (DMP) that connects brands with consumers directly, effectively taking out the middlemen of ad tech.
- Search is currently centralized. Blockchain will be the foundation that is used to build a company that will change the paradigm of 'searching for information online'.

Obviously, taking out the middlemen of any transaction will lower the cost.

 

[Coalission]

For those who would rather sit back and wait for others to figure out how to leverage it, that's certainly their prerogative. But some people want to be on the forefront of technology as opposed to waiting for others to "make it simple to use."

This video of Bill Gates trying to explain what the internet is and can do to David Letterman is perfect.

Even Gates didn't know the full scope and potential of the internet at the time, but the way Letterman dismisses it is eerily similar to some people in this thread.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So I just checked out CoinBase -- between their spreads and fees, buying there is a total rip off.

Once again, when the gold rush is in full bore, you want to be the one selling shovels...

 

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[JordanK]

Take a look at this article. I think it explains it very well in simple language.

How Ethereum Will Completely Change the World

 

[Coalission]

Merchants would just have another gateway to accept credit cards. Also that wouldn't be a SAQ A/SAQ A-EP type of solution so almost nobody will adopt it.

Meanwhile, back at the Visa headquarters, blockchain division...

"Ugh, wrap it up guys...fhs8 on The Fastlane Forum just brought up SAQ and PCI compliance."

"Shit! Why didn't we think of that?!"

Visa to Launch Blockchain Payments Service Next Year - CoinDesk
Western Union is investing in one of the hottest trends in fintech

You're too late on the pessimism, it's like people who still post in comment sections on tech blogs "Self-driving cars will never work, who's going to insure them? Who's responsible in a crash? Aha!" like they discovered something that thousands of full-time engineers somehow overlooked.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I have no dog in the fight other than spectating...

What's the hold up guys? Governments, banks, scientists and corporate entities are just waiting for your go-ahead. Literally tens of thousands of engineers and geniuses are on the edge of their seats waiting on your word.

I can feel their reaction now!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

You can same the same thing about any fiat currency.

Sure, but that isn't the issue. The issue is liquidity for the purpose of conversion into something tangible.

Fiat has no liquidity issues. I can transfer that fiat "number on a screen" into a hard asset very quickly. I can't even get $500 bucks out of crypto without having to jump thru a bunch of hoops, withdrawal limits, blah blah.

A number on a screen that cannot be converted easily, poor liquidity, is ripe to just stay a number on a screen.

Obviously as an entrepreneur, you can see why there is opporunity in this realm, not just for investment/currency purposes, but for improving liquidity and access. Right now, it's easier to call the IRS and get help.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

JPMorgan launches crypto strategy months after Dimon ‘fraud’ warning

 

[parkerscott]

I don't know if Ethereum is the answer, but I do think that a ubiquitous and frictionless micropayment system would be MASSIVE. For the simple explanation, just imagine that your rep bank here were directly/instantly convertible into real dollars. Or maybe that each Like/Upvote/retweet or whatever sent a micropayment to the content creator...

Most people won't pay $1 (or the time/trouble of going through a checkout process) for consuming a good piece of content online, but there might be some amount that they would pay if it were easy enough. Maybe 1 cent, or 1/100 of a cent, or whatever. We won't do that now because of the trouble and the transaction fees. Most people online have to monetize their content indirectly (if they even monetize it at all), but sufficiently frictionless micropayments could completely change that, and I think that could be VERY big.

Well they are working on state channels that will be able to facilitate transactions faster,cheaper, and probably more secure than visa. This should open up micropayments, and I believe paying fractions of a cent to listen to song or read an article will be a very real possibility. If you are a music producer, camgirl or whatever, you wont have to deal with middlemen taking a good chunk of your cash, and you will have more options. This is just one facet of ethereum as well.

You also have people wanting to shake up the advertisement industry as well. Brendan Eich ring any bells? Home

Im urging people to at least do a little bit of research. You dont have to invest or create anything in this space, but just be aware that there could be the potential for this technology to disrupt your way of life in a similar fashion to the way the internet shook up a lot of B&M businesses like blockbuster who did not innovate, and where left bankrupt.

Its certainly something everyone should at least know a little bit about. Its much bigger than vr or ecommerce stores or whatever everyone thinks the future is. Oh yeah and those autonomous cars might use ethereum. Look into bosch and some of their onboard car computers. Its a pretty deep rabbit hole.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

keep your ears open as this has the potential to be a massive game changer in the internet age.

And hence, savvy entrepreneurs stand a chance at making a fortune -- so a 69 year old grandma finds it as easy to use as flip-phone.

Thread marked NOTABLE for all the information cited.

 

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[parkerscott]

I got in under $8. Im not here to pump or promote.

Just lol if you think promoting here is going to even put a tiny dent in the marketcap. I have nothing to gain by informing anyone.

Can we please just focus on the technology rather than the price? I could talk about the price all day, but that is not what I want the discussion to be about.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Mining is not profitable unless you have really cheap electricity or millions to invest

I am doing ether mining right now in the US and it is marginally profitable at 10.5¢ per kWh.

However, I am in process of setting up a mining farm in another country (not mentioning in on a public forum) and we have already negotiated ¢5 per kWh. We can also get it as low as ¢3 once we ramp up the number of machines (already negotiated with the head of the power company).

We expect to mine ether for another 6-9 months below it changes to a POS model. Then we will switch the machines over to another coin.

Sent from my VTR-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[MJ DeMarco]

F*ck jamie dimon.

Ha Ha.

When I heard the biggest banking shill of all of em' was vocally against it, that's when my interest went from observer to interested.

 

[loop101]

Saw this graphic on Reddit and thought of this thread.

 

[Nigel B]

By your definition, Amazon gift cards are a currency. And Amazon gift cards are only accepted at one place. So, do those have no value?

Catching up on this thread, and was about to make exactly the same analogy while including Itunes, Starbucks cards, Airmiles, and on and on - there are so many non-crypto 'tokens' in use today the mind boggles. That someone cannot see the analogy with crypto - even someone who professes to know nothing about it is equally amazing.

I am surprised there is not an Apple Coin (and indeed FB, GOOG and AMZN coins - yes I know Amazon has a token they call a coin) - because imagine as a corporation being able to transfer your own money internally without FX fees or borders ... while being able to set the value of that currency (price of your product or service).

When Apple 'invents' crypto currency for the masses - adoption of Apple Coin will be required if you want an iPhone or any other Apple products or service ... and instantly millions of people will float the Apple Coin ... I really can see this happening.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

How much money have you invested into ethereum?

 

[parkerscott]

Definitely the most amusing reply so far.

Do still ride a horse to work or play Atari 2600?

Hahahaha

Sent from my VTR-L29 using Tapatalk

Thats what I was thinking lol. "Radial tires will never work, the wire will split out of the tire and decapitate people"

 

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[wade1mil]

What I've gathered researching this today:

Blockchains allow anonymous P2P transactions of basically anything digital, and crowdsource verification of the transaction. The transaction can be money, services, files, etc. It removes the middleman, saves on fees if there are any, prevents corruption and fraud because the data is not kept in one place (decentralized), allows access to the data for multiple people at once. The verification of transactions is rewarded with some form of digital value, which can be used on the network.

Ethereum is the "WordPress of blockchains" in that it allows people to create blockchains without coding it from scratch. It was created because people were programming blockchains from scratch for single use-cases (like Bitcoin).

I can see this being a good application for voting, which is why it will probably not happen anytime soon.

 

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[GhostCEO]

Ethereum is for me the future of our society as a whole!

I'm a bit of an utopian, but imagine what would happen if we were all connected to the Ethereum network. All our countries would work on this huge accounting system (the blockchain) that would know at any moment what resources are available in the world (and on other planets we "own"), and to whom those resources are assigned.

This makes theft virtually impossible.

This makes centralized governments irrelevant for a lot of things. Human touch will still be needed in some cases, but most of the countries could be regulated through Smart Contracts alone.

Now plug that in with Artificial Intelligence that could adjust Smart Contracts based on certain desired outcomes... Wow!

I am a developer as well as an entrepreneur and I can tell you that I am monitoring Ethereum very closely, I'll be starting to build some things with it very soon and I am extremely excited by it.

The future is happening and those who don't want to see it will be the ones who lose, like what happened for those people who thought the Internet was a fad.

 

[Coalission]

Very early IoT-Ethereum experiments:

 

[Joe Cassandra]

I'm in the middle of doing a major research piece on the blockchain in general for a client, so this thread's been interesting.

What's coming is somewhat of a 'leveling' event. Like a war might do. WWII reset the American economy after the Depression. Society, itself, will reset to a point. Because we're moving from a highly centralized world back to a decentralized world.

I say 'back' because in the first civilizations, you lived in a village with 100 people. You each had your duty, you knew each other, trusted each other and everyone agreed on the rules (think of the TV show LOST --- no centralized powers). Slowly, as towns grew to thousands of people, individuals were put in power and took control and abused power.

Centralized society trotted along without interference for thousands of years. Up to a point...

The printing press came into play in the 15th century. Suddenly, we could share ideas across towns/villages with newspapers and letters. That's when you see major 'leveling' events like the Reformation, then, of course, American's Independence.

As America grew, it became centralized again as we grew away from small colonies...But not just government centralized, however. Companies did too. Large banks, insurance companies, middlemen siphon billions into their coffers based on our transactions. Then, 2008 hit, but nothing reset. We haven't had a major event to 'reset the system.' Debt, spending, etc. is just as bad as before the recession. So Bitcoin (a la Blockchain) began.

We could, in a way, go back to a massive decentralized world where we trade and transact, but we don't have to trust anyone, just the blockchain.

How that world looks...I'm not sure. Hard to wrap my head around it for sure.

 

[MarekvBeek]

The most simple explenation is this:

Bitcoin was founded to be a decentralized money system.

The way it was build is that other computers has to verify the transaction when Johnny pays Alicia. And that Johnny has sufficient funds on his account to do this.

That is somehow different than a bank (a central system). Where the centralized database has to very this transaction.

The whole "decentralized system" is called blockchain. Which is a database system, operated by many computers who all has the exact same copy of the database.

If someone tries to manipulate or hack the database, other computers will not recognize this "hacked" database. So in essence it's unhackable. (It is, if more than 50% of the computers will recognize the "hacked" database)

Bitcoin's database (the blockchain) is just a public ledger.

Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, found out that you can use this database (the blockchain) for other purposes, like creating applications on top of this database.

So he went on to create an own version of this blockchain technology, called Ethereum.

And since other computers has to very every block... Again, it becomes almost unhackable.

What you can do with this technology is up to you.

Maybe create a new "decentralized" marketplace. Or a brokerage firm.

You can do this, without using any middlemen, since the system has to verify every "transaction".

From what I know now is that this Ethereum techonology comes ten years too early.

What you see now is all a big fat hype.

People see headlines like:

Ethereum was $8 at january this year and is up to $300 now.

And they think: "damn, that is more return I will ever get in my life. Got to hop on the train now before it is $6.000"

If you want to "invest", then do it at your own risk.

But if you want to build the future... create your own peace of technology or system that will benefit other people.

Good luck.