- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Fwd: [Cryptography] Bitcoin is a disaster.
by Robert Hettinga 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: Ray Dillinger <bear(a)sonic.net> > Subject: [Cryptography] Bitcoin is a disaster. > Date: December 28, 2020 at 9:07:03 PM AST > To: cryptography <cryptography(a)metzdowd.com> > > > Okay, this may be just my depressive side talking, or it may be the > stress of the last year just boiling over. But I'm inclined to think > it's not and it isn't. > > It is my opinion that Bitcoin is a failure. Worse than that, it's a > disaster. > > The pseudonymity of coins being owned by the bearer of some > cryptographic key is a failure; People have been eavesdropping and > aggressively analyzing the block chain from day 1. And the block chain > will always be there, it will always be public, and it will always be > subject to further analysis. And we are learning that analysis of that > record is sufficient to destroy any pretense of anonymity or > pseudonymity. > > The scarcity of block chain space has led people to re-invent every > last feature of the banks they thought they were going to be escaping. > Including debt brokering (lightning network) and fractional-reserve > banking, starting with the case of Mt.Gox and continuing to ventures > today by "responsible" businesspeople who just don't get, or don't > care, or both, that the entire reason the system existed, as far as the > early adopters were concerned, was to get away from exactly that. They > have made Bitcoin into a debt-based system like any other; as long as > the "exchange" holds your keys for you, there is no obligation for them > to maintain assets equal to the deposits. You can't prove that they > are, or aren't, maintaining sufficient assets until after those assets > are spent and the evidence appears in the block chain. > > And it's useless for small transactions. Had it been deployed to a > market the size of, say, a college campus it could bear the load and > the bidding for block space wouldn't exceed the value of most > transactions. But had it been deployed to a market the size of a > college campus, the small pool of miners available would make mining > bursty and unstable, and the block chain therefore not well protected > from tampering. Same could have happened to Bitcoin early on, which is > why Satoshi was mining like crazy and jumping on when needed to prop up > the block rate and back off again when the blocks were coming too fast. > > And that brings us to mining. Bitcoin mining has encouraged corruption > (Because it's often done using electricity which is effectively stolen > from taxpayers with the help of government officials), wasted enormous > resources of energy, fostered botnets, centralized mining activity in a > country where centralization means it's effectively owned by exactly > the kind of government most people thought they *DIDN'T* want looking > up their butts and where the people who that government allows to "own" > this whole business work together as a cartel. > > There's a pretense of monitoring the network to guard against a 51% > attack, but to me it seems pretty clear that what they're guarding > against is merely the mistake of the cartel failing to give the latest > warehouse full of miners a distinct network identity. The whole idea > of proof-of-work mining is broken the instant hardware comes out which > is specialized for mining and useless for general computation because > at that point the need to have compute power for other purposes is > absolutely irrelevant in having any effect on mining, and there ceases > to be any force that causes mining to be distributed around the world. > It becomes a "race to the bottom" to find where people can get the > cheapest electricity, and then mining anywhere else - anywhere the > government tries to make sure ordinary people actually get the benefit > from electricity bought for tax money, for example - becomes first > pointless, then a net loss. > > > Mining is f***ng broken, and ASICs make it actively work against a > significant number of its design goals. > > So, Bitcoin was a good effort, it deployed some new ideas and > technology, and showed that at some scale the "block chain" idea > worked, but ultimately, although a successful proof of concept, failed > to deliver. It doesn't scale, except by becoming the very thing it was > supposed to replace. > > The more scalable the network becomes, the more centralized it becomes, > until ultimately a "scalable" cryptocurrency would be doing things > exactly the same way as a credit card processor. > > Bear > > > _______________________________________________ > The cryptography mailing list > cryptography(a)metzdowd.com > https://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography

2 1

Can Bitcoin Ever Become Worthless?
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

TL/DR - No. https://decrypt.co/41863/can-bitcoin-ever-become-worthless

1 0

Fwd: [Cryptography] Bitcoin is a disaster.
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Btc can justify its electricity use 'enough' to rationalize its unique POW existence. Ditto its decentralization ( as opposed to the c-punk, distributed ideal ) Closing it down now - were it possible - would only guarantee a more distributed replacement - look what happened to Silk Road. Then individuals have stashed $8.7 trillion in tax havens - there’s no huge political constituency dedicated to stopping that - and idiots - like that dingbat eunuch-moron, honky-Kraken-rider, Bob Hettinga - keep querying Btc’s value proposition. Jesus Fucking Christie. Whats wrong with all the Trumpofascist morons on this list? You miss out?

1 0

Bitcoin is a disaster
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

After a one-two combination like APster 1996-2006 and Wikileaks 2006 - 2010, I guess Btc looks a little weak and weedy. Especially with such a chickenshit pussy eunuch like " Satoshi' as lead c-punk. Meh! However, Btc has bootstrapped incredible value and created the sure and certain market for a ubiquitous electronic P2P cash system that is not only more cypherpunk but even approaches the cyberspatial realization of anarchism. That is its power and that will be its everlasting glory. Just remember cryptoanarchy is a system larger than any crypto-currency and its still not really been trialled in its entirety. Some of you may remember this from 2001. Cypherpunks Subject: Everyone a remailer: Everyone a Mint: Everyone an assassin https://marc.info/?l=cypherpunks&m=100872510706876&w=2 Two out of three ain't bad - I suspect the coming cryptocoins will be based on something more like Avalanch and be uncapped but doled out in line with global GDP as some sort of UBI. Financial information wants to be free! Quantum computers and stronger AI will help us design next-gen e-cash with far better UX and security and scale and sustainability. I have some Btc but I'm never selling and I can't wait for it to go extinct. Viva la revolution.

1 0

Bloomberg as MAD magazine
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Remember their what-me-worry, tiny spy-chip scare story? Here's another doozy. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zq3jgISWs1QJ:https://… Life spies on you though nano-technology, then your crypto-currency fails then you die. No wonder the Mercatus morons sound so depressed lately.

1 0

Exploits: TCP Stacks Jacked with Ripple20 Amnesia33
by grarpamp 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

https://www.jsof-tech.com/ripple20/ https://www.forescout.com/research-labs/amnesia33/ And OpenSSL announces its customary quarterly hack.

1 1

DECRYPT - becoming human
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

Passion of youth no panacea - that was fine in the sixties for a while but this is now - that was then. Polling quickly reveals ' chosen peoples' with feet-of-clay. Blacks, women and yes, the youth, all carry significant reactionary demographics. Just like the general population. There is not even any hope for traditional anarchism since its descent into neo-Marxism and philosophical masturbating. But I remain optimistic. Time and time again the anarchist way of organizing proves itself superior. Its impossible any intelligent AI will ever miss this and act accordingly. So this is why I keep 'retreating forward' and calling on reinforcements from the future. The *Cypherpunk 2027* is another exercise in that. Six years at full warp and we could bring the singularity forward, institute global cryptoanarchy and anticipate intelligent machines passing any test. Tomorrow belongs to us.

4 7

Tippi Degre - animals and children - Soul Cookies - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

It's been a long haul people. Sometimes one needs to take a few days off. Peace, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tippy+elephants https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chito%20crocodile https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kangaroo+friend

1 1

Crypto-AG story in WaPo
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

How they did intelligence coups before Blacknet. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-cr… Worth a look for the headline.

1 0

Still raining - still dreaming
by professor rat 30 Dec '20

30 Dec '20

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/new-york-significantly-accelerates-th… The NY District Attorney has brought on forensic accounting specialists to pin down Donald Trump’s criminal decision to use campaign money to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels

1 0