[Cryptography] actual journalism, was LRB article, Satoshi's Trump Card

[grarpamp]

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 5:37 PM, John Levine <johnl at iecc.com> wrote:
>>Then maybe some combination of them could earn some crypto coin.
>
> Having looked at the articles the author wrote before and after the
> pair he wrote last year on the Craig Wright affair

Didn't notice a pair, unless this video makes the first of them.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/2016/06/28/andrew-ohagan/on-craig-wright-and-satoshi-nakamoto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxMU4C6bGKw

> I think I can say
> with fair assurance that [authors have] better things to do than to screw
> around with cyber funny money.

Sounds like there's a market for concierge services that will collect
this cyber funny money and convert it to deliverable fiat under contract.

> real money

There's that word again. Last time it came up no one seemed
able or brave enough to risk defining and defending in context
with cryptocurrencies, beyond say, "paying taxes with it".

> Speaking of actual journalism, online magazine Slate has a weekly
> Slate Money podcast which is quite good because host Felix Salmon when
> he's not making dorky jokes has an excellent grasp of finance and
> economics.  Last week's edition had an interesting segment on Initial
> Coin Offerings.  It starts at about 31:14 in the podcast.
>
> http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/slate_money/2017/06/uber_amazon_buying_whole_foods_and_initial_coin_offerings_on_slate_money.html
>
> They conclude (I think correctly) that most ICOs are scams even if
> their proponents don't think they are

Yes they're "scams" in that hardly any of the more than hundreds of
effectively cloned coins out there are bringing any substantial new
developments or combinations of capabilities that will cause them
to float to a top ten position long term. Notwithstanding, it's an open
market full of niches and this process is vital to developing the space.
Developing scaling, privacy / anonymity, integration with things
and economies are very large potential areas. These are early days.

> they note that for most
> alt-coins the only practical way to buy them is to use bitcoin as an
> intermediary.

Some areas will lead / lag at times, the market matrix is no exception.
There was no way to buy BTC (₿), and you probably can't readily buy
KPW (₩) yet either. If certain forces get their way, you won't be
able to buy either ever again, maybe not even beloved USD ($)...