from a functional perspective I don’t see how that’s different from just having it hardcoded in the genesis block

Having posted the code ahead of time, and making the Genesis block not spendable. Monero (not Bytecoin) had a similarly p2p launch, but we can’t measure how concentrated its wealth is.

It’s a problem, sure. If you want auditability at the expense of any guaranteed privacy, again, Ripple. It’s is totally transparent, assuming you keep a backup of all the old closed ledgers. And uses computing power more comparable to an old-fashioned bank account than to Bitcoin.

I got a ton of free Ripples for free when it launched because it was not p2p, but I agreed to test it. I ended up selling them for a considerable amount of virtually pure profit. Aren’t they still using centrally assigned Validators? With that much centralization, they could use virtually no computing power at all.

But it’s a reasonable point - guaranteed privacy or guaranteed auditability? For your network traffic, are you bouncing it through an onion route for which the peers aren’t required to save records - like Tor? I certainty don’t think Monero is centralized or a scam, FWIW. Breaches of privacy are internalized to the users, while a breached supply limit would end the coin.

thinking that cryptocurrencies are all p2p, and that Bitcoin dominates the market because they don’t know this one simple thing, are both telltale signs of a novice.

It’s never been my main squeeze, but I’ve dabbled since the early days. Do with that what you will.

Honestly I don’t recognize your username, but since you’re privacy focused I assume you just change it. It’s been a long time. ❤️

Nope sorry the best Trump can do is pardon a single drug dealer. The Libertarians must be thrilled at their art of the deal.

I believe that you’re extremely qualified in math and cryptography. But thinking that cryptocurrencies are all p2p, and that Bitcoin dominates the market because they don’t know this one simple thing, are both telltale signs of a novice. They’re mostly centralized scams, and the concerns you’re bringing up have been discussed to death.

Monero is a great example.

You’re correct that it was originally forked off of Bytecoin, which had a premine. So Bytecoin was not peer-to-peer, because one user (the issuer) had a different set of rules than everyone else. If you had invested in centralized Bytecoin, you would have lost money because it was not p2p. They had to start over!

The problem with relying on “actual cryptography” for privacy is auditability, like I mentioned above. When there was a bug in Bitcoin that allowed someone to give himself a bazillion BTC, we were able to catch and revert it immediately. If there is a bug like that in Monero, we won’t know until after it’s circulated as much as the premined Bytecoins did.

Yes.

That computing power is necessary to secure the network, without introducing security holes or economic rent. And the rate of production gets cut in half every 4 years. The alternatives you’ve been told about are inferior.

The Lightning Network has onion routing like Tor, and drug dealers have been using mixers for literally a decade. If there’s an inflation bug in Monero (like the value overflow incident), then that will be invisible too.

We still use steam power quite a bit, and aren’t replacing it simply because it’s old. Most new cryptocurrencies are like a Tesla, solving problems they didn’t care to understand.

If you think every cryptocurrency is peer-to-peer, then I am literally begging you to slow down and look at how they actually work before investing more. They frequently have centralized issuance, security, development, governance… you name it. It only takes one centralized part to bring down a project.

The most popular crypto is one of the few that’s p2p and well-tested.

“But in practice, I almost certainly vote Republican.”

I have. Most people who say this IRL are very Libertarian and very not libertarian. If they like cryptocurrency, it’s something new so they can feel smart.

That’s not even unethical, we just have bioconservatives in charge.

I’m curious if it’s even possible to satisfy every whim of a human. Do they get any access to human culture? If not, it would be like cloned birds failing to migrate.

It’s another biometrics argument, with Fluffy’s face this time.

Couldn’t overpower the egg cartel

I disagree. Email is still perfectly usable and helpful because we simply filter out the commercial stuff. The fact that most internet discussion happens in extremely censored places is bad. Luigi Luigi Luigi. I want the rest of the world to change and this is another tool to help towards that end, not merely an escape.

Isn’t this just a bunch of little forums that interoperate nicely?

Does In-N-Out do hateful religious stuff like Chick-Fil-A does?

There was a Diablo II player in 2002 called “scrotore”.

I didn’t think this one would stick. Now I’m in too deep to switch.

So then it’s not the risk scaring them away, it’s their inability to even install Linux in the first place.

Something is wrong. My Windows machine at work will run smoothly for weeks, only rebooting for updates. Have you tried closing everything but explorer?

Have you ever had to edit the registry?

Mint

Also if the laptop you buy comes pre-installed with windows what would motivate a regular joe to go out of his way to install Linux on it and risk messing things up by making a mistake.

Being able to boot to a flash drive to make sure it will work?