Bitcoin euphoria and how it can damage volunteer distributed computing

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Richard Haselgrove Project Donor
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Message 1919263 - Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 18:20:25 UTC - in response to Message 1919260.  

And I suppose that bitcoins have no serial numbers to trace.................................
In theory, the blockchain acts as a distributed serial number tracing every transaction...

...if there ever was a blockchain. And what it *doesn't* do is to tie back those transaction participants to real, live, people with social security numbers and home addresses.
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Message 1919264 - Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 18:24:13 UTC - in response to Message 1919263.  
Last modified: 16 Feb 2018, 18:28:28 UTC

And I suppose that bitcoins have no serial numbers to trace.................................
In theory, the blockchain acts as a distributed serial number tracing every transaction...

...if there ever was a blockchain. And what it *doesn't* do is to tie back those transaction participants to real, live, people with social security numbers and home addresses.

And taxable income.
I am sure it's appeal would diminish greatly if it couldn't be kept 'off the books'.
"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

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Message 1919269 - Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 19:15:11 UTC

Yes, one of the appealing factors in crypto currency is that transactions aren't open to monitoring by outside government agencies. One of the first users of Monero were drug dealers as the transactions were invisible to the DEA and FBI who would normally monitor cash transactions through the banks. Can't tax an intangible asset.
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Message 1919271 - Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 19:23:21 UTC - in response to Message 1919269.  

Or recover stolen loot from a sting. If you go off-state, you lose access to the resources of the state - like the police or FBI to investigate crime.
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Message 1919272 - Posted: 16 Feb 2018, 19:28:27 UTC

I've seen the quote before but can't remember who to attribute, but the statement was an allusion that the state of cryptocurrency is like the 'Wild West' of past years. Lots of lawlessness and few, if any, effective law enforcement actions.
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Message 1919416 - Posted: 17 Feb 2018, 10:07:07 UTC - in response to Message 1917133.  

I dunno. I'm all for taxing bitcoin usage.
I don't agree with folks trying to create there own hidden economy and creating value out of thin air.
My power usage has always been very high due to my participation here.
All I would have to do to prove what my computing power is doing is link the authorities to my Seti creds.


I think the problem here now the appearance of Gridcoin on the DC projects. If the governments do move to tax and restrict based on what Raistmer has outlined. The claim that this is only a scientific project won't hold water as Gridcoiners are being paid... That will prove to be a downfall many projects. Will have to wait and see how they go proving who is doing what....

Well, then maybe Gridcoin should be blacklisted from participating in Boinc. That is NOT what Boinc was meant to facilitate.
I do not have a problem with mining coin in general.
The effect it is having on the price of GPUs I can even accept as being part of the free market system, although I dislike the results.
But when somebody assigns a monetary value to that mined coin and then thinks they are getting a free lunch by hiding it in the shadows, then our theological ways part. Then their free lunch is coming off of MY plate. Because if your living is made by mining coin and you do not pay taxes on it, then my taxes go up to cover what you are not paying.

Oh, man. You're barking at a wrong tree!

Mixing headless crunchers to find some BTC or other currencies , with something that makes recognition for what we do here.

Sorry to say that, but my government did nothing on my tax return for my participation in SETi@home project.
But GRC came to do just that & get something back for my investment in: time managing & administer computers, money for the bills (electricity) & money for investment (just last year I've invested 70% of my monthly paycheck to computer equipment).

So, as GRC is concerned - they bring & popularize the science done here (& on other projects).

While other crypto hunters use the cards, CPUs & electrical bills for their own use. No matter how much we know that any GPU card can't revenue profit on BTC - there's still stubborn people who will do it. So don't bark on guy who popularize science - bark on ignorance ones! ;)


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Message 1919847 - Posted: 19 Feb 2018, 9:45:22 UTC - in response to Message 1919779.  
Last modified: 19 Feb 2018, 9:46:52 UTC

Is cryptocurrency, and mining, not placing a monetary value on distributed computing?

Rather they distract distributed computing potential resources to make monetary value instead of solvation of scientific tasks.

As one say "such power and in peacefull aims"...
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Message 1919849 - Posted: 19 Feb 2018, 10:12:41 UTC

I am following an online course on cloud computing bu Dublin University via FutureLearn, a part of Open University. They gave two examples in which cloud computing is used, genoma sequencing and oil prospecting. The latter also makes use of GPUs, via both CUDA and OpenCL.
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Message 1920174 - Posted: 21 Feb 2018, 7:42:24 UTC

T-Mobile Interference Caused by Man's Bitcoin Mining Rig

T-Mobile customers in northern Brooklyn had been complaining for much of last year about mysterious service issues that consistently plagued certain areas of the New York City borough. After a lengthy investigation, the FCC and T-Mobile discovered the culprit was that one man's bitcoing mining rig (more specifically a Bitmain Antminer S5) was somehow causing the interference in the 700Mhz band. "The device was generating spurious emissions on frequencies assigned to T-Mobile’s broadband network and causing harmful interference," the FCC's enforcement bureau told the man in the letter.

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Message boards : Number crunching : Bitcoin euphoria and how it can damage volunteer distributed computing


 
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