Comment Re:When will bitcoin be used for real transactions (Score 1) 768
How else do you bootstrap a distributed currency? Appeal to greed is a feature - there would never be anything like the processing power otherwise. Without the processing power the transactions can't be secured.
Bitcoin's reward system is quite cleverly designed to help propagate it. It is also what gives it a stink of a pyramid scheme but that doesn't make it any less valid as a medium for transmission of wealth on the Internet. If anyone can think of a better way to seed a currency - one that magically gains significant mind share and fairly distributes the value without resorting to exploiting our baser instincts, I'd be very interested in hearing your ideas!
We're witnessing a messy birth of a system. No one knows if it will make it yet but perhaps we shouldn't throw the baby away just because it's covered in goop. Instead, try to imagine what we could do with such a system if it actually works.
Bitcoin's reward system is quite cleverly designed to help propagate it. It is also what gives it a stink of a pyramid scheme but that doesn't make it any less valid as a medium for transmission of wealth on the Internet. If anyone can think of a better way to seed a currency - one that magically gains significant mind share and fairly distributes the value without resorting to exploiting our baser instincts, I'd be very interested in hearing your ideas!
We're witnessing a messy birth of a system. No one knows if it will make it yet but perhaps we shouldn't throw the baby away just because it's covered in goop. Instead, try to imagine what we could do with such a system if it actually works.
