Yeah more than usual this week. Some interesting speculation on if these wallet keys were compromised or not.

Quantum Computing is gonna be hella wild in the crypto sphere for sure! There are currently only a few theoretical algorithms we can apply quantum computing to, but hoooooo-eeeeeee is there some serious motivation to get cracking on cryptography.
In pop science articles everyone's worried about their social medial logins getting compromised, but imagine being a nefarious crypto actor getting wallet access.

That is a hot topic right now…
The early wallets could have had some security flaws and there’s also methods to make wallets safer like generating new addresses for each deposit.

gonna be like Battlestar Galactica where the only people who survive the invaders are those who kept their system offline

Roller coaster today

Considering a majority of games have an in-game currency for trading and making purchases, utilizing a blockchain means they don't have to develop their own currency and item-ownership system. It's really the gamers that would derive the most value of crypto gaming, as they can bridge in-game currency back out to fiat, sell it to others, buy/sell items with other players. It's the gaming studios that don't like it because they believe a player who sells their hard-earned item to another player is taking money from the studio who could have sold a second item to that buyer instead. When you consider the amount of hours logged by individual players on many of these games rise into the hundreds and thousands of hours, it's almost unfair to gamers to not let them drive some value from their efforts.

We're still waiting for a game that utilizes crypto to be a game first, because the big studios are not doing it yet, but they will come, and once that cat is out of the bag it'll be tough to put it back in.

Rumor is the next GTA will be powered by a crypto.

Many over the age of 35 will probably find this statement a bit jarring, but while I'm really into Game Design I'm not a gamer. Do you think that kind of internal economy is a pervasive understanding amongst gamers?
We all saw it play out in realtime as WoW became a fulltime job for harvesters, but I am unsure how the current game industry wants to approach it.
(I don't mean to derail here, but I also assume that most game economy discussions in the future will be drenched in crypto talk)

Are you making anything with it? My miner is still in the box and has been for probably 9 months. After I got it HNT crashed and the cut the mining rewards so I didn't even bother opening it up.

I found this amusing if anyone is bored.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-27/yuga-labs-bayc-ceo-daniel-alegre-wants-to-revive-nfts-with-gaming-events?leadSource=uverify%20wall
Newish CEO

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/04/28/epic-games-alum-mike-seavers-will-join-web3-giant-yuga-labs-as-cto/?outputType=amp
New CTO

Probably nothing…

They gave everyone about $20 worth of IOT in the switch over to SOL and it seems to be earning more as IOT than it did as HNT, but it's still pretty miniscule. I've only made about $75 since mine went online and I got it the same time you got yours. But... I do now have 32 HNT and 8,000 IOT, I figure I'll just accumulate these alt coins and if they ever take off, then it might pay for itself.

This is the way... You don't mine for today, you mine to increase your stash for when the next run comes in 2024/25. I've been mining Ravencoin since ETH switched to PoS cause why not... here's hoping it pays off in a year. Not like my laptop is doing anything else 98% of the time.

When it is done right, no one will know that behind the scenes a game has anything to do with blockchain. The biggest game economies in history [WoW, Pokemon, Fortnite] are all examples of blockchain games, just walled off and proprietary. WoW is the perfect example that despite attempts by game studios to keep control of the in-game economy, that effort is for naught with labor factories grinding out and selling items and accounts, so they might as well embrace it, plan for it, and profit from it.

Gaming right now is like travelling to Italy with no ability to bring your currency or your items in or out of the country. You cross the border, you start from scratch. It's backwards. The larger game studios will start making economies between their games and flourish because of it, then it will eventually expand across studios. Blockchain adds an extra dimension to game design and creativity, but again, it doesn't even have to contain the word "crypto" or "blockchain", even at the design stage it's just an enabler, and another dimension of an economy.

John Oliver nailed it. It’s what I’ve been thinking would happen for years. I invested $2000 into the 4 most well known cryptos a few years ago just to get my friend off my back, fully expecting to lose all my money. I’m half way there. He stopped talking about crypto. I fear he lost tens of thousands. Haven’t been in this thread for awhile. How is the general mood? Despite the recent fraud talked about by Mr. Oliver, are people still optimistic?

duplicate

I think he preformed an entertainment piece with a lot of cherry picked data. The fraud was from fraudsters not actual code though. Crypto didn’t rip ppl off, it was ppl being sloppy with their custodial.

I think Bitcoin is behaving similarly to all the other halving cycles (except the first). Globally I think we’re about to enter some very strange times. So be interesting to see where we land after 2024.

My hot take on "crypto". It's all going to zero against Bitcoin. Just like everything else in the world. Stay humble.

This statement confuses me so much. How is it backwards?
What deficiency in game design is improved via interoperability of game items?
It still feels like a solution in search of a problem instead of design arising from an impulse to make better games.

If you invested $2k into the 4 'most well known cryptos' 4 years ago - 2 of those should have been BTC and ETH... Compared to 4 years ago ($5200~ and ~$157 compared to $29000 and ~$1900) you'd be singing on those alone... Even If you were into nothing but shitcoins and BTC, you'd be up $1,500 assuming $500 on each and a total loss on the other three... so miss me with this 'I'm halfway there' bullshit. You're either full of it or you didn't do your own research.

Did I say 4 years ago? A few years ago. $500 bitcoin, $500 etherium, $500 cardano, $500 dogecoin. Last time I checked my coinbase account was hovering around $1000. I think I bought Bitcoin around $39000. It had just dropped from $65,000.

Interoperability between games opens a lot of design doors. A lot.

I don't like counting "on paper" losses. If you keep holding through 2025 you will very likely be up (I could be wrong). If you sold, well that's on you, take the write-off.

Overall I'm still up pretty good on BTC and ETH...but I bought all of my ETH at $359. Bitcoin I have continued to buy all along...even bought some at 66k...but my cost basis is closer to 15k.

The plan was always to hold it for 15 to 20 years. It was $2000 that I fully expected to lose. If I am wrong and it skyrockets, then that’s a bonus.

My apologies - I misread the timeline. Sounds like you definitely bought right at the top 12-18 months back

Fun fact if a person started buying Bitcoin at the very top 69k and bought an equal amount everyday. That person would be up about 20% in usd value. Hard to beat the psychology of throwing more money as the price goes down.

IMG_4017 (resized).jpeg

Has anyone actually done that? Bought an equal amount from the top until now everyday? I suspect not.

El Salvador switched to buying one Bitcoin a day starting Nov…they did buy a bunch before though and kept buying.

https://decrypt.co/114897/el-salvador-start-buying-1-bitcoin-every-day-says-president-bukele?amp=1

Soon their volcano power mine will open.

I'm not even sure why they're still buying since it's been a failure in their country. Usage is declining, not increasing, less than 2% transactions now.

Screenshot_20230504_020200_Twitter (resized).jpg

lol, what?

Interesting argument of if it is a failure or not. Hasn’t even been 2 years since they adopted it as legal tender. So jury is out atm.

Usage is down since the pilot program launched were every Salvadoran was given a voucher of free Bitcoin. Most cashed out and moved on with their life spiking usage.

Here are the positive
Increased remittances: El Salvador is heavily reliant on remittances, with about 20% of its GDP coming from money sent by Salvadorans living abroad. Bitcoin's adoption may help reduce the fees and processing times associated with traditional remittances.

Attracting foreign investment: El Salvador's decision to embrace Bitcoin attract cryptocurrency investors who are interested in exploring business opportunities in the country. El Salvador will grant ppl citizenship by investing 100k usd in their economy, buy a house or business etc. Currently they are heavily incentivizing business and people to relocate there quite the opposite as US imo.

Travel and infrastructure:
Travel since the adoption of btc as legal tender travel has dramatically increased. Boosting local small businesses and infrastructure. Before they adopted btc it was very low on countries I would want visit (and I spent a month in Nicaragua) now it’s pretty high up there.

While they may be down in usd terms like the Costco hotdog, the draw maybe worth the costs. And it is quite possible the value could exceed their costs in. It also allows El Salvador to not be reliant on the usd which is probably the biggest selling point.

Negatives:
The country is run by a dictatorship.

A good read
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/el-salvador-has-unexpected-benefit-from-bitcoin-adoption

Speaking of El Salvador. New bill past today.
https://watcher.guru/news/el-salvador-president-signs-law-eliminating-taxes-on-technology-innovations

I think the goal was to get the population to use it, and that's not really happening. Usage is falling, and they're not even using it that much to do international payments (126 million of 7 billion). I guess my point is, if it was really solving people's problems, they would latched onto it and usage would be increasing. If it was truly something groundbreaking for the population (like ChatGPT) then you'd see it ramp up in use as well. That just leads me to believe that in real transaction use, it's not providing a better user experience than they currently have, which would indicate it being mostly unsuccessful.

I thought Astro was saying a while back that Bitcoin isn’t poised to be a successful currency right now because it’s treated by the markets as an investment and is too volatile. But the pitch is that it will one day become a/the real currency, at which point it would potentially be a less exciting investment because it would be relatively stable in value.

(Sorry in advance if I misunderstood you on this Astro).

Well, I do generally believe Astro. And he should know what happens in the future . . .
Astro (resized).jpg

In a nutshell. It needs to establish itself as a solid SoV before it can get established as a useful currency. IMHO. 2nd layer protocols are likely going to speed up that usefulness though.

Their main currency is the US dollar and their inflation rate is 7% atm. If the USD inflation doesn’t get tamed or worse enters a hyper inflation having an alternative with a built out lightning network is going to the genius play of the decade. I really am interested to see where everything shakes out in about two years from today..

Like I said it’s still early for a government policy, not even two years, comparing it to Chatgpt is hard because Chatgpt got users from an upgrade to OS and actual ppl using it isn’t the same as ppl that have it. Plus Chatgpt is free and broke all the records.

That being said I’m learning chatGBT atm. The extensions coming out daily are pretty wild.

Hard to imagine USD will top Bitcoin for volatility anytime soon. Bitcoin has experienced several rounds of both hyperinflation and hyperdeflation over the past few years. Potentially great for investors but less exciting when the groceries are on the line.

Bitcoin inflation is fixed… I can tell you the exact inflation everyday. No one knows what usd inflation will be next month or next year.

Value is what you meant to say.

Generally when people talk inflation/deflation I think they mean buying power, not absolute supply of the currency.

Wikipedia: “In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money.”

So you can create inflation by printing more money. But also by reducing the amount of goods available for purchase (e.g. pandemic supply chains).

Never heard anyone or place say that about Bitcoin inflation. All I’ve seen use supply in reference to inflation.

IMG_4304 (resized).png

IMG_4306 (resized).png

Probably because almost no one uses it as currency! People don’t talk about gold that way either. If/when it’s actually a functional currency then the standard inflation/deflation terminology would apply.

I guess I’m over simplifying the root problem of inflation is m2 money supply.

IMG_4310 (resized).png

I’m assuming I’m the only idiot here that has no idea what that is?

This is bitcoin’s mempool for base layer transactions.

440k is a large amount of unsettled transactions so the transaction fees are really high atm. Now it’s at like 300k. Good for minors.
Lightning fees are up a bit too but cheap compared. The reason is all these ordinals being minted.

It’s pretty much self explanatory. Haha

Anyone notice this new protocol?

https://twitter.com/asymmetryfin/status/1658116421002436615

Any thoughts on Worldcoin?

Minted a couple of their NFTs last night… hope they give holders an airdrop.

https://opensea.io/collection/world-app