Speaking of ignorant bitcoin promoters, does Andrew Yang actually have a chance at becoming NYC mayor? That's kind of terrifying. Not compared to Republicans of course.

I just read that one of the forged counterparties back in the Enron scandal was M. Yass.

The thing that really baffles me about adults engaging with bitcoin-- with control of 51% of bitcoin compute capacity, it's possible to reject new transactions from/to competitors. Most bitcoin computing happens in Xinjiang, where there are apparently subsidies to use local coal-fired power.

Why would anyone not trying to hide or shift money participate? Maybe there are a lot of people trying to shift money, I'd guess that's why Musk would like to accept bitcoin in exchange for Teslas?

I'm hearing lots of good things about tax evasion.

An example of something that's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.

And usually without wasting so much electricity.

It seems presumptive that a lot of Uighur forced labor must go into Bitcoin via coal, no?

No one has ever managed to convince me that Bitcoin serves any rational purpose other than grifting.

Still the best explanation of bitcoin I've ever seen: https://twitter.com/Theophite/status/1030225104234373121

I guess that explains why mom, after losing the car, kept doing Sudoku by hand until she lost the ability.

She had to keep supporting her heroin addiction?

1: He has a significant chance, but I think it looks bigger than it is because at this point it's him against the field -- everyone else is a normal NYC pol. If one of the normal candidates turns into a front runner, people who don't want a Bloomberg rerun will consolidate behind whoever it is.

12: Thanks. Is the primary first-past-the-post though?

Look at it optimistically. We've finally found the wedge to get goldbugs and their ilk to care about climate change and cheap green energy.

There is something horridly ironic, or maybe unsurprisingly consistent, that the "libertarian" "currency" is being subsidized, according to 3.last, by one of the least free places in the world.

Pessimistically, by 2200 we'll be erecting a Dyson swarm whose output is used entirely to support the payments system.

Most bitcoin computing happens in Xinjiang, where there are apparently subsidies to use local coal-fired power.

Be fair... some of the energy comes from perfectly innocent Iranian oil that couldn't be exported. Or North Koreans burning what electricity they have to beat those pesky international sanctions.

This reminds me that an old friend is pushing some kind of related currency on Facebook. I should probably hide him.

I just checked on my weed fund for the $250 I have in bitcoin and it turns out I now have $1600 in bitcoin. As a currency features go, "randomly turns into a bunch more money" isn't a bad one.

I mean, that's probably not good for an actual, you know, currency.

Bitcoin's design ensures that it will be more and more expensive over time to "mine" a Bitcoin. That of course means those who get in early will make tons of money and those who get in late will not. The currency is inherently deflationary. Fun fact: 20% or more of all Bitcoins are lost, in that the the owners have literally lost their passwords. Many think that Satoshi lost his, for example.

Aren't deflationary currencies bad for an economy? I mean, if the economy uses them for more than buying illegal drugs from distant dealers.

20: As it is, it's the marshmallow test for potheads.

I could really go for a marshmallow right now.

Does anyone else have the problem that the more they know about something, the less they are able to communicate anything about it? For example, I can answer the question Moby asked in 20, but not in less than 10 pages.

I won't read something that long anyway.

I have a two word explanation: It depends.

I always though Japan was having trouble with deflation, making economic stimulus impossible through macroeconomic policy. Of course, they are still mostly really well-off.

23:. I definitely have that problem. It doesn't come up that often though, because I hardly know anything about anything