Lifeboat Foundation

The virtual currency markets have been through booms and busts before — and recovered to boom again. But this bust could have a more lasting impact on the technology’s adoption because of the sheer number of ordinary people who invested in digital tokens over the last year, and who are likely to associate cryptocurrencies with financial ruin for a very long time.

The number of people who bought virtual currencies more than doubled last winter. For people who got in late, the bust has been disastrous.

Bitmain is going public in China. The IPO might make it one of the most valuable startups, cryptocurrency or not, to ever debut on the public markets.

Let us frame the question, by reviewing what miners really do…

Miners play a critical role in the Bitcoin network. Their activity (searching for a nonce) results in assembling an immutable string of blocks that corroborate and log the universal transaction record. They are the distributed bookkeepers that replace old-school banks in recording and vouching for everyone’s purchase or savings.

From the perspective of a miner, there is no obvious connection between their activity and the worldwide network of bitcoin transactions and record keeping. They are simply playing an online game and competing against thousands of other miners in an effort to solve a complex and ongoing math problem. As they arrive at answers to small pieces of the problem, they are rewarded with bitcoin, which can be easily translated into any currency.

What is the Problem?

Continue reading “How will Bitcoin Work When Mining Rewards Run Out?” »

Today, economist and Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman, wrote in the New York Times, that Bitcoin is taking us back 300 years in monetary evolution. As a result, he predicts all sorts of bad things.

A significant basis for Mr. Krugman’s argument is that the US dollar has value because men with guns say it does.

Is Bitcoin erasing 300 years of monetary evolution?

Running with the metaphor that fundamental change to an economic mechanism represents ‘evolution’, I think a more accurate statement is that Bitcoin is not erasing the lessons of history. Rather, it is the current step in the evolution of money. Of course, with living species, evolution is a gradual process based on natural selection and adaptation. With Bitcoin, change is coming up in the rear view mirror at lightning speed.

Continue reading “Is Bitcoin Erasing 300 years of Monetary Evolution?” »

Cryptocurrency fraud and other kinds of cyber-fraud, too.

President Donald Trump has assigned an official task force to investigate the pervasive fraud within the cryptocurrency industry.

On Thursday, the president signed an executive order for a new task force within the Department of Justice with a mandate “to investigate and prosecute crimes of fraud committed against the U.S. Government or the American people, recover the proceeds of such crimes, and ensure just and effective punishment of those who perpetrate crimes of fraud.”

Continue reading “President Donald Trump assigned a task force to investigate cryptocurrency fraud” »

Blue Frontiers is decentralizing governance by launching a seasteading industry that will provide humanity with new opportunities for organizing more innovative societies and dynamic governments.

The funds raised from the crowdsale will be used to implement Blue Frontiers mission. Proceeds from the token sale are expected to be divided among the following activities:

Continue reading “Blue Frontiers creating 300 residence seastead funded with their own cryptocurrency” »

Securities, or not securities. That is the crypto question.

Except in Thailand.

While regulators around the world have grappled with the issue of what category digital currencies and assets fall into, Thailand has skipped the debate altogether.

Continue reading “Thailand Leads in Crypto” »

A cryptocurrency entrepreneur launched a blockchain religion. Absolutely no one is surprised.

I get this question a lot. Today, I was asked to write an answer at Quora.com, a Q&A web site at which I am the local cryptocurrency expert. It’s time to address this issue here at Lifeboat.

Question

I have many PCs laying around my home and office.
Some are current models with fast Intel CPUs. Can
I mine Bitcoin to make a little money on the side?

Answer

Other answers focus on the cost of electricity, the number of hashes or teraflops achieved by a computer CPU or the size of the current Bitcoin reward. But, you needn’t dig into any of these details to understand this answer.

You can find the mining software to mine Bitcoin or any other coin on any equipment. Even a phone or wristwatch. But, don’t expect to make money. Mining Bitcoin with an x86 CPU (Core or Pentium equivalent) is never cost effective—not even when Bitcoin was trading at nearly $20,000. A computer with a fast $1500 graphics card will bring you closer to profitability, but not by much.

Continue reading “Extra PCs laying around? Why not mine Bitcoin?” »