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General Discussion / Re: toast's evolving long-term plans
« on: March 31, 2014, 07:54:52 pm »hard: bitshares_tooklit + PL theory = ProtoType (PTT)
Ethereum competitor. Stealth mode!
You could call it Vaporeum.
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hard: bitshares_tooklit + PL theory = ProtoType (PTT)
Ethereum competitor. Stealth mode!
1. Centralization should be the last resort, not decentralization. If you can do something decentralized then you should, unless you can't.
We already have a highly centralized world...
...and while centralization can be more efficient in situations where a resource is scarce and decision making must be made quickly such as with military hierarchy...
...most of what we are dealing with is information and information is not scarce. We aren't ever going to run out of information, so to centralize is actually damaging as it concentrates the risk around those points of centralization.
But if you barter trade something that's worth $1500 for something else that's worth $1500, how is that a gain?
If you buy something for 10¢ and use it later to buy something that is worth $10,000, then under IRS rules for barter, you have to pay tax on the $9,999.90 gain.
See above, it is a Like-Kind Exchange and you can defer taxes on it. You can do a Like-Kind Exchange for capital property that is not one of the excluded categories. Virtual currencies are not one of the excluded categories.
I don't live in the USA, so I'm not familiar with the laws there, but I don't understand how bitcoin can be seen as property.
Bitcoin is owned by no one, the keys to the network are found and free. Although the keys allow manipulation of corresponding entries on the public digital ledger, there is no real "ownership" involved. It just so happens that people are more easily convinced to operate in your favour with the help of money, but that favourable position is not your personal property. As I see it.
I think all the analogies with gold have come back to bite the bitcoin-users.
Basically, the insured is betting that he or she will suffer some cost. Insurance works, because the cost is something the people will tend to avoid, like broken bones, wrecked cars, and such.
In the scenario above, the investors are betting that the insured are excessively pessimistic.
Isn't that what insurance companies do? They hope to collect more in premiums than they payout in claims. If you end up with reserves and the premium to payout ratio is more than 1, the "investors" or owners of the insurance company make a profit.
Agencies do something similar where they pool their premiums together and those who have less than a certain percentage of the premiums in claims get a profit and those who exceed the threshold get nothing. They are spreading the risk amongst more agencies for a better chance at steady profit.
So the existing shareholders are left holding the bag? Or selling their shares for pennies on the dollar?If the others in the pool feel that one has violated some unstated rule, then they can reduce the payout.
Why would anyone risk their coverage in a pool like this? So all I'd need to do is buy up a bulk of the shares and I could decree who gets what as a payout?
Word would spread, and that pool would become unpopular.
As I said before, insurance is for mitigating risk. These pools sound awfully risky to those they are supposed to provide insurance.
But if you barter trade something that's worth $1500 for something else that's worth $1500, how is that a gain?
hehe
"Don’t give your shares away to the miners and pump and dump geniuses" ?
General public has a positive connotation to me... What made it sound bad to me was the slightly greedy subtext: Don't give anything to the public give it all to us! Doesn't make you trust that "us"....
If the others in the pool feel that one has violated some unstated rule, then they can reduce the payout.
Why would anyone risk their coverage in a pool like this? So all I'd need to do is buy up a bulk of the shares and I could decree who gets what as a payout?