{"id":13480,"date":"2015-02-09T01:27:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T09:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=13480"},"modified":"2017-04-25T04:07:47","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T11:07:47","slug":"bitcoins-unique-features-lighten-up-its-ambiguous-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/bitcoins-unique-features-lighten-up-its-ambiguous-future","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin\u2019s Unique Features Lighten Up its Ambiguous Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The recently concluded Bitcoin & the Blockchain Summit in San Francisco on January 27 came up as a vivid source of both anxiety and inspiration. As speakers tackled Bitcoin\u2019s technological limits and possible drawbacks that can be caused by impending regulations, Bitcoin advocate Andreas Antonopoulos lifted up everyone\u2019s hope by discussing how bitcoins will eventually survive and flourish. He managed to do so with no graphics or presentations to prove his claim, just his utmost confidence and conviction that it really will no matter what.<\/p>\n

On the currency being weak<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been statements about Bitcoin\u2019s technology surviving, but not the currency itself. Antonopoulos, however, argues that Bitcoin\u2019s technology, network, and currency are interdependent with each other, which means that one element won\u2019t work without the other. He said: \u201cA consensus network that bases its value on the currency does not work without the currency.\u201d<\/p>\n

On why Bitcoin works <\/strong><\/p>\n

Antonopoulos underscores the fact that Bitcoin works because it is a dumb, transaction-processing network. Calling Bitcoin dumb is far from disparaging Bitcoin\u2019s image as he actually thinks of this dumbness as Bitcoin\u2019s true source of strength. According to him, it is a dumb network that supports smart devices, pushing all of the intelligence to the edge. It\u2019s an innovation without permission.<\/p>\n

On being 2014\u2019s worst investment <\/strong><\/p>\n

Antonopoulos also argues that those who believe bitcoins to be a bad investment only considers the price when there are other equally important factors to be looked upon such as continuous investments and technological innovations.<\/p>\n

For instance, 500 startups were created in 2014, which generated $500 million worth of investments and produced thousands of jobs, some portion from Bitcoin gambling<\/a>. This was also the year that two remarkably genuine technologies were created, the multi-sig and hierarchal deterministic (HD) wallets.<\/p>\n

On waiting for Bitcoin to flourish in 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Antonopoulos then stated with unwavering certainty: \u201cGive us two years. Now what happens when you throw 500 companies and 10,000 developers at the problem? Give (it) two years and you will see some pretty amazing things in bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n

On mining updates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, mining for bitcoins prove to be more challenging than before. A Bitcoin mining facility in China, for instance, generates 4,050 bitcoins every month, which is equivalent to around $1.5 million, but not without repercussions and complexities. The entrepreneurs in the mining facility realize that as the level of difficulty and computing power increase, the ratio also gradually changes.<\/p>\n

Typically, the entire mining procedure utilizes about 1,250 kilowatt-hours of electricity, putting the factory\u2019s electricity bill to about $80,000 every month. Nowadays, their miners produce 20\u201325 bitcoins a day, significantly lesser compared with their previously 100 mined bitcoins per day.<\/p>\n

On leaving a thought<\/strong><\/p>\n

The confidence for Bitcoin\u2019s bright future has been regained, thanks to Antonopoulos\u2019 contagious exhilaration and resolute belief in its potential. However, we can only wonder what the increasing difficulties in mining for bitcoins entail to the cryptocurrency\u2019s overall performance and future, though Bitcoin\u2019s unique features have been proven to be strong and resilient enough to surpass any challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recently concluded Bitcoin & the Blockchain Summit in San Francisco on January 27 came up as a vivid source of both anxiety and inspiration. As speakers tackled Bitcoin\u2019s technological limits and possible drawbacks that can be caused by impending regulations, Bitcoin advocate Andreas Antonopoulos lifted up everyone\u2019s hope by discussing how bitcoins will eventually [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1318,43,1523,1761,39,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bitcoin","category-business","category-computing","category-cryptocurrencies","category-economics","category-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46627,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13480\/revisions\/46627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}