[smc-discuss] i5 CPU വില് ഇപ്പൊഴും മൈന്‍ ചെയ്യാവുന്നതും ഭാവിയില്‍ വളര്‍ച്ച പ്രാപിക്കന്‍ സാധ്യതയുള്ളതുമായ ക്രിപ്റ്റോ കറന്‍സി ഏതാണുല്ലതെന്ന് പറയാമോ

[Noufal Ibrahim KV]

On Sun, Jan 14 2018, Nandakumar Edamana wrote:


[...]

>> Because they're not useful as currencies.
> I believe that the point of cryptocurrencies is anonymity. Since it
> isn't possible to convert crypto money to regular currency anonymously
> (and it shouldn't be), is there any point in considering them an
> investment option? I don't think so.

[...]

I've been following this a little closely and also been educating myself
on the tech. underneath these things so as to do a couple of public
workshops on it. Here's my opinion.

The main advantages of P2P currencies is their resilience. If there are
people who are willing to accept them as currency, it's next to
impossible to "shut them down". You can demonetise bitcoin or hamper it
in any way short of a nation wide internet blockade. In this sense, it
has properties similar to the internet itself. This also makes them
resistant to damage if a pieces of the infrastructure fail unlike the
situation with centralised networks like VISA. 

Anonymity is not really a guarantee. With bitcoin, the fact that address
xyz has so much currency in it is public (on the blockchai). You can get
it online
e.g. https://blockchain.info/address/1GGnU6tbdsiEwEyoArV9MrhmtikcgsuGhx.
What's not available is whether the private key for this address is with
Alice or Bob. So, it's pseudonymous. If I find that out, the cover is
blown. There are some currencies like Zcash which hide even this. I'm
not so sure of whether this is a good idea though. In a modern society,
some amount of insight is necessary for things like taxation and
projects like Gnu Taler (which is not blockchain based) allow people to
transact with digital coins that have more or less the same properties
as paper money.

As for investment value, I think it's a bubble. There's a lot of hype
around how the value will increase and people will make a lot of money
etc. That's becoming a self fulfilling prophecy and people are getting
drawn into this. That, to my laymans mind, sounds like a sign of a
bubble but I don't know. 

The lack of anonymity when changing cryptocurrency to a fiat currency
does not disqualify it as a investment. If I buy B$ for 100Rs and then
sell it when it's valued at 1000Rs, I make 900Rs profit. I pay taxes on
that (say 30%) and then get 600 Rs as profit which is a neat deal. It's
still a decent investment.

Finally, to the topic of whether there is a currency you can mine with
an i5 CPU, I don't know. :)


-- 
Cordially,
Noufal
http://nibrahim.net.in