That was the opening line from nChain CEO Jimmy Nguyen -- whose company wants to make bitcoin spin-off bitcoin cash (BCH) the cryptocurrency of the future -- on a panel (or more precisely, a man-el) last week at Exeter University. He was referencing Sir Mix-A-Lot's early 90s classic Baby Got Back (NSFW music video here).
Thing is though, unlike Sir Mix-A-Lot and his pals, Nguyen and the rest of the BCH army aren't doing so well on getting their hands on the big stuff they so lust after.
Bitcoin cash's blocks -- the bundles of transactions that are processed, hashed and then stored on the blockchain -- aren't actually very big at all. Although their maximum size is 8MB, they are currently on average only using one 160th of that capacity: around 50 kilobytes, according to industry data provider BitInfoCharts.
Thats because people aren't really using bitcoin cash. It therefore seems a little odd that its developers have said they will implement a fourfold increase in the maximum block size later today to 32MB, or around 640 times its current average.
Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream -- a company that's funding bitcoin cash arch-enemy bitcoin core -- summed up the strategy rather nicely with this tweet last week:
View image on TwitterThat was the opening line from nChain CEO Jimmy Nguyen -- whose company wants to make bitcoin spin-off bitcoin cash (BCH) the cryptocurrency of the future -- on a panel (or more precisely, a man-el) last week at Exeter University. He was referencing Sir Mix-A-Lot's early 90s classic Baby Got Back (NSFW music video here).
Thing is though, unlike Sir Mix-A-Lot and his pals, Nguyen and the rest of the BCH army aren't doing so well on getting their hands on the big stuff they so lust after.
Bitcoin cash's blocks -- the bundles of transactions that are processed, hashed and then stored on the blockchain -- aren't actually very big at all. Although their maximum size is 8MB, they are currently on average only using one 160th of that capacity: around 50 kilobytes, according to industry data provider BitInfoCharts.
Thats because people aren't really using bitcoin cash. It therefore seems a little odd that its developers have said they will implement a fourfold increase in the maximum block size later today to 32MB, or around 640 times its current average.
Samson Mow, chief strategy officer at Blockstream -- a company that's funding bitcoin cash arch-enemy bitcoin core -- summed up the strategy rather nicely with this tweet last week:
View image on TwitterBitcoin cash's insistence on block-size expansion despite the lack of demand necessitating one is just the latest example of the sheer absence of reason in the crypto space, and also highlights the ideological and politicised nature of much of the decisionmaking. As financial blogger Frances Coppola pointed out in a post on Friday, the debate between the two bitcoin factions has become something more akin to a religious war than any kind of serious conversation over how best to develop the technology.
Bitcoin cash split away from the original bitcoin -- which the BCH army calls “bitcoin core” so as to distinguish itself as the true “bitcoin” -- in August last year, after a bitter row over how best to scale up the bitcoin blockchain so as to allow for more transactions. Both sides believe their version is the true fulfilment of pseudonymous bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision.
Although bitcoin cash was not adopted by the majority of the bitcoin network -- and is therefore effectively an “altcoin” like dogecoin or litecoin -- it does have some heavy-hitting backers, who believe in BCH with a zealous fervour. Those backers include the man once dubbed “Bitcoin Jesus”, Roger Ver, and Craig Wright, the man who said in 2016 he was able to prove he was Satoshi and then said he wasn't, who also happens to be chief scientist at nChain.
But bitcoin cash's main problem is the opposite of the one it is providing a solution to. It's not suffering from too many transactions, which might necessitate a block size increase; it's suffering from too few. There are more daily transactons in Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a dog meme that was created as a joke, than bitcoin cash.
Here's how the daily transaction numbers stack up for bitcoin cash versus dogecoin and bitcoin core, from data provider BitInfoCharts. (That's bitcoin cash in red at the bottom, with about ten times fewer transactions than bitcoin, which has a maximum block size of 1MB, and which as we have written many times before, is itself also very rarely used as anything more than a means of speculation because of its multiple deficiencies as a means of payment.)
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So little is bitcoin cash transacted, that one major exchange called OKEX decided to close trading in it last month, citing “inadequate liquidity”.
So why are bitcoin cash's developers expanding its size?
Tim Swanson, founder of tech consultancy Post Oak Labs, told us the following:Many within the bitcoin cash tribe have publicly promised its stakeholders they’d do it, so it’s part of their narrative. But at this stage ... it’s just a marketing effort - they’re not changing the user experience. So it seems like a way of being able to thumb their noses at the tribe across the other side of the river valley.
The only people who really cares about this specific issue - “censorship resistant” payments -- is a small, clique of vocal tribal warriors that you see on social media. I don’t think the average consumer really cares, otherwise we'd see more demand for transactional usage and by most measures, that still doesn't appear to be happening.
By convincing us that bitcoin cash is the internet currency of the future, its backers hope that its price will rise. As we have pointed out before, this is one of crypto's most problematic contradictions -- if you want it to be used as a currency to buy goods and services online with (totally legitimate ones of course), you can't simultaneously treat is as an asset to HODL.
The crypto world still doesn't seem to have grasped this. Shortly after making his Sir Mix-A-Lot reference, Mr Nguyen sought to reassure the attendees of the Exeter panel that the price of bitcoin cash would “stabilise” over time as it became more “usable”:
Right now people freak out because of the volatility, because the price isn’t really based on anything other than people wanting to get in knowing there’s only 21 million coins ... not because [they're] actually using it. So the the price right now is just speculative and we’re fighting for the long-term value of it that we think will stabilise the price. At a much higher number!
Confused? Us too.
Related links:
Sell all crypto and abandon all blockchain - FT Alphaville
What's up with 
When altcoin life imitates art - FT Alphaville
Busting the myth that bitcoin is actually an efficient payment mechanism - FT Alphaville
The Bitcoin collapses, charted - FT AlphavilleIt seems Bitcoin Cash was forked from Bitcoin to regroup all the technologically less perceptive.
The fork was pushed by miners who had an interest in having a coin they could control. The Bitcoin community was getting vocal about the monopoly a few miners had gained, especially after the first ASICS were developed by Bitmain (coincidentally the main supporter of Bcash) who saw an opportunity to make sure the hardware they developed would still be usable.
The basic tennet for Bitcoin Cashers is that bigger blocks are better, the modern equivalent of having bigger wheels on cars in order to go faster.
Off course nothing could be further from the truth but that's enough to convince the gullible. Bitcoin on the other hand, chose the route of layer 2 with lightning, a very fast payment layer on top of Bitcoin (the equivalent of using geared engines on cars).
The Bcash thought leaders also convinced them that only mining nodes are relevant in not only creating new blocks (which is true) but also for verifying transactions which is crucial to maintain a level of decentralisation. This was proven by the UASF (user activated soft fork) initiative that successfully rejected the SW2X implementation on Bitcoin right after the Bcash fork.
Bitcoin Cash is now a centralized Coin around 1 ASIC manufacturer that also controls the majority of hashing power by miners. In other words, not any better than Ripple or PayPal despite sharing most of its code with Bitcoin.Truth is the first casualty of war. Nobody is yet using Lightning. Bitcoin core miners use the same hardware as Bitcoin Cash. Under Blockstream's control Bitcoin lost market share. Ethereum was originally to be built upon Bitcoin but the Bitcoin Core developers were uncooperative. The rest is histo#1 Power of Bitmain: essential they have a special backdoor in their mining hardware to use a functionality (a registered patent stolen from US called ASIC Boost) that allows for ~20% more efficient mining on the same equipment - first and second stage implementation of Segregate Witness (which would substantially fix BTC scale-ability issue, in conjunction with lighting network) have the side effects of disabling overt and covert usage of ASIC Boost (revealing breach of patent and then laterally disabling the Bitmain in-house mining advantage) - hence Bitmain (through Antpool) have (i) consistently voted against the second stage of Segretated Witness implementation and (ii) actively supported Bitcoin Cash (which has neither first nor second stage Seg Wit implimentation)
BCH is moving to enable smart contracts on their blockchain with a hard fork due to be activated today - smart contracts require block chain to hold more data, hence the block size change in anticipation
#3 Don't forget Bitmain is one of the largest holders or BTC and BCH , as well as largest seller of equipment, so hypothetically has its long term interests (increase in price of BTC and BCH) aligned with others, albeit they have a far wider array of ways of making money (own underlying currency, mine underlying, sell equipment, operate mining pools, etc)
A lot of complex game theory in play here on multiple different levels with different actors and vested interested - things may not be as they seem at first sight. When deploying a system that is dependent on throughput, it is essential to build in enough capacity for use. Thats why the limit has been raised to 32MB. Imagine the user experience if a phone company started selling phones but as soon as people started using them it overwhelmed the network. This is effectively what happens with BTC, as you can see from the performance over the last weeks and months. Bitcoin Cash is building a payment system with the capacity for global use. More capacity is expected in the coming months.The increase in maximum blocksize is a statement that the miners and the developers are in agreement so Bitcoin Cash is not going to be waylaid by a banking cartel as happened with Blockstream.
You neglected I think to mention the other changes to reinstate opcodes and thereby enable the processing of smart contracts.
Finally, you can now use Bitcoin Cash on Openbazaar and hopefully this will increase transaction volume. Bitcoin Cash is a currency for use, not speculation - and there is plenty of it around as all Bitcoin holders as at August 1'st 2017 have an equal amount of Bitcoin Cash - unless they were stupid enough to sell it.
I recently attended a Bitcoin Cash conference in London - which was organised in part by Cryptartica. If there were any FT journalists there then they did not announce themselves.On my electron wallet I have set my transaction fee to 1 Satoshi per byte. My last two transactions were 236 Satoshis. This is considerably less than is normally needed on Bitcoin Core.
The volatile cryptocurrency’s price has shifted wildly ever since mid-December - when it hit a record high of more than $19,850 (£14,214) - with frequent heavy drops and speedy recoveries. Its price plummet back to earth in January and February, as governments and central banks around the world raised the spectre of future regulation.
Bitcoin’s value plummeted again shortly before Christmas, dropping by almost $2,000 (£1,449) in just an hour at one point, and almost slipping below the $11,000 mark (£7,970).
March saw bitcoin's price drop below $10,000, reaching a low of $6,500 before rebounding above $7,000.
Aside from the looming prospect of regulation, a series of high-profile thefts have also had a hand in the sudden rapid dips in value bitcoin and its rivals have experienced - the most recent of which was a failed raid on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.
Google's announcement that it would ban cryptocurrency advertising from its pages from June on the grounds that it considers it "deceptive content" was also a major blow to the sector.
Recent goings-on have demonstrated just how quickly things can change for investors.
It is worth $8,370 as of Thursday morning, up from around $6,500 in early April, according to the Coinbase exchange.
Its value is down by 2.8 per cent since this time yesterday and down by 11 per cent week-on-week. Bitcoin's value is up more than 4 per cent from what it was one month ago.
Bitcoin's rise last year meanwhile led to increasing amounts of interest in other digital currencies, such as ethereum, litecoin and ripple XRP - all of which have performed well recently - and more and more people are now looking to invest in digital currencies.
However, there are serious fears that bitcoin has created a bubble that could burst at any moment.
Numerous financial experts have advised potential investors to avoid getting involved with bitcoin, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission has told people to "exercise caution" and be wary of scammers.
But others have speculated that it could eventually rise towards the $1m (£724,549) mark.
Bitcoin has no central bank and is not linked to or regulated by any state.
An anonymised record of every bitcoin transaction is stored on a huge public ledger known as a blockchain.
Gadgets and tech news in picturesHowever, transactions made with the cryptocurrency are irreversible, which makes investors in bitcoin attractive targets for cybercriminals.
This article is being regularly updated to reflect bitcoin’s latest value.
We’ve teamed up with cryptocurrency trading platform eToro. Click here to get the latest Bitcoin rates and start trading. Remember that returns are not guaranteed, so you could get back less than you invested.
The Independent's bitcoin group on Facebook is the best place to follow the latest discussions and developments in cryptocurrency. Join here for the latest on how people are making money – and how they're losing it.Noticed btc is not moving as much as the alts. Plus the transaction rates of bitcoin are not that great at only six transaction per second with more users the slower is gets.
Not nearly as much as visa networks 30k a second. Then if you compare to holochain with a million plus transactions /sec and it gets faster with more users, blockchain v1 tech is outdated already. I started developing holo apps on the new holo internet as it supports html and javascript. Was easy to port over my existing websites on the new blockchain web.GE0RG1. USA INFLATION SYSTEMATICALLY MANIPULATED FOR OVER 20 YEARS TO COVERDECLINE , THE REAL US GDP IS FAKE, STILL THE WORST IN INFLATION TOCOME. According to shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts ,100 K monthly visits , similar to many other sites you find in googlewith alternative inflation Index search , the USA inflation isunderestimated by up to 100 % since 1980 if the old methodology ofthen is implied and is close to 10 % in 2017 yearly. In addition thehidden inflation by FED , In the last 7Q there must be some halftrillion additionally illegally printed money by FED that continuesin 2018 added to share and bond markets to inflate them for cheatingmiddle class to buy shares or bonds now with bubbles that willrealize to some 20 % new sharp price increase in USA as one can seefrom the 150 million searching bitcoin US citizens weekly these days, though bitcoin is still government project and they may diversifyto other countries currencies that do not print that much. See howmonopolies are causing decline in USA growth from 1980 with risingpower and mark up substantial increase over marginal costs in USAfrom some 20 % to some 60 % noah smithhttps://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-01/america-s-superstar-companies-are-a-drag-on-growthThe foreign reserves of USA , EU , UK sharply decline that will keeptheir currencies with avalanche effect in currency crisis , there arereal economy disruptions. Forbes article claims the CPI ismanipulated by government to reduce the incomes incomes of about 80million Americans , Social Security , food stamp recipients, militaryfederal retirees , children on school lunch programs. The CPI doesn’tmeasure changes in consumer prices, rather it measures thecost-of-living. Shadow stats claims the 1990s reduce officialinflation reporting, by shifting from a fixed-weight tosubstitution of goods based CPI, other actions were taken to reduce CPI reporting through the introduction of hedonic quality adjustments, starting in the 1980s. From 2000 their inflation is some 10 % compared to the official manips for decline. The graph misses that QE trillion hold in safes usd and half trillion printed recently may increase GDP or reduce decline in 2017 and sentiment but that will turn fast in dulated 2 – 3o % cpi. That declines the real GDP of US by half with correct inflation as you can see chart here shadowstats.com/alternate_data/gross-domestic-product-charts , the most impressive is that from 2009 crisis there is secular recession with some 2 % decline that is consistent to quality DSGE models for US , EU , UK conclusionecline of Gdp , share and bond prices and inflation in 2018 . USA , EU , UK data are not real only manipulate share and bond markets so 1929 records of debt ,inequality , pverty, low happiness , obesity , drugs stats and surveys are correct. The potential gdp declines with some 2 % per year in USA , similar in EU , UK since 2009 crisis , from where there are many tat cannot be included in labor force due to lost skills in crisis and economy is overheating with huge printed money to manipulate share and bond markets , when inflation real and official explode FED will stop add money and sharp decline will follow in 2018. Ask FED , ECB , UK these questions with your own research added.Mix-ups do happen with digital currency. A decentralized, open-source entity such as Bitcoin is, triggered craze among its creators to put together something unique. Money and resources weren't a thing of concern with them. The Bitcoin price has, paradoxically, increased as it became reputed day by day. As volatility of the currency is confirmed by it rapid rises and plunges, and the feature of illiquidity for buyers is an undeniable issue. [https://tinyurl.com/ybgmrw3k ] A revolutionary delight attracted the very first Bitcoin takers. Though, somewhere in the process, an important thing is getting lost, something that could follow or accompany a digital currency like a shadow, the extensive utilization for facilitating any sort of transactions.
Newsbtc is a pioneering and valuable Bitcoin news service offering you a keen and in-depth insight on all aspects of the digital currency. View and examine the real-time Bitcoin charts on the website to stay updated.
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Simonroux28
8 days ago
Sí, ¿quién hubiera pensado que despuésde est fuerte caída dans la moneda bitcoin crypto par debajo de $ 6,000, est-ce que le monastère est en train de dépasser la marca de 10.000 $? En loque a mí respecta, siempre il creído en el éxito de Bitcoin a pesar de suvolatilidad. Vous ne pouvez pas utiliser ce site pour lire les prix et les mises à jour de Capital-coins.com. Para mí, bitcoinreanuda su vuelo y no se detiene en este nivel.GE0RG1FED , ECB , UK 1. MOVE YOUR SAVINGS IN FOREIGN CURRENCY ASINFLATION IN US IS OVER 10% , USD DOWN 14% , BUT DEPOSIT INTEREST ISVERY LOW. THE DOLLAR DEVALUATES FAST DUE TO ILLEGAL USA MONEYPRINTING , EVIDENCE FOR EXUBERANCE FOR DOLLAR VALUE , AND INCREASINGUS INFLATION FAST – USA , EU HOLD BY 1.5 TRILLIONS IN SAFES THATWILL MULTIPLY IN BANKS SOON WHEN TAKEN OUT NOT TO DEVALUATE . FEDMAY CHEAT DOWN THE INFLATION TO MANIPULATE BONDS AND STOCK PRICES.INVESTIGATE HOW USA CPI IS MANIPULATED START FROM shadowstats SITE FOR EXAMPLE. FED, ECB , UK STRATEGY FOR HYPERINFLATION 50%FORFAST SHARE BUBBLE AND FAKE POLITICIANS . USD DOLLAR DECLINES FAST TO3 YEAR LOW DXY SHOWS WITH RETURNED RESERVES AND THERE IS A LOT OFNOISE IN USA AND WORLD. SEE HOW USD TERM IN GOOGLE TRENDS SEARCHESJUMP IN THE WORLD FROM 100 MILLION TO SOME 130 MILLION IN DECEMBERAND A THIRD ALSO IN USA PER DAY. ALSO OUT OF BITCOIN SEARCHERSSOME 400 MILLIONS IN WORLD PER DAY IN DECEMBER 2017 SOME 35 MILLIONSEARCH DOLLAR AS WELL. COMMODITIES PRICES ALSO INCREASE FAST AT2017 END AS COPPER INCREASES 28 % YEARLY, COTTON , PETROLEUM SOME 22%LAST 3 MONTHS THAT IS SOME 1% ADDITIONAL INFLATION FOR USA BY IMF ,FED ESTIMATIONS. USA AND EU , UK HAVE JUST DECIDED THESE DAYS ,WITHTHE CLEAR UNDERSTANDING THEY CREATE HYPERINFLATION , TO PRINTILLEGALLY MONEY AS MUCH AS NECESSARY TO SEE IN LAST ATTEMPT IF THEYCANSEND THEIR SOCIETIES IN IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE AND SELL THEM ALL THEOVER EVALUATED SHARES THE RICH HOLD TODAY. The main politicians andcentral bankers in USA, UK , DE , FR are with some 30 % approval vs50 % disapproval or are afraid to take posts in DE as capital holdersand scientist rule behind them to steal money with inflation for thecoming recession. In USA and EU there is by some half trillionillegally printed money already and by some another trillion in safesfrom QE . That is equal to half M1 for USA and money may multiply tohalf M2 so some 50 % hyperinflation is expected by now , while moneywill start to multiply with inflation as when money de valuate it isnice to have loans if not indexed properly interest rates. Now USA EUpeople hold in safes more then the liquid money in FED , ECB andtheir banks , so the people are the real central bank in thissituation. With 2 , 3 % inflation people will prefer soon to spendthe money from safes not lose the inflation and this will acceleratesuddenly and sharp the inflation. FED and ECB should be careful, notreckless in such circumstances. The organized crime of rich USA andEU will print first just enough to steal your money but latter willhave to cover by some 2 trillions in health , 2 trillions in pensionsand 2 trillions housing losses next years so here later printing isexpected as well. The high sovereign, private bonds and debts andcurrency reserves will be devaluated . When the currency reserves areover soon the USD and EUR will decline in currency crisis, similar tothe pound. The shares are supported with illegally printed money forsome year by now so the devaluation of the dollar and EUR and poundwill continue and inflation will follow soon so check alone pricebasket. What will follow in the economy of USA and EU is similarscenario to the end of Solviet union with change of economic systemwith strong inflation that leads to disruption of economy. Ask thementioned by me policymakers in other posts and FED and ECB , UKofficials the raised here questions as who is behind them to be sounpopular, is the only choice they have right now to inflate the USA, EU , UK economies substantially to see if irrational exuberance ispossible when growth , profits data are falsified and socialindicators as debt , inequality ,demography, obesity, social supportand many other show clear deep crisis in western societies the samequestions for USA, DE, FR, UK, IT , ES premiers. Ask if money areprinted illegally and provided straight to USA , EU , UK banks tobail them out and buy shares to prop the prices on people account ? .. . currency crises for bubble… with the illegally printed money toprop the share market for a bubble fed provided a lot of liquidity onthe market that is kept in jars. That liquid money reduce the priceof the dollar and create avalanche effects of returned currencyreserves. Last one two months fed continues to printing money tointervene on stock exchange , but also spends the currency reserveshold by the commercial and fed banks to hold the price of dollarstable for a while. The criminal policy of ECB is similar. There isalso increase in inflation in US and EU for this reason though thegrowth is manipulated data to stop outflow of deposits in EU seen inTarget 2 loans among eu countries with this bluff , while usa Isbluffing growth for stock exchange bubble correlated news. When thetruth is revealed the money from the jars that may be by trillion foreu and usa only from the quantitative easing will be added asliquidity to new illegally printed money straight donated to banks byyou public to create inflation. This policy usually ends withhyperinflation as currency crises as social costs cannot be postponedand money will be printed to cover them. Follow eu , uk for similarstory not to be happening there for printed money for a bubble thatcreate inflation and reduce currency on your account.