Cryptocurrency Plus

What's This? Image: pixabay By Team CommerceMashable Shopping2017-08-14 14:44:31 -0400 Want to get rich enough to fill bathtubs with dollar bills just for kicks? Could Bitcoin make that happen? Let's dive in. When Bitcoin debuted in 2009, its early adopters bought up large amounts of the digital currency for pennies. Since then, Bitcoin’s value has increased dramatically, turning several of those initial investors into millionaires. But the economics surrounding Bitcoin and other forms of digital currency like Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and most recently, Bitcoin Cash, all dubbed “cryptocurrency,” can be unpredictable and complicated. One huge benefit to using cryptocurrency is that it can't be stolen or counterfeit. When digital currencies are exchanged, they're converted into illegible code that not only makes them secure but also makes the sender and receiver appear anonymous. Unlike normal currency, digital currencies are not government regulated. No hi...

Jackson: That brings to mind the recent investor letter which Oaktree's Howard Marks sent out in which he said that Bitcoin and other digital assets aren't real. What do you say to that? Sacks: Marks isn't wrong to raise an alarm bell about speculation, but he's wrong in saying it's not "real." That's like saying software isn't real. Of course it's real. Did the U.S. dollar become less real when it stopped being backed by gold? Cryptocurrency is the next step in that same evolution — to make currency more virtual. In its purest form, currency is confidence. It's a network effect around an agreed-upon medium of exchange that has some promise of scarcity. Bitcoin enforces its scarcity through a combination of cryptography and economic incentives ("cryptoeconomics"). A lot of people find that more comforting than relying on the good faith of a government. In math we trust. People in the U.S. — and especially longtime partici...