Hackaday Wants All Your Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the solution to the two generals’ problem, an economic case study in the history of currency, and the reason AMD graphics cards were so expensive a few years ago, is now accepted in The Hackaday Store.

Yes, we have a store, loaded up with swag, tools, and cool toys. We’re always stocking more  If you have coin sitting around, you can pick up a great little logic analyzer, a 3D printer, an ingenius two channel multimeter, ESP8266 boards, the ever popular Hackaday swag and a ton more. That 3D printer will cost you ฿ 3.75. A Mooshimeter is just ฿ 0.50.

It’s the perfect time to turn magical Internet money into something with real, intrinsic value, before the value of Bitcoin drops even more. Sure, we accept government-backed currency as well… but when will you have the chance to spend those hard-mined dollars hashes?

37 thoughts on “Hackaday Wants All Your Bitcoin

    1. For small (local) transactions the protection level of the global Bitcoin network is overkill.
      While transactions with small transaction fees are still processed swiftly, it’s ok to use Bitcoins, but directly handling every small transaction in the whole world is not supported by the Bitcoin design, not needed for its success.

      When the transaction limit is regularly hit, transaction fees will rise a little, to the point where the smallest transactions use some other payment system. These other systems could still use the bitcoin network for large transactions and international transfers. These other systems could be cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, or even cash.

      You would buy an ice cream with with a lower-trust currency, but the ice cream man can exchange his income to a Bitcoin savings wallet, and later use it to buy a new house, or import a container of ice cream cones.

      1. Hackaday uses a payment processor which assumes the risk of unconfirmed transactions (probably up to a certain amount). It’s very quick on the buyer’s end and will probably continue to be as long as unconfirmed transactions continue to be mostly trustworthy.

  1. Bitcoin is designed to overtake and make obsolete banks and some online services. It is faster, less expensive, and doesn’t require their third-party services to accomplish the same. Maybe Bitcoin does not have much momentum in retail transactions now, but I still believe in its tech. There are even startups like http://www.bitbond.com that are already replacing banks. It enables cross-border lending and allows to earn higher interest rates than what your bank pays.

    1. Bitcoin is NOT faster, know your shit, this is Hackaday. 3 transactions per second is extremely slow, and the current Bitcoin is NOT fast! This is Hackaday, know your shit. The current limitation is around 7 transactions per second. Banks/credit cards have capabilities of 2,000-5,000 transactions per second. To approach 2,000 Bitcoin network will have to move 7.8megabits per second in network speed – which isn’t impossible.

      http://www.bitcoinbulls.net/rebuttal-3-reasons-why-bitcoin-wont-be-the-new-internet.html

      https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Scalability

      https://kentindell.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/bitcoin-and-transaction-limits/

          1. That’s fine, but remember, if you want a settlement instrument where transactions can be reversed you need a centralized trusted party in control. This opens the door to censorship and arbitrary seizure of funds, just look at all the Paypal horror stories we see. If you are a legitimate business owner an irreversible payment system is very valuable. If you are Wikileaks or Edward Snowden a censorship proof payment network is also very valuable. If you are worried about losing your money to an untrustworthy party you have the option to use a multisig escrow service.

            The powerful function of Bitcoin is that as a base level protocol it should be neutral and irreversible. If people want further protection, applications and services can be built on top of Bitcoin to provide those needs.

          2. Your government can seize your funds and belongings no matter what type they are. They can prevent you from getting access to your funds even if they are in some Swiss bank account, or in some hidden Bitcoin wallet somewhere up in the cloud.

            I prefer having a centralized trusted party in control. As most other adults do.
            If you are a traitor or spy, then use Bitcoin.
            If you are drug dealer or other scumbag that (thinks) Bitcoin allows anonymous transactions then go ahead and use Bitcoin.

          3. @Dave

            Most adults don’t see Edward Snowden as a traitor. Also recent polls show that adults now trust banks as much as they trust congress. Also governments cannot seize your funds if they are properly secured.

            Beyond that though you have completely ignored the fact that if you want trusted third parties those can be built on top of Bitcoin, you are free to choose to use them. That arguments you have provided against Bitcoin are just rehashed from 2011, they were shortsighted then and are shortsighted now.

      1. Mr. peanutbutterjellytime, please tell me how fast the banks are processing an international wire transfer of, say USD 10,000 and the costs associated. Now tell me Bitcoin is not faster and cheaper

        1. The problem is that bitcoin is only faster and cheaper right now because nobody is using it. If you would try to replace all international wire transfers with bitcoin, the network would grind to a halt.

          1. Right. Same way the internet of 1990 would die if one billion users try to connect at the same time, or NASA was totally a waste of money, and should’ve been closed down because they had not yet been on the moon in the early 60s..

            I think Alexabder Pope said it best.

            “A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
            Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :
            There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
            And drinking largely sobers us again.”

          2. Cute. Have you read the actual discussions from bitcoin developers about scaling up the transaction rate ? Or did you just do a little learning ?

  2. I’m not really as bummed about BTC dropping in value. I don’t have any at the moment, so I’m not losing any value myself, and having a lower value makes BTC less intimidating to use as an actual day-to-day currency. Having a lower value might actually help it’s adoption in the long run, if from a psychological perspective, not an economic one.

      1. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have any. If you already had Bitcoin, then they are worth less now. If you were dumb enough to trade real US currency for Bitcoin, then you lost money on that investment.

        1. That’s nice, and you can feel bad all you want. I’m not telling anyone who lost money on a speculative currency that they can’t feel bad about it, and if you or anyone else lost money then it’s your prerogative to be disappointed. I’m just expressing my personal disposition wherein I do not feel bad, as I did not lose anything when bitcoin’s value fell, and that is my situation which may or may not differ from yours.

      2. That’s side-stepping my point. My point was not about $10USD of bitcoin being worth more or less based on the numerical BTC amount, but that when a single bitcoin is worth $1000USD, it can be intimidating to those who might otherwise buy into it. Similar to who people are often amazed by cooking with gold leaf, despite being able to buy sheets of it at the craft store for $2.

        1. I’m amazed at cooking with gold leaf. Why would anyone pay $2 for something that doesn’t add any flavor ?

          And if people are intimidated, they should buy mBTC instead. They are much cheaper.

  3. Awesome! Bitcoin will allow anyone to invest in anything, anywhere anytime. It also means you can conduct person to person business without a merchant account. The best use cases probably havent even been dreamed up yet.

    Is it perfect? No, nothing ever will be but its a step in the right direction.

    Thanks for the bitcoin support Hackaday. As soon as I get a chance I will be browsing the store.

  4. I have a kickstarter for Johncoin if anyone is interested. Their value legitimacy is twice that of the Franklin Mint’s feeble offerings. They even have a pic of the ex naked, eating bbq ribs on the face of the ecoin. The back is just a bit.ly that goes thru adfly and gives me ad money when you try to access the “support” page. Get in now on the ground floor and become a load-bearing member of this isosceles triangle of logistical prowess and wonderment. Yes, chrome dictionary comes default with wonderment in it thanks to my efforts and to the power of Johncoin.

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