We are talking about the anonymous person behind Bitcoin. I would put absolutely NOTHING past the original architect. Honestly, I would expect nothing else.
It is eternal, as long as you have the system and the software that it was created with.
This can be said for all sorts of things, from the Commodore 64 to Keynote. If you want to be able to access the data on an NES cartridge you are going to need special hardware and software. Yes the ROMS are available now online, but that's only because someone with the hardware and software made it available to others.
A lot of it has to do with the bubble economy. A bubble economy doesn't create substance, it just focuses on returns. Ever since the bailout, money has been cheap and "tech" showed some of the best returns—second only two developing markets.
Google and Apple have record revenues and profits and are propping up everything else. Everyone, including Facebook, thinks they are going to be the next Google. And as long as money remains cheap, it will keep flowing into tech without bounds. You look at a company like LinkedIn—a company with a P/E near 1000—and you can see is clear as day. Even sustainable businesses like Amazon have had their stock price inflated through the roof with cheap money looking for a good return.
When the bubble pops things will reset in the Bay Area. Money will go somewhere else and only the companies which have real businesses will survive. Right now, money is still cheap. Investors will continue to invest in cool apps, and public companies will continue to purchase those apps with funds from the people's retirement to stay relevant. Just like with every bubble, the person on the hook at the end of the day is the average citizen.
Today it's transaction malleability. Tomorrow it's something else. Bitcoin is an experiment. Those seeking to turn it into a ponzi scheme are pretending as if it's a reliable currency or investment.
Their is no accountability in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
If you transfer your coins anywhere you should consider them gone. The only "safe" coin is a cold storage coin. The second it goes hot it's at risk. The second you send it somewhere it's at risk.
Whether it's Silk Road or MtGox or whatever comes next, this will happen over and over again. People will spend their time either trying to exploit someone else's system or creating the illusion of trust in a system which they plan to exploit. The next MtGox is already out there.
This happens with dollars all the time too. But we hold people accountable. We have a number of ways to reverse transactions. We have insurance.
You don't understand it because it's beyond your comprehension, Morty. Because the world is full of idiots that don’t understand what’s important. And they’ll tear us apart, Morty. But if you stick with me, I’m gonna accomplish great things, Morty. And you’re gonna be part of them. And together, we’re gonna run around, Morty. We’re gonna- do all kinds of wonderful things, Morty.
I can recut this video and replace it with scenes from Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago or New York. Just show some clips of police brutalitiy and say, "Our politicians are corrupt."
The problem with videos like this is that they provide no context. It doesn't tell you a damn thing about what's going on. It's a video of a pretty girl shot with a DSLR with a shallow depth of field. Is this even shot in the Ukraine? No idea. Could be a studio pretty much anywhere.
"Rich get richer" is literally institutionalized in the United States through the SEC and tax law. Certain people are fighting to raise the limit to $2 million cash liquidity because there are too many millionaires now.
People who aren't rich partake in all kind of risky investments, from gambling to personal lines of credit. But when it comes to the ability to investment in new companies before they are sold to the public, the investment is deemed "too risky" for those with under a million dollars in cash liquidity. That is, the only investment opportunities that are deemed too risky for those who aren't rich are the investment opportunities that have a high expected value.
I've worked on all sides of this: brand, agency, buying likes, selling likes, etc.
The reality is this: everything in this video is 100% true and it's been this way almost since the beginning. But most marketers are just checking a box. No one really cares about the budget spent on social ads. It's a line item next to display and TV.
I should say, this isn't just true with Facebook. The same thing happens on Twitter and YouTube. Google AdSense its he only platform that even attempts to sniff out fraud. No one else even tries, because no one cares.
I've seen this happen with a few different graduates of these "boot camps". The claims usually check out… on the surface.
The problem is the people who complete these boot camps don't usually have an understanding of computer science. All they learned is syntax, a popular framework, and maybe an algorithm or two. It's just enough to pass an interview (depending on the department), particularly in cases where the interviewer NEEDS to make a hire.
They get jobs at Adobe or Google as contractors and their contracts don't get renewed. Or they get a full time gig that is over there head and then get fired. I've seen it happen a lot. Far too much.
I know 4 different people who have gone through these that are constantly rotating through jobs. 6 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, etc.. They can't hack it. They will spend hours trying to complete what would be a simple task and have no idea how to read someone else's code. Their managers get extremely frustrated. Moreover, I've tried to tell these people that they need to go back and spend the time to understand CS and the fundamentals, but they don't want to. They have an expectation that they "deserve" to be paid a competitive wage because they are a "programmer."
Of course, these are just four examples. I know others who have gone through boot camps and HAVE spent the time to work backwards and understand the fundamentals. But they are, in my opinion, the exception now. Most of the boot camps out there are conditioning people to believe that, if they pay $20,000 they will be a certified computer programmer entitled to that $100k salary. The reality is that all they come away with is a good enough understanding of a language and a framework that they "code" a website.
Having seen this first hand in a number of instances, I sort of agree with the idea of trying to regulate this, because a lot of people are being taken for a ride.