Child abuse imagery found within bitcoin's blockchain
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Last week, Dennis Rodman once again entered the media spotlight by taking a trip to North Korea. Media photographs of Rodman consistently pictured him decked out in gear emblazoned with the logo of his sponsor, PotCoin. The video embedded in the center of its homepage—which I could not help but to transcribe below—explains it all:. Blockchain bitcoin smsu courtesy of BTC Keychain blockchain bitcoin smsu Potcoins have a number of advantages.
Potcoins are transferred directly from person to person via the Net. This means that the fees are much lower. You can use them in every country. Your account cannot be frozen and there are no prerequisites blockchain bitcoin smsu arbitrary limits [so you can pay for as much pot as you want in a single transaction].
Your Potcoins are kept in your digital wallet on your computer or mobile device. Sending Potcoins is as simple as sending an e-mail and you can purchase anything with Potcoin [the possibilities!!! The Potcoin network blockchain bitcoin smsu secured by thousands of computers using state of the art encryption. Anyone can join the Potcoin blockchain bitcoin smsu and the software is completely open source so anyone can review the code.
Potcoin opens up blockchain bitcoin smsu whole new blockchain bitcoin smsu for innovation. When everyone has access to a global market, great ideas flourish [insert marijuana joke here]! In summary, because Potcoin appears to be Bitcoin for pot and also for things other than pot, it is effectively yet another cryptocurrency alternative to Bitcoin.
Indeed, after watching this video, I found an eerily similar one on the homepage of bitcoin. Hanna Halaburda has also written a book on the topic: The Economics of Digital Currencies. Any cheaper than that and Dennis may as well steal the ball. As Bitcoin users, both Scottie and Dennis have installed Bitcoin wallet software that allows them to facilitate the transaction. This record, called the Blockchain, represents a complete history of incremental groups of completed transactions, referred to as blocks.
The Blockchain takes the place of a public ledger for Bitcoin. To undertake the transaction, Dennis must provide a digital signature to authenticate that he is in possession of and can transact Bitcoins. In addition to having a private component only available to Dennis, it contains a public component that reveals that Dennis can undertake the transaction and allows him to have the transaction recorded in the Blockchain.
Once the transaction is verified by other Bitcoin users more on these belowit is added to the ever growing Blockchain. Here is where it gets weird: Users, called miners, compete against each other to solve problems associated with each transaction.
The first miner to solve the puzzle associated with a group of transactions gets to add that group to the Blockchain, thus expanding the history of blockchain bitcoin smsu and enabling the transfer of Bitcoins. The miner is rewarded with Bitcoins—which is how new Bitcoins come into being—and earns the right to charge a transaction fee for verifying a group of transactions more on this in the abovementioned references.
If the transaction blockchain bitcoin smsu Scottie and Dennis belongs to that particular group, the financial component of their transaction is completed with some caveats left out and Scottie can ship blockchain bitcoin smsu ball to Dennis. However, as I indicate below, Scottie might wish to smoke two joints while he waits for a few additional blocks to be added to the chain before shipping the ball though I make no personal recommendation as to what Blockchain bitcoin smsu should actually do blockchain bitcoin smsu his time while he waits.
As described, the transaction verification process does not involve a centralized authority such as a bank. This leaves potential room for fraud as follows.
If Dennis were a character of ill repute, he might wish to set up an additional transaction sending his one Bitcoin to an alternative account that he possesses. If Scottie, worried that the ball would deflate if not sent in time, sends it before the transaction with Dennis is added to the Blockchain, he would have no recourse blockchain bitcoin smsu he personally knows Dennis and can verify the terms of the transaction to a centralized authority. Moreover, even if Scottie could verify these terms, he might learn that Dennis lives in some blockchain bitcoin smsu like North Korea, which might not offer him any recourse.
Alternatively, Scottie might view a new block being added to the Blockchain as sufficient time before sending the basketball. But then he risks that Dennis might execute and verify by mining additional fraudulent transactions on top of his now fraudulent block to extend the fraudulent chain before others solve blockchain bitcoin smsu puzzles to extend the true chain sufficiently far to actuate public agreement stipulating that the true chain is indeed the correct representation of the full Blockchain.
This is not particularly likely blockchain bitcoin smsu Dennis has sufficient computing power to outcompete all active miners blockchain bitcoin smsu Scottie sends him the ball.
Thus far, I have made a stab at explaining buyer side fraud, but sellers with no reputation may be fraudsters as well, blockchain bitcoin smsu it is less blockchain bitcoin smsu to me how to resolve concerns over seller side fraud. I found a rather creative suggested solution on an archived Reddit post requiring a buyer to confirm receipt before a seller can access the Bitcoins sent by the buyer, but also preventing the buyer from any further access to the Bitcoins once she has undertaken the transaction sent the Bitcoins.
Here I have only touched upon the bare bones of Bitcoin, but missing from this blog post is a slew of mathematics, economics, and practicalities. For those interested, I advise you to consult one or more of the readings above or to talk blockchain bitcoin smsu an actual expert on the subject. I do not condone the use of any illicit substance and do not recommend the abuse or misuse of any mind or mood altering drug, whether illicit or not.
I am, however, a vocal advocate and frequent user of double entendre.
