Nathaniel Popper Skeptics

The mystery of what cryptocurrency really is and what the future holds for it is another trait of Bitcoin that resembles the buildup of the Tulip mania bubble. A sense of mystery was created from the colors being unknown for the tulips that were cross bred which assisted in pushing up the values of tulips. With the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) taking opposing views on whether Bitcoin is a commodity or security, the air of mystery due to weak regulations has contributed to its price instability. It can be expected that the bubble will burst as Bitcoin will increase in the near future. When? That’s the million dollar question. As the Bitcoin market surges, it has attracted increased public attention and everyone wants a piece of the pie. As a result, the market value of Bitcoin increases exponentially. There are approximately 16 million bitcoins in circulation today from a total of 21 million. With 5 million or less left to be mined, it makes Bitcoin mining very competitive

Consumers tend to be comfortable with virtual transactions and they also prefer payments using electronic systems to cash. There is an increase of accessing personal information to online platform (DeVries, 2016). However, the awareness of customer is likely to be a limiting factor for cryptocurrency to adapt into monetary market. According to Consumer Cryptocurrency Survey, there is only 6% of participants “very” familiar with cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin (PwC 's Financial Services Institute, 2015).

DogeCoin was a major hit and started to sky rocket up in price and eventually reached a market value of about $400 million. However, with this great success and overwhelming popularity of this coin it brought along a ton of scammers and hackers which in return brought the value of this coin to almost nothing and now the coin is pretty much useless. The main problem that happened was that the hackers and scammers were tricking people to support Dogecoin and getting the money from it whereas the people would get nothing in return. One hacker actually was able to raise up to $750,000 by tricking people to support DogeCoin. Kevin Roose was the writer of the article that interviewed Palmers, he got some insight from Palmer and found out that after what happened to DogeCoin, Palmer is actually one of the leading people to voice the major problems about cryptocurrencies. Palmer also said that he believes that the reason why all or these currencies have such a huge crash is because they seeing a similar effect of what happened to DogeCoin, so he has warned people that investing in these currencies can lead to you being scammed and left with nothing. He is mainly worried and has already been seeing the first clues of this affect happening as other cryptocurrencies are becoming more popular, people will pour money

“Skeptics can’t cool blistering Bitcoin” (DATE), written by Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times develops an article giving many detail on the state of which bitcoin is at and how skeptics can’t burn out the prices bitcoins are reaching.

My credentials for speaking on this topic (discuss research – what search engine or index and key terms will you use? Discuss training, not merely personal experience)

We take the position that digital currencies are a fad. As argument, we try to clarify the definition of currency in general and explain what a "digital currency" really mean. Than we examine the arguments for the digital currencies and at the end we present the evidences of perils of digital currency.

In this essay I attempt to answer the following two questions: What is Karl Popper’s view of science? Do I feel that Thomas Kuhn makes important points against it? The two articles that I make reference to are "Science: Conjectures and Refutations" by Karl Popper and "Logic of Discovery or Psychology of Research?" by Thomas Kuhn.

Cryptocurrency is still at a very early stage, where many of today’s leaders do not quite understand the currency. It appears everyone is waiting for someone to make the first move. There are several concerns that prompted discussion of regulating cryptocurrencies. One concern is the use of cryptocurrency exchanges, which facilitate virtual currency transactions and exchange to denominated currencies. Virtual exchanges have proved extremely difficult for law enforcement to monitor for illegal activity. The U.S. remains particularly concerned that cryptocurrency will pose added challenges to combating terrorism. The exchange of money via virtual networks is seen to attract “cyber-criminals” which makes detecting acts of illegal funding extremely difficult. The concern is if adequate controls are not implemented, terrorist groups may successfully finance their illegal operations in the U.S. or elsewhere. One can easily imagine how the cryptocurrency industry could develop into an exclusive source of funding, serving the needs of already illegal

The hidden power behind cryptocurrency is blockchain technology, which is as tough to recognize as it is to discuss. There are definitely in-depth descriptions of exactly how blockchains work offered, yet generally, each is built on an openly

Please complete an advanced written paper on Bitcoin. The length, subject, and stance you take on this is completely your prerogative.

Popper opines that a significant problem with the scientific method is that scientists get so caught up in evidence that supports a specific conjecture that they either 1) fail to consider

On one hand, cryptocurrency advocates negatively allude to centralized solutions need for control (e.g. Central Banks, Governments, etc.) and their lack of transparency (e.g. financial institutions). On the other hand, critics of cryptocurrency refer to a decentralized system that disseminates power, responsibility, and control to every and anyone. For example, the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin has no value of its own contrary to what many argue. Its value is derived by the number of people adopting it and pouring their money into the BTC ecosystem. Investments by deep-pocketed investors like Winklevoss twins (estimated BTC stake around 11 million USD back in April), Chamath Palihapitiya, ex-Facebook executive and early employee, who has already dropped $5 million into BTCs and has plans to invest another $10 million are the reasons for skyrocketing price of bitcoins [3] [4]. Add to this, the publicity and trust in the system they are generating. Bitcoin's future potential was a hot topic this October at emTech, an MIT conference on emerging technologies [5]. Considering BTCs more as a start-up rather than a currency, its growth curve makes more sense but unlike a start-up it’s not generating any value itself but gaining people’s trust. And that’s what gives it value.

In the world of currency and forex, the core credentials of what makes up the market seldom changes. However, in 2008 a brand new currency arrived in the form of bitcoin, with this cryptocurrency certainly working to upset the apple cart. Widely considered to be the most volatile currency in the world, during 2015 over 100,000 bitcoin based transactions took place, which shows that usage levels of the cryptocurrency is growing. Considering how the commodity is maturing, many sectors (including retail and gambling) are now warming up to the idea of adopting bitcoin. Looking back through time it is clear that this cryptocurrency has been on quite the journey, with the following taking an in-depth look at the rich history of bitcoin.

To start off primarily, Bitcoin is a digital currency as opposed to physical currency that we’re accustomed to and use in our daily life. Straight off their site, Bitcoin is described as a pseudo-anonymous, P2P technology operating with no central authority or banks, it’s open-source, public, owned by no one and open for everybody to take part; but what does that all mean? “Bitcoin is the leader in a new generation of emerging currencies known as “cryptocurrencies” which aim to, among other things, facilitate the movement of money electronically while still maintaining a sense of privacy,” (Hobson)