The Bitcoin Thread

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Sabre Wulf said:
Use an existing blockchain to store the address or create a new coin around the project.
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balky said:
Please explain how you would achieve this by using an existing blockchain
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Sabre Wulf said:
They are merely examples of solutions developed on existing blockchains. No, the're not there to solve the issue were discussing, that's why I brought it up - it's something that likely needs to happen.
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You said "Use an existing blockchain to store the address". I just asked how you would use an existing blockchain


Don't jump the gun, rather read it all before answering.
You have an email address - how many people share that? Now how many records / vectors do you have to check against the plain text address used? It's merely an indexing system for addresses that allows one way translation of a human readable 3 field address to a blockchain address.
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My point is you cannot have a user friendly address which doesn't change each time you want to receive a payment. Also you have to verify your email address each time you change a vector. As I said before a blockchain cannot do this, a centralised service that you trust would have to do this. One of the main selling points of bitcoin is that it's trustless.


Now you're getting it. The exchange is a value added service that profits off blockchain. What I'm talking about is a service that links a uniquely identifiable entity to a human readable address when you want to pay them. No need for centralization - the wallet can do the work.
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How would the wallet achieve this? It would have to link to a database to list your address for other wallets to find it. Bitcoins main selling points are that it is the oldest crypto, it has performed very well, it is de-centralised and trustless. You want to add a layer which is centralised and new. That defeats the purpose of bitcoin.

So? Blockchains without the centralised value adds are pretty much useless.
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If you use an exchange you're taking a risk. Lots of people have lost lots of money by trusting an exchange which got hacked or closed down. The blockchain didn't fail, the 3rd party service failed. You are suggesting adding another layer which can be compromised.
 
etienne_marais said:
I don't think they need your private key, and your public keys are public anyway... It can't be abused from what I understand.
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It's not about keys. The risk is that someone could possible re-route your user friendly address to their bitcoin address
 
balky said:
It's not about keys. The risk is that someone could possible re-route your user friendly address to their bitcoin address
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Tell us about how you aquired your crypto without a centralised service.
 
Sabre Wulf said:
Tell us about how you aquired your crypto without a centralised service.
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Yes I took a risk by using an exchange. No need to add an extra layer of risk.

balky said:
If you can come up with a workable solution you will probably make a lot of money. It's just not as easy as you think.
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I didn't say it's impossible, just not that easy. Let's wait and see if Netki gets adopted.
 
C4Cat said:
Why? Bank accounts are still just numbers...
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1234567890 is a lot shorter and easier for humans to communicate and re-create than 1Mz7153HMuxXTuR2R1t78mGSdzaAtNbBWX
The world is not completely digital.
 
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On a side note, you take chances and trust third party systems almost all day every day - like it or not. You use a computer you don't completely understand. Besides, my original point wasn't aimed at you, but at adoption of the system in general.
 
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Sabre Wulf said:
1234567890 is a lot shorter and easier for humans to communicate and re-create than 1Mz7153HMuxXTuR2R1t78mGSdzaAtNbBWX
The world is not completely digital.
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I don't think it's necessary to have to remember a number, the technology makes that redundant - in the world of bitcoin it is all digital. Most people use a different address for every transaction anyway
 
C4Cat said:
I don't think it's necessary to have to remember a number, the technology makes that redundant - in the world of bitcoin it is all digital. Most people use a different address for every transaction anyway
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I don't remember my bank account number either, but it's occasionally necessary to send someone those details without having electronic clipboard access. Retyping that address is a PITA and prone to errors. Adding an easy to copy address to a paper invoice might be useful too. Being connected is great - for you. It's not a reality for 4 billion though. Heck, nearly half the world's population has no internet access. All I'm saying is that there is going to have to be a bridge before it becomes mainstream. People are also creatures of habit.

Personally, I think many tech folk assume everyone gets this stuff. They don't any more than I get medicine or marketing.

If you've ever been that guy that your family go to for tech support, then you'll know what I'm getting at. You can show people how to do something but unless they do it regularly, they're going to have to ask you to show them all over again.

I'd love to know how many people have lost money by sending it to the wrong address. Wouldn't it be nice to get a confirmation 'You're sending 55.3 mBTC to Joe Bloggs' before you finally hit send?
 
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Sabre Wulf said:
I don't remember my bank account number either, but it's occasionally necessary to send someone those details without having electronic clipboard access. Retyping that address is a PITA and prone to errors. Adding an easy to copy address to a paper invoice might be useful too. Being connected is great - for you. It's not a reality for 4 billion though. Heck, nearly half the world's population has no internet access. All I'm saying is that there is going to have to be a bridge before it becomes mainstream. People are also creatures of habit.

Personally, I think many tech folk assume everyone gets this stuff. They don't any more than I get medicine or marketing.

If you've ever been that guy that your family go to for tech support, then you'll know what I'm getting at. You can show people how to do something but unless they do it regularly, they're going to have to ask you to show them all over again.

I'd love to know how many people have lost money by sending it to the wrong address. Wouldn't it be nice to get a confirmation 'You're sending 55.3 mBTC to Joe Bloggs' before you finally hit send?
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I agree. If it's going to have more mainstream acceptance, it needs to be more user friendly. But it doesn't require any changes to the way Bitcoin addressing works, just more user friendly apps. I'm thinking along the lines of a phone wallet that allows you to publish and update your receiving address in a public directory validated against your phone number, integrated with a lookup in your Whatsapp contacts (or something along those lines). Then, to send Btc you just look up your contact and send. I'm sure there are already startups working on this sort of thing, and if not, there's a great killer app idea for y'all.
 
Archer said:
What's wrong with using a QR code?
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They work well for print media and on signage when you have a mobile application that scans it, but if someone emails me a QR code that I receive on a desktop, or put one on a website and my wallet is on the same PC I'm viewing it on, things get fiddly. And what would be the point of messaging your receiving wallet address QR code to someone on mobile? The apps are designed to scan on the camera for them so it just doesn't work well for any scenario where the app that needs to scan it is on the same device that displays it.
 
garp said:
They work well for print media and on signage when you have a mobile application that scans it, but if someone emails me a QR code that I receive on a desktop, or put one on a website and my wallet is on the same PC I'm viewing it on, things get fiddly. And what would be the point of messaging your receiving wallet address QR code to someone on mobile? The apps are designed to scan on the camera for them so it just doesn't work well for any scenario where the app that needs to scan it is on the same device that displays it.
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In which case the copy paste of your address will surely suffice........... It's not like you have to choose one or the other and only use that for the rest of your life
 
garp said:
I agree. If it's going to have more mainstream acceptance, it needs to be more user friendly. But it doesn't require any changes to the way Bitcoin addressing works, just more user friendly apps. I'm thinking along the lines of a phone wallet that allows you to publish and update your receiving address in a public directory validated against your phone number, integrated with a lookup in your Whatsapp contacts (or something along those lines). Then, to send Btc you just look up your contact and send. I'm sure there are already startups working on this sort of thing, and if not, there's a great killer app idea for y'all.
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Archer said:
In which case the copy paste of your address will surely suffice........... It's not like you have to choose one or the other and only use that for the rest of your life
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And everyone here is assuming everyone has a capable device, internet access and is at least savvy to that extent.
Besides, not being able to confirm the address you're sending money to is a major security risk. The mere fact that you simply accept it / take it for granted is proof of the way we blindly trust technology. A site hack and replacement of code that dishes out addresses is enough. How sure are you that your fav supplier will honour your purchase if you deposit to the wrong address, which, by the way, you can't even prove you were supplied by their site.

You know, everyone is crowing about decentralization yet your choice of crypto server and these sites you purchase from use certificates that are generated by a central authority. You wouldn't do business without that.

My only point in there is that it's not yet ready for prime time.
 
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