Re: Would like some more details on bitcoin and mining
Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:19 am
Article wrote:A normal person is incapable of running their own wallet.
This is key.
To a point, it does not matter if the system really is "perfect." The point is that it will always be implemented by imperfect people, and this problem transcends trust in the exchangers or even bugs in the code.
Something that works perfectly, provided I do it perfectly, is still not very useful. Fastidiously managing a personal hot/cold wallet scheme to make sure that exchangers don't rob me blind means that i have to, unfailingly, do it correctly every time. I don't trust myself to do that, and trusting the average american to do that is simply ridiculous.
How many people can't remember their passwords? How many people don't backup their files? These are known problems to anyone who knows anything about tech support! Leaving aside the annoying hassle and complication of maintaining proper cold/hot wallet separation in the first place, the reality is that people would be losing their cold wallets routinely. This is obvious, because people are already routinely locking themselves out of their accounts and losing all their family photos/videos in HD crashes.
And plenty of people who know better just don't find the time or urgency to actually *DO* better. Just a couple of months I (luckily!) retrieved the contents of a HD that came from a laptop that a cat spilled water all over. It had the only videos and photos of a couple's newborn child (outside of the few they posted to Facebook). The father knew better, he works in tech support. He was sheepish about the whole thing and there was no sense in lecturing him because life just happens.
And if we think malware is bad now, what would happen if BTC actually took the world by storm? Backups and encryption cannot save you if someone has a keylogger on your system. Right now the incentives are lulz, DDoS bots, CCs, etc.. If the incentive was "steal ALL the monies!" I mean, wow. Scary!