Tethering Bitcoin to WSJT for Network Resilience

Thank you for the response and info.
It shows that you are a good guy and willing to help, I think most hams are. Have a good day. 73.

 

No room for commerce on the amateur bands, period! And as far as emcomm goes, we amateurs are pressing that agenda in to our bands more and more. Looks like its time for the FCC to step up and expand our bandwidth.

 

Bitcoin is created out of thin air, is not backed by anything (physical or otherwise), is quite volatile at times, and can be lost in the 'Ether' never to be found again. Thanks but no thanks - I'll keep my cash in my back pocket where it won't disappear in a blink of the power system.

Bitcoin exists only in the 'Ether' of the Internet.... If the Internet goes down during an emergency, for example, due to a failure of the Power Grid or a Cyber Attack, you will NOT be able access your Bitcoin account.

 

Or your bank account. Or your credit card account. Or your investment account. Or your 401k account... Do I need to go on?

EDIT: Or, perhaps, you have a local hardware wallet and you keep your BTC until the grid comes back up. If it does, you're golden. If it doesn't, none of the other services will work, either!

 

I am still a novice in understanding the cryptocurrency innovation. But to me the point of the OP is if an internet outage, also affecting the conventional banks and other financial systems, is just isolated to a region, due to say, a NATURAL DISASTER, like in post Maria-cane KP4 / KP2, a cryptocurrency holder, through use of HF propagated RADIO, may be able to perform transactions with the still freely functioning outside world.

Or in the case of, heaven forbid, a WAR, including the "civil" rebellion type, when the communications and banking systems may become seized by a repressive GOVERNMENT. Its a boldly clever diplomatic poke as well in the vid presentation (1:51:35) when KM6NCF shows a potential example of radio enabled Bitcoin transfers being geographically centered on the border between the DPRK and South Korea.

Conventional nationalized currency, even physical, under egregious political circumstances can become confiscated or rendered quickly worthless through runaway inflation. My grandfather bequeathed me a 50 million Papiermark note from the Weimar Republic, worth only pennies had it been converted to RM / DM, now nullified by the Euro. Is the Fed really any safer?

The non-physical commodity fall back "when all else fails", even radio, is ... BARTER (?)

 

Seems to be more than one take on bitcoin....

"opinion: Price of bitcoin will collapse, says economist Rogoff, who wrote the book on currencies
State won’t tolerate anonymous payments that facilitate money laundering and tax evasion
But it is folly to think that bitcoin will ever be allowed to supplant central-bank-issued money. It is one thing for governments to allow small anonymous transactions with virtual currencies; indeed, this would be desirable. But it is an entirely different matter for governments to allow large-scale anonymous payments, which would make it extremely difficult to collect taxes or counter criminal activity."
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/p...t-who-wrote-the-book-on-currencies-2017-10-09

 

Little doubt the PRICE of Bitcoin is following a speculative BUBBLE curve. But so did the value of other web based disruptive tech like Google, etc.

Certainly no shortage of controversy, but asking Ken Rogoff, an "Olde School" former IMF / Fed guy, for an opinion on cryptocurrencies seems like asking an exec from NASA ten years ago about the future of Space-X.

 

As long as the experimenters aren't trying to do actual commercial transaction on the ham bands, or trying to conceal the meaning of the messages, I see nothing wrong with the experimentation.

The WSJ column "On the Street" today had a good article on why Bitcoin fails the three tests of a valid currency.

It fails as a medium of exchange because it can't be used for most purchases and one must pay extra for fast processing of a transaction, otherwise it can take several days to clear. Yay - lets go back to writing physical checks!

It also fails as a store of value, and as a unit of account, because it's value fluctuates wildly compared to almost all other assets. I think Beanie Babies were better because at least you could still play with them after the bottom fell out.

If you don't think that crypto-currencies especially Bitcoin are in a massive bubble, I have some vintage shares of the South Sea Company to sell you.

And Rogoff is right, independent crypto currencies aren't going to be allowed to compete with national currencies for a host of reasons besides the above. Let's not confuse the technology of blockchain with an application of it to a rogue currency.

 

What do you mean by "clear"? Average confirmation time is about ten minutes.

How can it be stopped? I guess a government has the ability to simply make it illegal and have stiff penalties for anyone paying someone else in bitcoin. Would that really be acceptable in a "free" country? Would you be comfortable if your country took the lead in this restriction of freedom?

 

I don't rely on any of those other types of funny money as back-up either.

If/when civilization collapses down to the point that you can not access bank accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts the most valuable assets will be precious metals like Gold, Silver, and Lead.

 

Carrying your fortune around in lead is going to be inconvenient. It might be good for physical fitness.

 

"Of course current FCC Part 97 rules and regs regarding encryption and commercial activity could be a stumbling block in the USA, but its fascinating to see such innovative interest in and experimentation with using AR."

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John, this just isn't amateur radio. Radio , in this case, is not being used to execute our mission.

We are not encryptors. We are high probability of intercept. Not LPI.

73
Chip W1YW

 

OK, so here's the scoop. A backstory.

Last year my firm was offered substantial money to assist in one such amateur radio scheme (not mentioned in the OP)-- and I immediately cited Part 97 and declined. The parties were Britain based.

Period.

One might assume other antenna companies may not feel as bound to the spirit of the law.

 

Sorry, I meant confirmation time. It can take minutes, or an hour, or even days if additional "acceleration" fees haven't been paid to speed it up.

In a totalitarian country it could just be outlawed, and that is in fact happening now. In a free country it could be relegated to the status of a commodity, which is basically what it's considered now. People could still trade it, like copper or gold or pork bellies, but it couldn't enter the banking system directly and would need to be converted to dollars.

For example, forbid nationally chartered banks from accepting them, forbid any bank which deals in them from being a member of the FDIC, or access Federal Reserve functions, have the SEC not accept any public company reports in Bitcoins, forbid stock exchanges from quoting in Bitcoins, not allow the IRS to accept Bitcoins, etc. There is only one legal tender in the US and it's Federal Reserve Notes and US coins, i.e., dollars.

I don't think any of that will be necessary though, as it is unlikely to ever be very popular, especially after the bubble breaks, and people go to jail for what I expect will be inevitable racketeering and frauds associated with it during the bubble.

Yeah, I'm a skeptic.

 

Thanks for that clarification Chip. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right about it.

In other words, the OP experiments are not aimed at advancing the radio art, but rather toward that of advancing blockchain cryptocurrency technology. Therefore not within the scope of amateur radio in FCC Part 97. And I can fully understand and support your company decision to decline participation in any such scheme under those circumstances.

However, it would still seem to be OK for them to "play" with any of their own WSJT derived protocols, with unencrypted model data, to explore antennas and HF or other propagation, on ham bands, as a preliminary EDUCATIONAL tool. As long as that activity wasn't carried too deeply.

After that if it still looked promising a Part 5 Experimental Radio Service license may be the proper path in the USA to enable full scale prototype development (?) Of course any actual commercial use would require additional appropriate licensing.

And after any commercialization, use of amateur radio for that application would of course be illegal. Even in a prepper / EMCOMM scenario, since it would be difficult to justify reasonably its use was required for safety.

73 de John - WØPV