zhoutong

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VIPHero MemberActivity: 490Merit: 502 I'm back! April 23, 2013, 02:55:08 AM #1



Nothing really has changed, except the soaring prices (it doesn't have a lot to do with me other than seeing my out-of-pocket 5,000 BTC personal compensation is valued at >$1 million at peak, that was over 80% of my entire Bitcoin savings and I didn't purchase more after the incident). Bitcoinica LP is still not liquidated with zero progress of the fund return.



In fact, I have been following the forum for some time (I changed my forum account password to resist my temptation to login again). I have been searching my name every 9 days ever since I logged out last time.



When I left Bitcoin, I felt that I was not adding value to the economy by developing Bitcoinica because speculation is a zero-sum game. But now after seeing speculative activity sky-rocketing without a viable solution to short Bitcoin: I'm feeling a bit regretful that I sold Bitcoinica.



Without selling Bitcoinica, the Linode hack would still happen, but the platform can still survive with the profits it generated. There wouldn't be the Rackspace hack or the Mt. Gox hack because the email server wouldn't be compromised and the source code wouldn't be leaked by an insider. The platform might still be around to serve Bitcoiners by maintaining the price stability more effectively than a single long-only exchange.



But that's daydream. I'm not going to start another Bitcoin exchange. Bitcoin is not just a speculative vehicle. It's the first currency/commodity/whatever with both 1) strictly limited quantities and 2) native mechanism to be transmitted over data networks. We desperately need killer apps that make Bitcoin a truly global alternative currency that replaces some of the functions of the traditional banking system. (Note that I'm not so ambitious that Bitcoin will replace fiat currencies. I think it's more beneficial to the world economy by being a parallel/alternative currency, like gold. This is just an opinion, though.)



The Bitcoin community has given me nightmares (mainly the reputation hit) but I'm never giving up on Bitcoin. True believers are going to be believers forever.



I don't really have any clear ideas at the moment, but I'll be more than happy to build a killer app for Bitcoin from stratch. If you have any thoughts, feel free to PM me or email me at



I'm also answering any questions you have in this thread. I really hope that I can provide valuable service to the community and regain the lost trust/reputation by building something really useful.



PS> Despite my repeated clarifications, I want to say the same thing again:



As I had no financial interest in Bitcoinica LP after early 2012, I had no savings that were owed or distributable to Bitcoinica creditors other than the 5000 BTC compensation out of my personal funds. As I was neither the director nor an owner of any Bitcoinica-related entity since then, I had no power to do anything to help the creditors.



I know a lot of people are being hurt by the incident. So is me. I really hope that my previous compensation was valuable and useful to the people being hurt. 5000 BTC at peak Bitcoin price was several multiples of Bitcoinica's sale price but I had no regret for doing something I could to help people in need. It has been exactly 345 days since I left Bitcoin ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=81581.0 ).Nothing really has changed, except the soaring prices (it doesn't have a lot to do with me other than seeing my out-of-pocket 5,000 BTC personal compensation is valued at >$1 million at peak, that was over 80% of my entire Bitcoin savings and I didn't purchase more after the incident). Bitcoinica LP is still not liquidated with zero progress of the fund return.In fact, I have been following the forum for some time (I changed my forum account password to resist my temptation to login again). I have been searching my name every 9 days ever since I logged out last time.When I left Bitcoin, I felt that I was not adding value to the economy by developing Bitcoinica because speculation is a zero-sum game. But now after seeing speculative activity sky-rocketing without a viable solution to short Bitcoin: I'm feeling a bit regretful that I sold Bitcoinica.Without selling Bitcoinica, the Linode hack would still happen, but the platform can still survive with the profits it generated. There wouldn't be the Rackspace hack or the Mt. Gox hack because the email server wouldn't be compromised and the source code wouldn't be leaked by an insider. The platform might still be around to serve Bitcoiners by maintaining the price stability more effectively than a single long-only exchange.But that's daydream. I'm not going to start another Bitcoin exchange. Bitcoin is not just a speculative vehicle. It's the first currency/commodity/whatever with both 1) strictly limited quantities and 2) native mechanism to be transmitted over data networks. We desperately need killer apps that make Bitcoin a truly global alternative currency that replaces some of the functions of the traditional banking system. (Note that I'm not so ambitious that Bitcoin will replace fiat currencies. I think it's more beneficial to the world economy by being a parallel/alternative currency, like gold. This is just an opinion, though.)The Bitcoin community has given me nightmares (mainly the reputation hit) but I'm never giving up on Bitcoin. True believers are going to be believers forever.I don't really have any clear ideas at the moment, but I'll be more than happy to build a killer app for Bitcoin from stratch. If you have any thoughts, feel free to PM me or email me at bitcointalk@zhoutong.com I'm also answering any questions you have in this thread. I really hope that I can provide valuable service to the community and regain the lost trust/reputation by building something really useful.



Donations for my future Bitcoin projects: 19Uk3tiD5XkBcmHyQYhJxp9QHoub7RosVb Founder of NameTerrific ( https://www.nameterrific.com/ ). Co-founder of CoinJar ( https://coinjar.io/ Donations for my future Bitcoin projects: 19Uk3tiD5XkBcmHyQYhJxp9QHoub7RosVb