Lifeboat Foundation

In an April 2014 article, I demonstrated how one might approach a fair Bitcoin valuation.

• Original Methodology: What fraction of the daily float
  needed to support daily global commerce will Bitcoin capture?

My methodology was based on the demand that Bitcoin would generate if it displaced a small fraction of cash and credit used for retail and commercial payments around the world. At the time, Bitcoin had a value of USD $450. I estimated that if it captured 5% of global payments, it would have a fair value of about $10,000/BTC (I didn’t complete the calculation—I left that up to the reader. That’s because I was concerned that publishing such a prediction would cause me to lose credibility as an economist and blogger. For what it is worth, I also predicted that a rise to $10,000 would take 5~8 years.

As you might imagine, my friends and family urged me to unload my BTC investment. The April 2014 price of $450/BTC seemed very high to most armchair analysts. After all, thirteen months earlier, it had been just $45.

Continue reading “Bitcoin Fair Value Calculation” »

At the end of October, I delivered a keynote speech at the Cryptocurrency Expo in Dubai. That was just 5 weeks ago. When I left for the conference, Bitcoin was trading at $6,300/BTC. But in the next few weeks, it reached $10,000. Last week, I liquidated part of my investment at just under $13,000/BTC. Now, Bitcoin is about to cross $16,000. (I began writing this 10 minutes ago…but it has risen another $1600.00. Now, it is $17,000).

Dear Reader: I believe in Bitcoin. Yet, there is a “But” in the last paragraph below…

I believe in Bitcoin. Its rise is not fueled solely by investor hysteria. Rather, it is a product of delayed appreciation for a radical, transformative network technology.

Continue reading “Bitcoin: up 120% in less than 2 months” »

Summary: Cryonics firm CryoGen makes a radical new proposal to freeze people before death, known as ‘mercy freezing.’ Customers will pay for the Cryopreservation: Also called cryobanking. The process of cooling and storing cells, tissues, or organs at very low or freezing temperatures to save them for future use. Used in cryonics and the storage of reproductive cells in fertility treatments. [Source – NCI].” class=” glossaryLink “cryopreservation using a new blockchain based cryptocurrency called the CRYO. [This article first appeared on LongevityFacts.com. Author: Brady Hartman. Follow us on Reddit | Google+ | Facebook. ]

Cryonics is legally allowed only after death, and during this time the body starts to decay. Cryopreservation should ideally be performed within a few minutes of the patient’s demise. This happens less than half the time for current cryonics clients, and their tissues start turning to mush before freezing.

A Russian-Swiss company named CryoGen plans to solve that problem by freezing people before death, calling it ‘mercy freezing.’ CryoGen is building a cryonics lab in Switzerland, a country where euthanasia is legal. According to a white paper on CryoGen’s website.

Continue reading “Company Offers to Freeze Your Body Before Death” »

During the last few years, gaming technology has improved considerably, yet there’s been no actual revolution capable of completely changing and improving the gaming ecosystem. However, the introduction of Chimaera, a platform meant to allow game developers to build massive multiplayer online game worlds on top of the blockchain network, could change this.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article

Chimaera’s main purpose is to have millions of players competing against one another in blockchain-based and decentralised virtual realities that run non-stop, and serverless. Apart from this, the platform’s second purpose is to allow the creation of blockchain assets and game currencies that players can securely trade for profit.

Continue reading “Chimaera to Facilitate the Development of Decentralized Autonomous Universe” »

What makes a better Internet possible? At Orchid Labs, our goal is to ensure that every person on Earth can have access to an open, decentralized, and uncensored Internet. We believe a better Internet is one that isn’t controlled by the few, but open to all.

Currently, Internet access for the majority of the people on Earth is censored and monitored. Because of this, many Internet users are blocked from freely communicating, collaborating, and accessing information. The current centralized system, which limits our ability to communicate and learn — while also harvesting and selling our personal data — is far from the full potential of what the internet could be and strays from the original intention of its creators.

That’s why we’ve launched the Orchid Protocol, an open-source overlay network that uses excess bandwidth on top of the existing Internet to ensure that people — no matter where they live on our planet — can have unrestricted access to information and collaboration. Orchid’s protocol combines surplus bandwidth, state-of-the-art encryption, and a decentralized infrastructure enabling any Internet user to participate and exchange bandwidth for payment in peer-to-peer transactions using Orchid tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.

“If one blockchain were to become dominant, then the others may well fade away.” #singularityuniversity

Bitcoin, the first practical implementation of blockchain technology, was the buying opportunity of all time. The price of bitcoin has risen faster than any other asset in history, including tulips at the height of the tulip bubble.

Continue reading “Building the Blockchain to End All Blockchains” »

How many individuals own at least 1 BTC?

I was asked this question today at Quora, a popular Q&A blog covering a variety of technical and economic disciplines. Under my alias “Ellery”, I am the most viewed author on Bitcoin and the blockchain.

While this question may sound like a good factoid for a trivia game, it is directly related to something with with far reaching impact on your pocketbook and your future. It goes to the heart of a debate between warring factions: In the 2nd half of this answer, I address the eternal question:

Is Bitcoin a pyramid scheme? Or are we still early on the adoption curve?

Continue reading “What can we learn from small fraction of people who own 1 BTC” »

Sending satellites into space is going to continue to get cheaper since SpaceX proved it could reliably launch refurbished rockets. This is going to open up space exploration to more entities allowing for the continued democratization of space. Other technological advances could make a global space centered sharing economy a real possibility.

The rise of the internet and the ubiquity of mobile computing devices have changed everything from travel and shopping to politics – think Uber, Amazon, and Twitter.