I've always felt that increasing the number of use-cases for Bitcoin would be the key to establishing Bitcoin's intrinsic value. When everyday people think to themselves, "I need Bitcoin to do X", and X is something real like signing into a Web service, then people will finally understand the need for Bitcoin.
Building on top of Bitcoin is the easiest and simplest way of accomplishing this, because otherwise every new app has to build and maintain its own blockchain in a low level language like C++. In which case, core Bitcoin development gets increasingly fragmented and everyone and their mother has an altcoin that then needs to be marketed on its own right to miners and to the public.
While it's true that the Bitcoin blockchain would grow in size if more apps built on top of it, the Bitcoin blockchain will grow in size regardless of what anyone thinks or does. It's already 15GB, which is a far bigger burden on consumers than what they're used to.
There's always a huge backlash amongst Bitcoin developers whenever someone tries building anything on top of Bitcoin. Timestamping or notarization? You'll get yelled at for the mere suggestion of including this "trash" in the blockchain. Very, very unfortunate IMO and a huge mistake by the Bitcoin development community.
I honestly think it's because they'd rather stick their head in the sand about the blockchain. The fact that the Bitcoin blockchain is growing faster and faster disturbs them because it means not everyone can run a full node on their Macbook. I don't think it's any reason for concern.
We now live in a world where everything we do is recorded, and yes, even used against us (parallel construction). American citizens can be detained indefinitely without trial. The police are becoming militarized and the TSA/DHS is expanding beyond airports into bus stations and train stations. I'm legitimately afraid to cross the border, or use the Internet without Tor browser. And, shocker, I'm feeling completely disillusioned with everything. I know I'm not alone.
AFAIK most of the military equipment going to police departments and the DHS is recycled from wars abroad. The surveillance state is or is becoming fully automated, and I don't see how that will make it anything but cheaper to enact tyranny over the long run. Unmanned drones flying overhead are cheaper than putting cops in helicopters.
To be quite honest, I don't care if the government is spending less money relative to the 1970s, and I don't care whether the financial markets are less regulated. It feels like we live in a police state, that's the fact. That is what I object to, and THAT is why plenty will strongly object to this notion of there being "smaller government" these days. To think that just because it costs less money or requires less regulations to run a full blown surveillance state somehow means today's government is smaller is just utterly absurd.
Doesn't putting the namecoin blockchain on a remote server and then using the traditional DNS system to interact with the remote Namecoin DNS system completely defeat the purpose of Namecoin DNS?
Occam's Razor here is that Karpeles stole the money himself. There is a _very_ rich tradition of Bitcoin service operators absconding with customer funds and blaiming "hackers". Inputs.io, Sheep Marketplace, MyBitcoin, Bitcoin Savings & Trust, and that's just off the top of my head. Most of these services were run by sketchy people who had been into Bitcoin from the earliest days when its only use was buying drugs and gambling on Satoshi Dice.
There's a clear financial incentive to abscond with customer funds, and the obfuscated and irreversible nature of Bitcoin makes stealing BTC the perfect crime. Mark clearly had the opportunity, motivation, and means to steal. This would also be fully consistent with Bitcoin history.
In my view, 90%+ chance Mark stole everything himself. Incompetence or legitimately was stolen from? 8% chance at best. Gag orders? I'll put it at 1%. It just didn't happen.
Building on top of Bitcoin is the easiest and simplest way of accomplishing this, because otherwise every new app has to build and maintain its own blockchain in a low level language like C++. In which case, core Bitcoin development gets increasingly fragmented and everyone and their mother has an altcoin that then needs to be marketed on its own right to miners and to the public.
While it's true that the Bitcoin blockchain would grow in size if more apps built on top of it, the Bitcoin blockchain will grow in size regardless of what anyone thinks or does. It's already 15GB, which is a far bigger burden on consumers than what they're used to.
There's always a huge backlash amongst Bitcoin developers whenever someone tries building anything on top of Bitcoin. Timestamping or notarization? You'll get yelled at for the mere suggestion of including this "trash" in the blockchain. Very, very unfortunate IMO and a huge mistake by the Bitcoin development community.
I honestly think it's because they'd rather stick their head in the sand about the blockchain. The fact that the Bitcoin blockchain is growing faster and faster disturbs them because it means not everyone can run a full node on their Macbook. I don't think it's any reason for concern.