Bitcoin Fighting The One Percent

The 1% wealth issue is a big concern for many crypto currency users. This concept of dysfunction in the current system has been part of what has formed the appeal of the alternative monetary systems. However, it appears that bitcoin is at least not immune to the concentration of wealth.

Charts from https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/rise-of-the-zombie-bitcoins

On investigation of the bitcoin rich list, which in itself is a testament to transparency. I have found something that I think calls for further investigation. There are 8 addresses that are all holding just under and almost exactly 66,600 bitcoins! This currently valued at over $28 million USD is not likely to be just a coincidence.

Is there a group within which there is some agreed maximum level? Who are these people? All these address's show similar behavior. Could this be a sign that at the top there are people working to prevent too much wealth centralisation? Or could all these addresses be held by the same entity? They would then control over 528,000 bitcoins. That is 221 million dollars today! It would be a large organisation in the bitcoin world. These addresses would certainly be able to shine more light on what the real wealth divide is in the bitcoin world.

Details as follows:
7
$ 28,701,364.50
66,583.22
1KiVwxEuGBYavyKrxkLncJt2pQ5YUUQX7f
8
$ 28,644,827.68
66,452.07
1PnMfRF2enSZnR6JSexxBHuQnxG8Vo5FVK
9
$ 28,613,249.67
66,378.81
1AhTjUMztCihiTyA4K6E3QEpobjWLwKhkR
10
$ 28,551,614.41
66,235.82
1DiHDQMPFu4p84rkLn6Majj2LCZZZRQUaa
11
$ 28,550,715.10
66,233.74
1EBHA1ckUWzNKN7BMfDwGTx6GKEbADUozX
12
$ 28,538,531.47
66,205.47
14e7XAZbepQp9MXXzjNG3fNLoAUpaBAXHW
13
$ 28,523,540.24
66,170.70
1PB4xXUFyy4kSNqroCBVaQuCuw9VcN3be4
14
$ 28,520,414.69
66,163.45
18f1yugoAJuXcHAbsuRVLQC9TezJ6iVRLp

All these addresses were active until the end of 2014 and none of them have had any withdrawals. this might suggest that they may even be paper wallets. The largest recent transactions are of most note. However these trails quickly become dispersed as many of these contributing addresses appear to use brainwallets  and coin consolidating transfers which mask their identities.

Initial transactions are also a good place to start. Addresses 7 and 8, 10, 12, 13 and 14 all received a large and almost equal amount of funds from the same address in a simultaneous transfer. This suggests some kind of connection

The answer may already be out there. A lot of volunteer investigation goes on. Online articles on the subject are have been common in the past, but many are now comically in need of updating. I found this one from Forbes when bitcoin was worth $6.50. Some forums even link some of these addresses to Mt Gox. There are so many opinions that it becomes difficult to know who to trust. An authoritative source on rich list identities would be a valuable asset to the community. Information is freely available. but after some hours of investigation, no simple conclusive answer can be found.

Many of these addresses contain public notes which have been written into the blockchain. This is where people have sent money to these addresses in the hope of receiving larger payments in return. Many of them are the same, as someone people have annoyingly appealed to all these addresses separately, creating false linkages on the blockchain.

"Public Note: Good afternoon! Your help is necessary. My wife has a problem with health, treatment is necessary (we expect a baby). If you have some unnecessary btc or satosh, please, help, we will rejoice any help."

"Public Note: i see many people here begging for money, but i`m looking for an investor for my app-idea.Mr. Zuckerberg payed for Whatsapp $19 bil. My app will be used worldwide.i tried to get money this way: milliondollarsapp.com. Do you want to be my private investor?"

And others even offer email addresses.

"Public Note: No1 Bitcoin Program 200days online FinMutual https://finmutual.com/?ref=yonce my email: yoncedownline@gmail.com"

Though simply a bazaar distraction, it's amazing that there are these kinds of things out there to be found. How successful have these digital beggars have been? I await a reply from the person above. It also sparks the idea, whether it may be worth spamming or politically pressuring these account holders in this way. This micro-donation spamming provides a direct method of communication

As in the fiat financial system, we must understand that the one percenters may not want to be identified. Some of them even may have earned their money illegitimately. In 2013 after silk road was shut down the FBI was in the top 10. Since then there have been government auctions and some anonymity has been lost for these coins. Over time, it can become harder to maintain an anonymous profile in bitcoin. When coins are spent identity becomes increasingly harder to conceal. This leaves any criminal millionaires left in a difficult position as, at the same time, the longer they hold their coins the more likely they will be detected.

Most of the owners of these bitcoins are likely legitimate. they may even be linked to a popular company. As yet I have come up empty handed. Bitcoin investigation though freely available has much to be developed. It may have already become so vast that it is insurmountable by the individual. Companies like Elliptic attempt to chart these flows of funds and offer some resources for free. Possibilities of transparency are much higher than the levels that we accept today. Blockchain investigation on this may always be expensive and time-consuming, working against people who do not want to be found. It may be better to use people power to change this. We can spam their addresses, but this requires generosity on the part of the poorest bitcoiners. A clever twist learned from the beggars.

We could spam these addresses with political requests for them to expose their identity.  A petition could be put up requesting signatures of bitcoiners on a public site, and that site could then forward the request to the rich bitcoiners through a small payment with a message and link. Shall we band together to find out what's going on in bitcoins royal coffers?

It is not clear whether wealth inequality is an issue with bitcoin, but it is clear that we can do something about it.

If you would like me to do this, please comment below, this page will form the petition. Once sufficient support is gathered I will send a single message to the top 14 bitcoin addresses, linking to this page. Hopefully the willing holders will identify themselves through a small transfer in return. This is not a fight against anonymity, but for transparency, even pseudonyms would do. The more support we have the more likely they will be to reveal their identities.

Price Level Consensus

For all this talk about core and classic and coding consensus. Talk about a lack of consensus leading to downward pressure on the price, talk about transaction taking 40 minutes, I've had been using bitcoin more than ever in the last few weeks and haven't had any problems.  It seems clear to me that people are thoroughly invested and prepared to solve any problems that may arise in the future. In depth talk about the need for consensus may be syndrome of anxiety that seems so common in our modern society. Bitcoiners tend to be very sensitive, normal people have bigger things to worry about.

The idea of consensus does bring a new concept spring to mind. With so much energy focused on it how would we fair if we aimed for a pricing consensus.

Volatility in price has been a major issue for bitcoin adoption. People do hesitate to invest in something that can move so wildly. This volatility has been reducing with the price hovering around the $400 USD level for 2016. If we could agree to hold the price at this level we would create value and aid adoption of bitcoin.

This is something all traders can actively have a hand in, something that we can actually control relatively easily. It also feels now that holding a floor of $400 USD (or 2500 Yuan) would not be difficult. Neither would creating a long term average of $500 USD (or 3000 Yuan). These are useful and commanding numbers. When you tell newbies about them they feel like it is strong and significant.


The moon is a always very tempting when it come in to sight however the purpose of this in devour would not be profit but for the unity. Something akin to the whale club but one that actively encourages stability. As the group grows there will be a great sense of community and once established the effect on the price action will be empowering to those who are involved.

Share this post and help hold the value stable at these levels with your trading. This will help build community and promote adoption. Shareable poster images are on my profile. With people power we can create stability. By developing price consensus we may even get more stability than the currencies we are comparing to!

#priceconsensus

Lie Low Laxing in a Radical February

Whilst world news has been off the crazy charts, Banks have been advertising with dancing transsexuals. Go the pride parade! We have shooting in the USA, and silicon valley ad odds with Washington. Bitcoin and Crypto currency have been remarkably sensible and subdued. Something odd for a juvenile rebel currency, but hey, It's relaxing!

The price has been stable at around $420 USD per Bitcoin (you could say 42 cents per millibit). I'm looking out the window to another sunny day back in Auckland New Zealand and finally starting to eat again. I can even buy fries at the local bitcoin meet up. Its great, I may even pump up the lie low and some rum cocktails, but first I want to take the opportunity to list a few cool things about crypto currency that I have stumbled into.

MyBitcoinSaver - set up an automatic payment and save bitcoin in New Zealand.

Keepkey - a cool looking device to keep bitcoins super secure.

BTproof - Lets you put any data you want into the block chain, so you can prove the truth with a forge proof time stamp. Make predictions or cement your vows.

Abra - a network of people who act like uber human ATM machines.

So on those four notes I'm going to continue chilling, finding new apps, trying to learn to code and to create a bitcoin friendly tourist paradise in Auckland. I have JS just about down. I also have a VR kit in the mail courtesy of Overstock. I guess that makes NZ the on the fore front of tech? Maybe Apple should move it's head office here?

We have radical corporate noodle banks, maybe they'll let you pay your staff in bitcoin. A one cent satoshi doesn't seem so out of place.

Martin Shkreli - Preparing to Steal Your Bitcoins

The Exit Signs

I like the EU but it looks like the exit signs are popping up everywhere. The unified currency is definitely something that is needed in the area.  It's proving hard to get it to work. The difficulty is the cross over with money and politics. Crypto currency can be highly political, but it can also be politically agnostic.

It is a relief that the UK have come to a deal today, however the union is now more politicised and this may be difficult to manage. despite the tweet the drama is far from over, the UK still need to vote on it. All this when the Greeks still stand precariously next to the emergence exit asking for money. How many more exit signs will be turned on? Italian banks may soon need EU bailouts. It feels like the theater might be getting ready for a fire drill. This has got to be a good thing for the bitcoin price.

Martin Shkreli - Super Villains Exist!

Just getting started on this one. Should he be The Joker or Two Face? I'm thinking rubber gloves would suit him.

Ethereum Boom

In the last 24 hours Ethereum market cap has risen over 30%. the price is now over $5 

USD. this make it the second largest crypto currency (alternative to bitcoin). Over taking Ripple and Litecoin, it's a serious currency worth $480mil. It's not the name of a computer game, but as in the sci-fi game, it is not clear whether Ethereum is as innocent as it may seem.

If you thought bitcoin was complicated, Ethereum is a googleplex. It is nerd central and although there are some slick products coming out of it, you really need programming knowledge to be involved. The currencies ambition is huge and its image is good. It's not really even a currency, its like an energy for everything. however in order to attempt this the source code is hugely more complex than that of other crypto currencies. Its an exciting and positive goal, and its more trendy than bitcoin, but is it to ambitious? 

Considering that the public are still struggling to grasp the potential of more simple crypto currencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin, it may unintentionally become a divisive and elitist force. This complexity could put outsiders off crypto currencies as a whole or it could act to divide the crypto community. Anti-bank factions have traditionally been able to rally against Ripple but now Ethereum may be used by R3. This would make Ethereum both good and bad from that point of view. I think Ethereum is a good thing but certainly, what was once a clear is now very cerebral. Much more discussion is needed and it won't sound like a presidential debate.

Nerds and hipsters are angry and it looks like the Ethereum boom is far from over. In line with yesterdays Star Wars theme, the crypto currency dark side could indeed be getting darker. Ethereum enthusiast Woods says “The idea of making certain things impossible to legislate against is really interesting”. It is scary interesting, Ethereum could be a programmatic king hit.