
Profile of Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum - sangfroid
https://backchannel.com/the-uncanny-mind-that-built-ethereum-9b448dc9d14f#.c6mb2iotp
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brogrammer6431
Would just like to point out that a) he's not autistic and b) he did not learn
mandarin in a few months; have heard he's been practicing for years.

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pfraze
Eugh. Wow.

> In Miami, Buterin’s army was small, but already keenly aware of the
> importance of beatifying its leader. Joseph Lubin, one of the developers
> staying at the house, and one of the few people who seemed to understand
> Ethereum enough to decipher its potential, told me in an endearing, paternal
> tone that Buterin was a genius alien that had arrived on this planet to
> deliver the sacrosanct gift of decentralization. Nearby, Buterin was
> shuffling around on the grass, looking down at the ground, muttering to
> himself in preparation for a talk he would give to the Bitcoin elite the
> next day.

Are we writing software or starting a cult?

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amaks
Digital currency is a cult.

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johndevor
Not an argument.

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brighton36
it's not an argument, it's an observation. I agree with him

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johndevor
Why is it a cult? What's your definition of a cult?

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Aelinsaar
That is a very comprehensive PR puff piece, but it's still very much PR. To be
honest, more than anything it seems to be endless painstaking descriptions of
Buterin's clothing, mannerisms, and eating habits.

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aivijay
True

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googletazer
Vitalik and his organization achieved a lot, Gavin deserves a mention as well
as the guy who had the math behind ethereum. Nevertheless I don't see any
killer apps coming out, so overall, its just another rerun of bitcoin.

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aianus
I think Ethereum has the potential to be the BitTorrent to Bitcoin's Napster.

A lot of the killer Bitcoin apps (gambling, drugs, etc.) make it too easy for
law enforcement or site operators to steal everyone's money due to their
centralization. It's a long shot, but if Ethereum gets really big really fast
it's going to be much, much harder to shut down these apps.

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nugget
Maybe you can answer one persistent question I've had about Ethereum
contracts. My understanding is that you can encode logic in the contract so
that you and I can, for example, gamble on the outcome of the Superbowl and
the contract ''knows'' to ask some trusted authority for the result of the
game and then pay out accordingly. Isn't this only decentralized insofar as
you and I both trust the trusted authority and that authority isn't ever
compromised? Doesn't that authority become the point of attack for hackers?
Such that if I lose the Superbowl bet but I can hack the ESPN API at the right
point in time, then I can trigger the wrong payout on all contracts and there
is no recourse.

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aianus
It's my understanding that the Augur project solves this issue by
decentralizing the reporting.

That is, individuals vote for which outcome is correct in proportion to their
balance of 'reputation'. If an individual votes for the correct outcome (as
determined by the majority of votes), they gain reputation, otherwise they
lose it.

Reputation is valuable because it entitles voters to a share of the platform
fees. Therefore there is a strong incentive to play fair in order to grow the
platform and the value of one's reputation (similar to miners in Bitcoin).

[https://augur.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208857885-For-
Re...](https://augur.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208857885-For-Reporters-
Guide-to-Reputation-REP-Tokens)

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Natanael_L
Sounds like somebody can dump in money to skew all the reputation scores.

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aianus
As in buying a lot of REP and faking an outcome?

You could do that but the idea is that the hit to your REP value from screwing
people over will be greater than any illicit profits you may gain.

Similar to why your drug dealer doesn't just point a gun at you, take your
cash, and keep the drugs; he can make more money being an honest long-term
dealer to you.

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brighton36
He's the uri geller of cryptocurrency

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dang
Personal attacks are not welcome on Hacker News, nor are unsubstantive
comments (of which you've unfortunately posted quite a few). Please (re)-read
the site guidelines and post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html)

We detached this subthread from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11896138](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11896138)
and marked it off-topic.

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brighton36
No one needs ethereum. It's a penny stock scam that sells the cure to whatever
ails you to any willing solutionist that's looking to get rich quick.

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heliumcraft
You and ChrisDeRose have no regard for truth and certainly have no problem
spreading FUD for your own gain. You don't truly care about crypto,
decentralization nor freedom but only about counterparty and bitcoin going up
for your own selfish gain. Hope you can sleep well at night.

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blankchain
He is Chris De Rose.

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junseth
No, I'm Chris Derose.

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waynevaughan
I'm not Chris Derose, but I play him on TV.

