Bitcoin Wiki - Contribuciones del usuario [es]

Mitos

2017-04-29T18:39:57Z

Victorsueca: Arreglado error de tipografia

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* Pueden ser impresas por deseo subjetivo de los controladores
* Pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* Los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduciario no resuelva ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* Fáciles de transferir
* Fáciles de asegurar
* Fáciles de verificar
* Fáciles de granular

Al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, las bitcoins son:
* Predecibles y de [[Suministro controlado|suministro]] limitado
* No controlados por una autoridad centralizada (como el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal Sistema de Reserva Federal] o el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE Banco Central Europeo]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduciaria, las bitcoins son:
* Potencialmente anónimos
* A prueba de congelación de fondos
* Mas rápidos de transferir
* Mas baratos de transferir

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está "respaldado por" la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio sin embargo no puedes intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlos. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Al igual que el oro no esta respaldado por nada, lo mismo se aplica a bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se ''crea'' mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad del blockchain está ''protegida'' de posibles [[Debilidades#El_atacante_tiene_mucha_potencia_de_procesamiento|ataques]] por la existencia de una potente red de nodos.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Uno podría argumentar que el oro tampoco esta respaldado por nada. Los bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que les permiten ser valorados subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente por o con bitcoins. Véase [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Véase también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de los bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Solo porque algo consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, da la causalidad que es justo lo contrario (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas minaran (por ser la minería rentable), en consecuencia la [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty dificultad] aumentará, por lo que el coste de la minería aumentará. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende ocurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga un coste proporcional a la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ampliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero, a fecha de diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mineria|Los mineros]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no requieren registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

== Bitcoin es una forma de terrorismo domestico ya que solo daña la estabilidad económica de los EE.UU y su moneda. ==

Segun la [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States definicion de terrorismo en los Estados Unidos], tienes que realizar actos violentos para ser considerado un terrorista a efectos legales. Las recientes casuales observaciones de los políticos no tienen base en la ley o en hechos.

Ademas, bitcoin no es domestico a los EE.UU ni a cualquier otro país. Es una comunidad mundial, como puede verse en este [https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/live-map/ mapa de nodos de Bitcoin]

== Bitcoin solo permitirá evadir impuestos lo que eventualmente llevará a la caída de la civilización ==
Las transacciones en efectivo mantienen el mismo nivel de anonimato y sin embargo son gravadas con éxito. Depende de ti seguir las leyes aplicables en tu país de residencia, o afrontar las consecuencias.

Mientras que puede ser fácil transferir bitcoins de forma anónima, ''gastarlos'' de forma anónima en objetos tangibles es tan difícil como gastar qualquier otro tipo de dinero de forma anónima. Los evasores de impuestos son frecuentemente atrapados porque su estilo de vida y sus bienes son inconsistentes con los ingresos reportados, y no necesariamente porque el gobierno sea capaz de seguir su dinero.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/acuñar bitcoins y, por eso, no tienen valor ==

Los bitcoins no son impresos/acuñados, en vez de eso, los mineros computan [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bloque bloques] y por sus esfuerzos son recompensados con una cantidad especifica de bitcoins y las comisiones de transacción pagadas por otros. Véase [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining minería] para mas información sobre como funciona este proceso.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor porque están basados en criptografía no probada==

Los algoritmos SHA256 y [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECDSA ECDSA] que se usan en bitcoin son estándares de la industria bien conocidos. SHA256 se utiliza por el gobierno de los EE.UU. y esta avalado por este. Si crees que estos algoritmos no son de fiar entonces no deberías confiar en bitcoin, en transacciones con tarjeta de crédito ni en cualquier otro método de transferencia bancaria electrónica. Bitcoin tiene una base solida en criptografía bien entendida.

== Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados de manera injusta ==

Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados por asumir un mayor riesgo con su tiempo y su dinero. El capital invertido en bitcoin en cada fase de su vida ha vigorizado la comunidad y ha ayudado a la moneda a conseguir mayores hitos. Argumentar que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin no se merecen el beneficio de esto es lo mismo que decir que los primeros inversores de una compañía o la gente que compró valores en la oferta pública inicial son recompensados de manera injusta.

Este argumento también depende de que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin estén usándolo para guardar en vez de transferir valor. El intercambio diario en las casas de cambio (a fecha de enero de 2012) indica que las transacciones pequeñas se están convirtiendo en lo normal, lo que indica intercambio en vez de inversión. En términos mas prácticos, "justicia" es un concepto arbitrario al cual es muy improbable que se llegue a un acuerdo por gran parte de la población. Establecer "justicia" no es un objetivo de bitcoin, ya que sería imposible.

Además, considerando la cantidad de publicidad que recibió bitcoin en abril de 2013, no hay excusa que valga para aquellos que no invirtieron entonces y luego vieron su valor subir drásticamente.

Si empiezas a minar o adquirir bitcoins hoy, aun puedes ser de los primeros en adoptarlo.

== 21 millones de monedas no es suficiente; no se adapta ==

Un bitcoin es divisible hasta 8 decimales. En realidad hay 2,099,999,997,690,000 (mas de 2 cuatrillones) de unidades atómicas posibles en el sistema de bitcoin.

El valor de "1 BTC" representa 100000000 de estas. En otras palabras, cada bitcoin es divisible hasta 108.

A medida que el valor de la unidad de "1 BTC" sea demasiado grande para ser útil para las transacciones del día a día, la gente empezará a utilizar unidades mas pequeñas, como los milli-bitcoins (mBTC) o micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Los bitcoins se almacenan en archivos de carteras, solo copia el archivo para conseguir mas monedas! ==

No, tu cartera contiene tus claves privadas que te dan derecho a gastar tus monedas. Piensa en ello como tener los datos de tu banco guardados en un archivo. Si das los detalles de tu banco (o la cartera de bitcoin) a alguien mas, eso no dobla la cantidad de dinero en tu cuenta. Tu puedes gastar tu dinero o ellos pueden gastar tu dinero, pero no ambos.

== Las monedas perdidas no pueden ser reemplazadas y eso es malo ==

Los bitcoins son divisibles hasta 0.00000001, así que el hecho de que haya menos bitcoins restantes no es un problema para lo moneda en si mismo. Si pierdes tus monedas, todas las demás monedas subiran de valor un poco. Consideralo una donación a todos los demás usuarios de bitcoin.

Una pregunta relacionada es: ¿Porque no tenemos un mecanismo para reemplazar las monedas perdidas? La respuesta es que es imposible distinguit entre una moneda 'perdida' y una que esta simplemente esperando sin ser utilizada en la cartera e alguien.

== Es un esquema ponzi gigante ==
En un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquema_Ponzi esquema ponzi], los fundadores persuaden a los inversores de que sacarán beneficio. Bitcoin no da tal garantia. No hay una autoridad central, solo individuos contruyendo una economia.

Un esquema ponzi es un juego de suma zero. En un esquema ponzi, los adoptadores tempranos solo pueden sacar beneficio a costa de los ultimos adoptadores, y los ultimos adoptadores siempre pierden. Bitcoin puede tener como resultado que todos ganan. Los adoptadores tempranos sacan beneficio del aumento del precio a medida que Bitcoin es mas entendido y por lo tanto mas demandado por un publico mas grande. Todos los adoptadores se benefician de la utilidad de una moneda segura, descentralizada, entre pares y ampliamente aceptada.

Tambien es importante mencionar que [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], el creador de bitcoin, nunca ha gastado un bitcoin (aparte de regalarlos cuando no valian nada) lo cual podemos verificar comprobando la cadena de bloques.

== Monedas finitas mas monedas perdidas significa una espiral deflanatoria ==
Mientras que las fuerzas deflanatorias pueden aplicarse, factores economicos como el acaparamiento son compensados por factores humanos que pueden reducir las probabilidades de que una espiral deflanatoria ocurra.

== Bitcoin no puede funcionar porque no hay manera de controlar la inflacion ==

La inflacion es simplemente un augmento de los precios sobre el tiempo, que generalmente es el resultado de devaluar una moneda. Esto es una funcion de la oferta y la demanda. Dado el hecho de que el suministro de bitcoins esta fijado a cierta cantidad, al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, la unica manera de que la inflacion se salga de control es que la demanda desaparezca. La inflacion temporal es posible con una rapida adopción de la Banca de Reserva Fraccionaria pero se estabilizara nada mas una sustancial cantidad de los 21 millones de bitcoins "fijados" sean guardados como reserva por los bancos.

Dado el hecho de que Bitcoin es un sistema de moneda distribuido, si la demanda fuera a bajar a casi nada, la moneda estaria condenada de todas formas.

El punto clave aqui es que Bitcoin como moneda no puede ser inflado por una sola persona o entidad, como un gobienro, ya que no hay manera de augmentar el suministro pasada cierta cantidad.

Ciertamente, el escenario mas probable, a medida que bitcoin se vuelve mas popular y la demanda augmente, es que la moneda augmente de valor, o deflacione, hasta que la demanda se estabilize.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances. While it may have been started by ideological enthusiasts, Bitcoin now speaks to a large number of regular pragmatic folk, who simply see its potential for reducing the costs and friction of global e-commerce.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker create counterfeit coins, fake transactions, or take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

There is no known governmental regulation which disallows the use of Bitcoin.

See also: the "[[#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_they.27re_not_legal_tender|Bitcoins are illegal because they're not legal tender]]" myth.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. See the main article, [[Fractional Reserve Banking and Bitcoin]]

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners will earn some profit from [[transaction fees]]. However unlike the block reward, there is [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will-transaction-fees-eventually-be/895#895 no coupling between transaction fees and the need for security], so there is less of a guarantee that the amount of [[Mining|mining]] being performed will be sufficient to maintain the network's security.

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing inherent in the dollar or euro or any other currency is necessary for chargebacks to be possible, and likewise, nothing prevents the creation of PayPal-like services denominated in Bitcoin that provide chargebacks or fraud protection.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

While ECDSA is indeed not secure under quantum computing, quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while.
The DWAVE system often written about in the press is, even if all their claims are true, not a quantum computer of a kind that could be used for cryptography.
Bitcoin's security, when used properly with a new address on each transaction, depends on more than just ECDSA: Cryptographic hashes are much stronger than ECDSA under QC.
Bitcoin's security was designed to be upgraded in a forward compatible way and could be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin makes self-sufficient artificial intelligence possible ==
[[StorJ]]<ref>[http://garzikrants.blogspot.com/2013/01/storj-and-bitcoin-autonomous-agents.html StorJ And Bitcoin Autonomous Agents]</ref>, a theorized autonomous agent which utilizes humans to build itself and issues autonomous payments for improvement work done, is not a conscious entity. Whatever AI is possible, is not going to be magically more possible simply because it could incentivize human behaviour with pseudonymous Bitcoin payments.

== [[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==
No more so than the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

'''Economic Argument 1'''

[[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a highly competitive, dynamic, almost [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_market perfect], market. Mining rigs can be set up and dismantled almost anywhere in the world with relative ease. Thus, market forces are constantly pushing mining activity to ''places'' and ''times'' where the marginal price of electricity is low or zero. These electricity products are cheap for a reason. Often it’s because the electricity is difficult (and wasteful) to transport, difficult to store, or because there is low demand and high supply. Using electricity in this way is a lot less wasteful than simply plugging a mining rig into the mains indiscriminately.

For example, Iceland produces an excess of cheap electricity from renewable sources, but it has no way of exporting electricity because of its remote location. It is conceivable that at some point in future Bitcoin mining will only be profitable in places like Iceland, and unprofitable in places like central Europe, where electricity comes mostly from nuclear and fossil sources.

Market forces could even push mining into innovative solutions that have an effective electricity consumption of ''zero''. Mining always produces heat equivalent to the energy consumed - for example, 1000 watts of mining equipment produces the same amount of heat as a 1000 watt heating element used in an electric space heater, hot tub, water heater, or similar appliance. Someone already in a willing position to incur the cost of electricity for its heat value alone could run mining equipment specially designed to mine bitcoins while capturing and utilizing the heat produced, without incurring any energy costs beyond what they already intended to spend on heating.

(Note that this is just an example; mining will not always produce heat equivalent to the energy consumed because some energy is inevitably released as electromagnetic radiation, among others.)

'''Economic Argument 2'''

When the environmental costs of mining are considered, they need to be weighed up against the benefits. If you question Bitcoin on the grounds that it consumes electricity, then you should also ask questions like this: Will Bitcoin promote economic growth by freeing up trade? Will this speed up the rate of technological innovation? Will this lead to faster development of green technologies? Will Bitcoin enable new, border crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid smart grid] technologies? …

Dismissal of Bitcoin because of its costs, while ignoring its benefits, is a dishonest argument. In fact, any environmental argument of this type is dishonest, not just pertaining to Bitcoin. Along similar lines, it could be argued that wind turbines are bad for the environment because making the steel structure consumes energy.

'''Ratio of Capital Costs versus Electrical Costs'''

The BFL Jalapeno hashes at 5.5 Gh/s using 30W. That device consumes about $40 per year in electricity (using U.S. residential average of about $0.15 per kWh.) But the device costs over $300 including shipping. Thus just about a quarter of all costs over a two-year useful life goes to electricity. This compares to GPUs where more than 90% of costs over a two-year life went to electricity. Even more efficient designs can be expected in the future.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

The assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of Bitcoin would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and cash all serve as opportunities for criminals as well, but society keeps them around due to their recognized net benefit.
* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish an alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were prosecuted under counterfeiting laws because the silver coins allegedly resembled US currency.

Bitcoins do not resemble the currency of the US or of any other nation in any way, shape, or form. The word "dollar" is not attached to them in any way. The "$" symbol is not used in any way.

Bitcoins have no representational similarity whatsoever to US dollars.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' Liberty Dollars was as easy as arresting the head of the company and seizing the offices and the precious metals used as backing. The decentralized Bitcoin, with no leader, no servers, no office, and no tangible asset backing, does not have the same vulnerability.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behavior ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the original Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 25 to 50 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

There are also other [[:Category:Clients|Bitcoin clients made by other developers]] that adhere to the Bitcoin protocol. As more developers create alternative clients, less power will lie with the developers of the original Bitcoin client.

== Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme ==

Bitcoin is nearly opposite of a [[Wikipedia:Pyramid_scheme|pyramid scheme]] in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential.<ref name="Jeff_Tucker" />

== Bitcoin was hacked ==

In the history of Bitcoin, there has never been an attack on the [[block chain]] that resulted in stolen money from a confirmed output. Neither has there ever been a reported theft resulting directly from a vulnerability in the [[Original Bitcoin client|original Bitcoin client]], or a vulnerability in the protocol. Bitcoin is secured by standard cryptographic functions. These functions have been peer reviewed by cryptography experts and are considered unlikely to be breakable in the foreseeable future.

It is safe to say that the currency itself has never been 'hacked'. However, several major ''websites'' using the currency have been hacked, often resulting in high profile Bitcoin heists. These heists are misreported in some media as hacks on Bitcoin itself. An analogy: Just because someone stole US dollars from a supermarket till, doesn’t mean that the US dollar as a currency has been 'hacked'.

Most bitcoin thefts are the result of inadequate [[Securing your wallet|wallet security]]. In response to the wave of thefts in 2011 and 2012, the community has developed risk-mitigating measures such as [[Wallet_encryption|wallet encryption]], support for [[BIP_0011|multiple signatures]], [[How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet|offline wallets]], [[Paper_wallet|paper wallets]], and [[Hardware_wallet|hardware wallets]]. As these measures gain adoption by merchants and users, the number of thefts drop.
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Mitos

2017-04-29T18:37:11Z

Victorsueca: Mejoradas algunas traducciones y añadidas de nuevas

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* Pueden ser impresas por deseo subjetivo de los controladores
* Pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* Los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduciario no resuelva ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* Fáciles de transferir
* Fáciles de asegurar
* Fáciles de verificar
* Fáciles de granular

Al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, las bitcoins son:
* Predecibles y de [[Suministro controlado|suministro]] limitado
* No controlados por una autoridad centralizada (como el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal Sistema de Reserva Federal] o el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE Banco Central Europeo]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduciaria, las bitcoins son:
* Potencialmente anónimos
* A prueba de congelación de fondos
* Mas rápidos de transferir
* Mas baratos de transferir

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está "respaldado por" la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio sin embargo no puedes intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlos. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Al igual que el oro no esta respaldado por nada, lo mismo se aplica a bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se ''crea'' mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad del blockchain está ''protegida'' de posibles [[Debilidades#El_atacante_tiene_mucha_potencia_de_procesamiento|ataques]] por la existencia de una potente red de nodos.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Uno podría argumentar que el oro tampoco esta respaldado por nada. Los bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que les permiten ser valorados subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente por o con bitcoins. Véase [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Véase también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de los bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Solo porque algo consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, da la causalidad que es justo lo contrario (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas minaran (por ser la minería rentable), en consecuencia la [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty dificultad] aumentará, por lo que el coste de la minería aumentará. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende ocurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga un coste proporcional a la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ampliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero, a fecha de diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mineria|Los mineros]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no requieren registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

== Bitcoin es una forma de terrorismo domestico ya que solo daña la estabilidad económica de los EE.UU y su moneda. ==

Segun la [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States definicion de terrorismo en los Estados Unidos], tienes que realizar actos violentos para ser considerado un terrorista a efectos legales. Las recientes casuales observaciones de los políticos no tienen base en la ley o en hechos.

Ademas, bitcoin no es domestico a los EE.UU ni a cualquier otro país. Es una comunidad mundial, como puede verse en este [https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/live-map/ mapa de nodos de Bitcoin]

== Bitcoin solo permitirá evadir impuestos lo que eventualmente llevará a la caída de la civilización ==
Las transacciones en efectivo mantienen el mismo nivel de anonimato y sin embargo son gravadas con éxito. Depende de ti seguir las leyes aplicables en tu país de residencia, o afrontar las consecuencias.

Mientras que puede ser fácil transferir bitcoins de forma anónima, ''gastarlos'' de forma anónima en objetos tangibles es tan difícil como gastar qualquier otro tipo de dinero de forma anónima. Los evasores de impuestos son frecuentemente atrapados porque su estilo de vida y sus bienes son inconsistentes con los ingresos reportados, y no necesariamente porque el gobierno sea capaz de seguir su dinero.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/acuñar bitcoins y, por eso, no tienen valor ==

Los bitcoins no son impresos/acuñados, en vez de eso, los mineros computan [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bloque bloques] y por sus esfuerzos son recompensados con una cantidad especifica de bitcoins y las comisiones de transacción pagadas por otros. Véase [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining minería] para mas información sobre como funciona este proceso.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor porque están basados en criptografía no probada==

Los algoritmos SHA256 y [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECDSA ECDSA] que se usan en bitcoin son estándares de la industria bien conocidos. SHA256 se utiliza por el gobierno de los EE.UU. y esta avalado por este. Si crees que estos algoritmos no son de fiar entonces no deberías confiar en bitcoin, en transacciones con tarjeta de crédito ni en cualquier otro método de transferencia bancaria electrónica. Bitcoin tiene una base solida en criptografía bien entendida.

== Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados de manera injusta ==

Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados por asumir un mayor riesgo con su tiempo y su dinero. El capital invertido en bitcoin en cada fase de su vida ha vigorizado la comunidad y ha ayudado a la moneda a conseguir mayores hitos. Argumentar que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin no se merecen el beneficio de esto es lo mismo que decir que los primeros inversores de una compañía o la gente que compró valores en la oferta pública inicial son recompensados de manera injusta.

Este argumento también depende de que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin estén usándolo para guardar en vez de transferir valor. El intercambio diario en las casas de cambio (a fecha de enero de 2012) indica que las transacciones pequeñas se están convirtiendo en lo normal, lo que indica intercambio en vez de inversión. En términos mas prácticos, "justicia" es un concepto arbitrario al cual es muy improbable que se llegue a un acuerdo por gran parte de la población. Establecer "justicia" no es un objetivo de bitcoin, ya que sería imposible.

Además, considerando la cantidad de publicidad que recibió bitcoin en abril de 2013, no hay excusa que valga para aquellos que no invirtieron entonces y luego vieron su valor subir drásticamente.

Si empiezas a minar o adquirir bitcoins hoy, aun puedes ser de los primeros en adoptarlo.

== 21 millones de monedas no es suficiente; no se adapta ==

Un bitcoin es divisible hasta 8 decimales. En realidad hay 2,099,999,997,690,000 (mas de 2 cuatrillones) de unidades atómicas posibles en el sistema de bitcoin.

El valor de "1 BTC" representa 100000000 de estas. En otras palabras, cada bitcoin es divisible hasta 108.

A medida que el valor de la unidad de "1 BTC" sea demasiado grande para ser útil para las transacciones del día a día, la gente empezará a utilizar unidades mas pequeñas, como los milli-bitcoins (mBTC) o micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Los bitcoins se almacenan en archivos de carteras, solo copia el archivo para conseguir mas monedas! ==

No, tu cartera contiene tus claves privadas que te dan derecho a gastar tus monedas. Piensa en ello como tener los datos de tu banco guardados en un archivo. Si das los detalles de tu banco (o la cartera de bitcoin) a alguien mas, eso no dobla la cantidad de dinero en tu cuenta. Tu puedes gastar tu dinero o ellos pueden gastar tu dinero, pero no ambos.

== Las monedas perdidas no pueden ser reemplazadas y eso es malo ==

Los bitcoins son divisibles hasta 0.00000001, así que el hecho de que haya menos bitcoins restantes no es un problema para lo moneda en si mismo. Si pierdes tus monedas, todas las demás monedas subiran de valor un poco. Consideralo una donación a todos los demás usuarios de bitcoin.

Una pregunta relacionada es: ¿Porque no tenemos un mecanismo para reemplazar las monedas perdidas? La respuesta es que es imposible distinguit entre una moneda 'perdida' y una que esta simplemente esperando sin ser utilizada en la cartera e alguien.

== Es un esquema ponzi gigante ==
En un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquema_Ponzi esquema ponzi], los fundadores persuaden a los inversores de que sacarán beneficio. Bitcoin no da tal garantia. No hay una autoridad central, solo individuos contruyendo una economia.

Un esquema ponzi es un juego de suma zero. En un esquema ponzi, los adoptadores tempranos solo pueden sacar beneficio a costa de los ultimos adoptadores, y los ultimos adoptadores siempre pierden. Bitcoin puede tener como resultado que todos ganan. Los adoptadores tempranos sacan beneficio del aumento del precio a medida que Bitcoin es mas entendido y por lo tanto mas demandado por un publico mas grande. Todos los adoptadores se benefician de la utilidad de una moneda segura, descentralizada, entre pares y ampliamente aceptada.

Tambien es importante mencionar que [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], el creador de bitcoin, nunca ha gastado un bitcoin (aparte de regalarlos cuando no valian nada) lo cual podemos verificar comprobando la cadena de bloques.

== Monedas finitas mas monedas perdidas significa una espiral deflanatoria ==
Mientras que las fuerzas deflanatorias pueden aplicarse, factores economicos como el acaparamiento son compensador por factores humanos que pueden reducir las probabilidades de que una espiral deflanatoria ocurra.

== Bitcoin no puede funcionar porque no hay manera de controlar la inflacion ==

La inflacion es simplemente un augmento de los precios sobre el tiempo, que generalmente es el resultado de devaluar una moneda. Esto es una funcion de la oferta y la demanda. Dado el hecho de que el suministro de bitcoins esta fijado a cierta cantidad, al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, la unica manera de que la inflacion se salga de control es que la demanda desaparezca. La inflacion temporal es posible con una rapida adopción de la Banca de Reserva Fraccionaria pero se estabilizara nada mas una sustancial cantidad de los 21 millones de bitcoins "fijados" sean guardados como reserva por los bancos.

Dado el hecho de que Bitcoin es un sistema de moneda distribuido, si la demanda fuera a bajar a casi nada, la moneda estaria condenada de todas formas.

El punto clave aqui es que Bitcoin como moneda no puede ser inflado por una sola persona o entidad, como un gobienro, ya que no hay manera de augmentar el suministro pasada cierta cantidad.

Ciertamente, el escenario mas probable, a medida que bitcoin se vuelve mas popular y la demanda augmente, es que la moneda augmente de valor, o deflacione, hasta que la demanda se estabilize.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances. While it may have been started by ideological enthusiasts, Bitcoin now speaks to a large number of regular pragmatic folk, who simply see its potential for reducing the costs and friction of global e-commerce.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker create counterfeit coins, fake transactions, or take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

There is no known governmental regulation which disallows the use of Bitcoin.

See also: the "[[#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_they.27re_not_legal_tender|Bitcoins are illegal because they're not legal tender]]" myth.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. See the main article, [[Fractional Reserve Banking and Bitcoin]]

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners will earn some profit from [[transaction fees]]. However unlike the block reward, there is [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/876/how-much-will-transaction-fees-eventually-be/895#895 no coupling between transaction fees and the need for security], so there is less of a guarantee that the amount of [[Mining|mining]] being performed will be sufficient to maintain the network's security.

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing inherent in the dollar or euro or any other currency is necessary for chargebacks to be possible, and likewise, nothing prevents the creation of PayPal-like services denominated in Bitcoin that provide chargebacks or fraud protection.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

While ECDSA is indeed not secure under quantum computing, quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while.
The DWAVE system often written about in the press is, even if all their claims are true, not a quantum computer of a kind that could be used for cryptography.
Bitcoin's security, when used properly with a new address on each transaction, depends on more than just ECDSA: Cryptographic hashes are much stronger than ECDSA under QC.
Bitcoin's security was designed to be upgraded in a forward compatible way and could be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin makes self-sufficient artificial intelligence possible ==
[[StorJ]]<ref>[http://garzikrants.blogspot.com/2013/01/storj-and-bitcoin-autonomous-agents.html StorJ And Bitcoin Autonomous Agents]</ref>, a theorized autonomous agent which utilizes humans to build itself and issues autonomous payments for improvement work done, is not a conscious entity. Whatever AI is possible, is not going to be magically more possible simply because it could incentivize human behaviour with pseudonymous Bitcoin payments.

== [[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==
No more so than the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

'''Economic Argument 1'''

[[Mining|Bitcoin mining]] is a highly competitive, dynamic, almost [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_market perfect], market. Mining rigs can be set up and dismantled almost anywhere in the world with relative ease. Thus, market forces are constantly pushing mining activity to ''places'' and ''times'' where the marginal price of electricity is low or zero. These electricity products are cheap for a reason. Often it’s because the electricity is difficult (and wasteful) to transport, difficult to store, or because there is low demand and high supply. Using electricity in this way is a lot less wasteful than simply plugging a mining rig into the mains indiscriminately.

For example, Iceland produces an excess of cheap electricity from renewable sources, but it has no way of exporting electricity because of its remote location. It is conceivable that at some point in future Bitcoin mining will only be profitable in places like Iceland, and unprofitable in places like central Europe, where electricity comes mostly from nuclear and fossil sources.

Market forces could even push mining into innovative solutions that have an effective electricity consumption of ''zero''. Mining always produces heat equivalent to the energy consumed - for example, 1000 watts of mining equipment produces the same amount of heat as a 1000 watt heating element used in an electric space heater, hot tub, water heater, or similar appliance. Someone already in a willing position to incur the cost of electricity for its heat value alone could run mining equipment specially designed to mine bitcoins while capturing and utilizing the heat produced, without incurring any energy costs beyond what they already intended to spend on heating.

(Note that this is just an example; mining will not always produce heat equivalent to the energy consumed because some energy is inevitably released as electromagnetic radiation, among others.)

'''Economic Argument 2'''

When the environmental costs of mining are considered, they need to be weighed up against the benefits. If you question Bitcoin on the grounds that it consumes electricity, then you should also ask questions like this: Will Bitcoin promote economic growth by freeing up trade? Will this speed up the rate of technological innovation? Will this lead to faster development of green technologies? Will Bitcoin enable new, border crossing [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid smart grid] technologies? …

Dismissal of Bitcoin because of its costs, while ignoring its benefits, is a dishonest argument. In fact, any environmental argument of this type is dishonest, not just pertaining to Bitcoin. Along similar lines, it could be argued that wind turbines are bad for the environment because making the steel structure consumes energy.

'''Ratio of Capital Costs versus Electrical Costs'''

The BFL Jalapeno hashes at 5.5 Gh/s using 30W. That device consumes about $40 per year in electricity (using U.S. residential average of about $0.15 per kWh.) But the device costs over $300 including shipping. Thus just about a quarter of all costs over a two-year useful life goes to electricity. This compares to GPUs where more than 90% of costs over a two-year life went to electricity. Even more efficient designs can be expected in the future.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

The assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of Bitcoin would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and cash all serve as opportunities for criminals as well, but society keeps them around due to their recognized net benefit.
* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish an alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were prosecuted under counterfeiting laws because the silver coins allegedly resembled US currency.

Bitcoins do not resemble the currency of the US or of any other nation in any way, shape, or form. The word "dollar" is not attached to them in any way. The "$" symbol is not used in any way.

Bitcoins have no representational similarity whatsoever to US dollars.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' Liberty Dollars was as easy as arresting the head of the company and seizing the offices and the precious metals used as backing. The decentralized Bitcoin, with no leader, no servers, no office, and no tangible asset backing, does not have the same vulnerability.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behavior ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the original Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 25 to 50 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

There are also other [[:Category:Clients|Bitcoin clients made by other developers]] that adhere to the Bitcoin protocol. As more developers create alternative clients, less power will lie with the developers of the original Bitcoin client.

== Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme ==

Bitcoin is nearly opposite of a [[Wikipedia:Pyramid_scheme|pyramid scheme]] in a mathematical sense. Because Bitcoins are algorithmically made scarce, no exponential benefit is derived from introducing new users to use of it. There is a quantitative benefit in having additional interest or demand, but this is in no way exponential.<ref name="Jeff_Tucker" />

== Bitcoin was hacked ==

In the history of Bitcoin, there has never been an attack on the [[block chain]] that resulted in stolen money from a confirmed output. Neither has there ever been a reported theft resulting directly from a vulnerability in the [[Original Bitcoin client|original Bitcoin client]], or a vulnerability in the protocol. Bitcoin is secured by standard cryptographic functions. These functions have been peer reviewed by cryptography experts and are considered unlikely to be breakable in the foreseeable future.

It is safe to say that the currency itself has never been 'hacked'. However, several major ''websites'' using the currency have been hacked, often resulting in high profile Bitcoin heists. These heists are misreported in some media as hacks on Bitcoin itself. An analogy: Just because someone stole US dollars from a supermarket till, doesn’t mean that the US dollar as a currency has been 'hacked'.

Most bitcoin thefts are the result of inadequate [[Securing your wallet|wallet security]]. In response to the wave of thefts in 2011 and 2012, the community has developed risk-mitigating measures such as [[Wallet_encryption|wallet encryption]], support for [[BIP_0011|multiple signatures]], [[How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet|offline wallets]], [[Paper_wallet|paper wallets]], and [[Hardware_wallet|hardware wallets]]. As these measures gain adoption by merchants and users, the number of thefts drop.
--!>

[[en:Myths]]
[[de:Mythen]]
[[en:Myths]]

Mitos

2016-10-02T12:39:45Z

Victorsueca: Arregladas algunas traducciones y añadidas algunas mas.

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* Pueden ser impresas por deseo subjetivo de los controladores
* Pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* Los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduciario no resuelva ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* Fáciles de transferir
* Fáciles de asegurar
* Fáciles de verificar
* Fáciles de granular

Al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, las bitcoins son:
* Predecibles y de [[Suministro controlado|suministro]] limitado
* No controlados por una autoridad centralizada (como el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal Sistema de Reserva Federal] o el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE Banco Central Europeo]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduciaria, las bitcoins son:
* Potencialmente anónimos
* A prueba de congelación de fondos
* Mas rápidos de transferir
* Mas baratos de transferir

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está "respaldado por" la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio sin embargo no puedes intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlos. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Al igual que el oro no esta respaldado por nada, lo mismo se aplica a bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se ''crea'' mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad del blockchain está ''protegida'' de posibles [[Debilidades#El_atacante_tiene_mucha_potencia_de_procesamiento|ataques]] por la existencia de una potente red de nodos.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Uno podría argumentar que el oro tampoco esta respaldado por nada. Los bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que les permiten ser valorados subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente por o con bitcoins. Véase [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Véase también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de las bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Justamente porque algo que consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, da la causalidad que es justo lo contrario (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas minaran (por ser la minería rentable), en consecuencia la [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Difficulty dificultad] aumentará, por lo que el coste de la minería aumentará. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende ocurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga un coste proporcional a la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ampliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero, a fecha de diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mineria|Los mineros]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no requieren registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

== Bitcoin es una forma de terrorismo domestico ya que solo daña la estabilidad económica de los EE.UU y su moneda. ==

Segun la [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States definicion de terrorismo en los Estados Unidos], tienes que realizar actos violentos para ser considerado un terrorista a efectos legales. Las recientes casuales observaciones de los políticos no tienen base en la ley o en hechos.

Ademas, bitcoin no es domestico a los EE.UU ni a cualquier otro país. Es una comunidad mundial, como puede verse en este [https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/live-map/ mapa de nodos de Bitcoin]

== Bitcoin solo permitirá evadir impuestos lo que eventualmente llevará a la caída de la civilización ==
Las transacciones en efectivo mantienen el mismo nivel de anonimato y sin embargo son gravadas con éxito. Depende de ti seguir las leyes aplicables en tu país de residencia, o afrontar las consecuencias.

Mientras que puede ser fácil transferir bitcoins de forma anónima, ''gastarlos'' de forma anónima en objetos tangibles es tan difícil como gastar qualquier otro tipo de dinero de forma anónima. Los evasores de impuestos son frecuentemente atrapados porque su estilo de vida y sus bienes son inconsistentes con los ingresos reportados, y no necesariamente porque el gobierno sea capaz de seguir su dinero.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/acuñar bitcoins y, por eso, no tienen valor ==

Los bitcoins no son impresos/acuñados, en vez de eso, los mineros computan [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bloque bloques] y por sus esfuerzos son recompensados con una cantidad especifica de bitcoins y las comisiones de transacción pagadas por otros. Véase [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining minería] para mas información sobre como funciona este proceso.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor porque están basados en criptografía no probada==

Los algoritmos SHA256 y [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECDSA ECDSA] que se usan en bitcoin son estándares de la industria bien conocidos. SHA256 se utiliza por el gobierno de los EE.UU. y esta avalado por este. Si crees que estos algoritmos no son de fiar entonces no deberías confiar en bitcoin, en transacciones con tarjeta de crédito ni en cualquier otro método de transferencia bancaria electrónica. Bitcoin tiene una base solida en criptografía bien entendida.

== Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados de manera injusta ==

Los primeros en adoptar bitcoin son recompensados por asumir un mayor riesgo con su tiempo y su dinero. El capital invertido en bitcoin en cada fase de su vida ha vigorizado la comunidad y ha ayudado a la moneda a conseguir mayores hitos. Argumentar que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin no se merecen el beneficio de esto es lo mismo que decir que los primeros inversores de una compañía o la gente que compró valores en la oferta pública inicial son recompensados de manera injusta.

Este argumento también depende de que los primeros en adoptar bitcoin estén usándolo para guardar en vez de transferir valor. El intercambio diario en las casas de cambio (a fecha de enero de 2012) indica que las transacciones pequeñas se están convirtiendo en lo normal, lo que indica intercambio en vez de inversión. En términos mas prácticos, "justicia" es un concepto arbitrario al cual es muy improbable que se llegue a un acuerdo por gran parte de la población. Establecer "justicia" no es un objetivo de bitcoin, ya que sería imposible.

Además, considerando la cantidad de publicidad que recibió bitcoin en abril de 2013, no hay excusa que valga para aquellos que no invirtieron entonces y luego vieron su valor subir drásticamente.

Si empiezas a minar o adquirir bitcoins hoy, aun puedes ser de los primeros en adoptarlo.

== 21 millones de monedas no es suficiente; no se adapta ==

Un bitcoin es divisible hasta 8 decimales. En realidad hay 2,099,999,997,690,000 (mas de 2 cuatrillones) de unidades atómicas posibles en el sistema de bitcoin.

El valor de "1 BTC" representa 100000000 de estas. En otras palabras, cada bitcoin es divisible hasta 108.

A medida que el valor de la unidad de "1 BTC" sea demasiado grande para ser útil para las transacciones del día a día, la gente empezará a utilizar unidades mas pequeñas, como los milli-bitcoins (mBTC) o micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Los bitcoins se almacenan en archivos de carteras, solo copia el archivo para conseguir mas monedas! ==

No, tu cartera contiene tus claves privadas que te dan derecho a gastar tus monedas. Piensa en ello como tener los datos de tu banco guardados en un archivo. Si das los detalles de tu banco (o la cartera de bitcoin) a alguien mas, eso no dobla la cantidad de dinero en tu cuenta. Tu puedes gastar tu dinero o ellos pueden gastar tu dinero, pero no ambos.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin design.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each is divisible by up to 10^8.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grows too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people can start dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so this is not a problem. If you lose your coins, all other coins will go up in value a little. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's safe.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters profit from the usefulness of a stable and widely accepted p2p currency.

Not to be confused with the [[Bitcoin randomizer|Bitcoin Randomizer]] which is a game that really is self-described as a Ponzi scheme.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

Name them if you can.

See also the [[Myths#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_it_s_not_legal_tender|legal tender]] question.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. There is no fundamental difference between classical currencies and Bitcoin as it applies to banking. Banks will still be free to take in bitcoins and present them to customers as "available for withdrawal" while still lending most of those bitcoins to a different customer for a profit. Some of those bitcoins will be held in reserves in case of a bank run. It will be up to the bank to hold a sufficient supply of reserves in order to prevent insolvency in the event of a bank run. Central banks were established to enforce reserve requirements and so, with Bitcoin lacking a central bank, some banks will almost surely collapse, taking their customers' deposits with them.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking Fractional reserve banking].

Conventional banks in the United States guarantee that account holders can withdraw 100% of their dollars based on their "word" and the fact that they are backed up by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation FDIC]. This program insures depositors up to a certain amount (currently $250K USD per depositor). The FDIC is widely known to have reserves sufficient to cover only a very small fraction of the total deposits it insures though the FDIC itself can be considered to be backed up by the US Congress in the event of its insolvency. After politically desired, the FDIC's role could be extended to insure Bitcoin banks and establish a minimum reserve requirement. Such a change would only happen after public outrage occurs after the inevitable collapse of major Bitcoin banks.

Because Fractional Reserve Banking is possible with bitcoins, the money supply of bitcoins (which includes demand deposits) can greatly exceed 21 million.

== Point of sale with bitcoins isn't possible because of the 10 minute wait for confirmation ==

Transactions '''can''' take tens of minutes to become ''confirmed'', and this won't change for the foreseeable future. Even after the computing power of the network is orders of magnitude larger than today, the difficulty of generating a block will self-adjust to maintain a target of 6 blocks per hour. Three potential solutions to allow POS transactions are:

1) For small transactions, simply assume the customer isn't ripping you off. Give the customer his latte immediately after the transaction posts to the network. The transaction should propagate through the network almost instantly, allowing the seller to see the transaction within seconds (albeit with zero confirmations.) The cost of a double-spend attack should make small-scale fraud not worthwhile.

2) Utilize a [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819 'listening' period] prior to rendering the service or good. This has yet to be formally implemented in the standard Bitcoin client, but would allow a vendor to receive the transaction and then monitor the Bitcoin network for a certain period of time (maybe 10 seconds) for possible double spends. Vendors might utilize specialized payment processors with multiple well-connected nodes for this purpose. As explained by Satoshi, the network nodes only accept the first version of a transaction they receive to incorporate into the block they're trying to generate. When you broadcast a transaction, if someone else broadcasts a double-spend at the same time, it's a race to propagate to the most nodes first. If one has a slight head start, it'll geometrically spread through the network faster and get most of the nodes. Therefore, the longer the listening period goes without a double spend attempt, the far less likely a double-spend attempt will actually succeed. If a double-spend is detected, the vendor is notified: no latte.

3) Create a network of transaction hubs. These entities would communicate using a common API. They would float short-term loans between each other to facilitate instant transactions.

Imagine that Alice uses Carol's Clearinghouse as her hub, and Bob uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange. Both Alice and Bob have accounts with their respective hubs, and have already deposited some bitcoins in their accounts. When Alice wants to buy a latte from Bob at a point of sale, Alice tells Carol "I want to send Bob ''x'' bitcoins. He uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange." After checking that Alice's account does contain at least ''x'' bitcoins, Carol sends a message to Dave, saying "Credit Bob's account with ''x'' bitcoins immediately; I'll send you the real bitcoins in the next block." Bob instantly sees his balance increase, and gives Alice her latte.

As always, trust is required - Alice has to trust Carol, and the hubs have to trust each other. Due to competition, various hubs could develop with vastly different fee structures, membership requirements, trustability, etc.

(But the point of Bitcoin is you don't need trust to execute the transaction, in the above description of option 3 you replaced the bitcoins with a trust-based centralized authority.)

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners are expected to earn profit from [[transaction fees]].

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing prevents the creation of services overlayed on top of Bitcoin that provide fraud protection services.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

Yes, but quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while. Bitcoin's security can be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

No more so than the the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

Your assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of bitcoins would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were later shut down for counterfeiting and intent to fraud after the coins, which contained less than $1 worth of silver, were put into circulation with the general money supply, supposedly having a value of 1 USD. These actions were encouraged by the makers of Liberty Dollars.

Bitcoins are not necessarily equal in value to dollars or any other currency and no one is saying they are. No member of the public will be tricked into accepting a bitcoin instead of a dollar.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' the decentralized Bitcoin network is rife with its own set of difficult considerations.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behaviour ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the official Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 50 to 100 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

Apart from the “official” Bitcoin client, other clients are available (and currently in development) from other groups of developers. As long as these clients adhere to the Bitcoin protocol, it is impossible for the developers of the official client to stop them from competing for blocks, because the network cannot tell them apart from official clients.

[[de:Mythen]]
[[en:Myths]]
--!>

Bloque

2016-10-02T11:04:53Z

Victorsueca: Arreglados algunos links rotos y traducciones

Todos los datos son grabados permanentemente en la red Bitcoin a través de '''bloques'''. Cada bloque contiene las últimas [[transacciones]], un [[nonce]] (número aleatorio), y el [[hash]] de la secuencia anterior. Un bloque se considera "resuelto" (publicadoa y considerado válido por el resto de nodos), cuando el hash SHA-256 de todo el bloque está por debajo del [objetivo []] actual. Esto es muy poco probable que ocurra después de haberlo hasheado sólo una vez, por lo que el nonce debe ser incrementado y el bloque hasheado de nuevo millones de veces hasta que lo haga.

Las transacciones Bitcoin se transmiten a la [[red]] por el remitente, y todos los participantes en la generación de las monedas que las recogen y agregan al bloque en que están trabajando. Si la transacción es mucho más grande que el tamaño medio de las transacciones, podría cobrarse un pequeño [[cargo por transacción]].

La primera operación en el bloque es especial: se crean nuevos [[Bitcoins]] para la persona que lo generó. El resto sólo aceptará el bloque si la operación es de la cantidad correcta. El número de [[Bitcoins]] generado por bloque comienza en 50 y se irá dividiendo entre dos cada 210.000 bloques (unos cuatro años).

La red trata de crear seis bloques por hora. Cada 2016 bloques (alrededor de dos semanas), todos los clientes Bitcoin comparan el número real creado con este objetivo y modifican el objetivo por el porcentaje que ha variado. Esto aumenta (o disminuye) la dificultad de generación de bloques.

== Preguntas frecuentes sobre los bloques ==

=== ¿Cuántos bloques hay? ===
[https://blockexplorer.com/api/status?q=getBlockCount Número de bloques actual]

=== ¿Cuál es el número máximo de bloques? ===
No hay un número máximo de bloques. Los bloques se van añadiendo al final de la cadena a una tasa promedio de uno cada 10 minutos.

==== ¿Incluso cuando se hayan generado los 21 millones de monedas? ====
Sí. Los bloques se utilizan para probar que las transacciones existían en un momento determinado. Las transacciones aún se producirán una vez todas las monedas se han generado, por lo que los bloques seguirán existiendo mientras la gente siga utilizando Bitcoins.

=== ¿Cuánto tiempo me tomará para generar un bloque? ===
Nadie puede decirlo con exactitud. Existe una [[Generation Calculator|Calculadora]] que le dirá cuánto tiempo '''podría''' tardar.

=== ¿Qué pasa si voy por el 1% del calculo del bloque y...? ===
No existe nada parecido a solucionar un 1% un bloque. Después de trabajar en él durante 24 horas, sus posibilidades de solucionarlo son las mismas que al principio o en cualquier momento. Creer lo contrario es lo que se conoce como la [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falacia_del_apostador falacia del apostador].

Es como tratar de tirar al aire 53 monedas a la vez y que todas ellas den cara. Cada vez que lo intenta, sus posibilidades de éxito son las mismas.

=== ¿Dónde puedo encontrar más detalles técnicos? ===
Hay más detalles técnicos en la página [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Block_hashing_algorithm algoritmo de hasheo de bloques].
== Véase también ==

* [http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/File:Total_bitcoins_over_time_graph.png Bitcoins totales en el tiempo]

[[Category: Técnica]]
[[Category: Vocabulario]]

[[Fr: Blocs]] [[zh-cn: Block]] [[En: Block]]

Mitos

2016-07-06T09:04:04Z

Victorsueca: Se han arreglado algunas traducciones y se han añadido de nuevas.

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* Pueden ser impresas por deseo subjetivo de los controladores
* Pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* Los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduiciario no resuelva ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* Fáciles de transferir
* Fáciles de asegurar
* Fáciles de verificar
* Fáciles de granular

Al contrario que el dinero fiduciario, las bitcoins son:
* Predecibles y de [[Suministro controlado|suministro]] limitado
* No controlados por una autoridad centralizada (como el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal Sistema de Reserva Federal] o el [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE Banco Central Europeo]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduiciaria, las bitcoins son:
* Potencialmente anónimos
* A prueba de congelacion de fondos
* Mas rápidos de transferir
* Mas baratos de transferir

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está "respaldado por" la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio sin embargo no puedes intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlos. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Al igual que el oro no esta respaldado por nada lo mismo se aplica a bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se ''crea'' mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad de la cadena de bloques está ''protegida'' de posibles [[Debilidades#El_atacante_tiene_mucha_potencia_de_procesamiento|ataques]] por la existencia de una potente red de nodos.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Tampoco el oro está respaldado por nada más, a excepción de su valor físico intrínseco. Las bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que son valoradas subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente bitcoins. Vea [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Vea también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de las bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Justamente porque algo que consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, la causalidad es lo contrario de eso (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas realizarán minería (por ser la extracción rentable), en consecuencia la [dificultad] crecerá, por lo que lo hará también el coste de extracción. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende occurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga el coste de la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/minar las bitcoins y, por eso, las bitcoins son sin valor ==
Las bitcoins no se imprimen/minan. En lugar, los [[Bloque|bloques]] se computan por los mineros y ellos son recompensados con las bitcoins de cantidad específica y con las gastos de transacción. Véase [[Bloques]] para más informaciones sobre como ese proceso funciona.

== Las bitcoins no tiene valor porque son basadas en la criptografía no probada ==
SHA256 and ECDSA, que se usa en Bitcoin, son los algoritmos bien conocidos y acceptado como estándares de industria. Si cree que estos algoritmos no son digno de confianza, debería que no confiar al Bitcoin, la tarjeta de crédito ni otros modos del transferencia bancaria electrónica.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ámpliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero en diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10,000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mineria|Los mineros]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no requieren registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

== Bitcoin es una forma de terrorismo domestico ya que solo daña la estabilidad económica de los EE.UU y su moneda. ==

Segun la [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States definicion de terrorismo en los Estados Unidos], tienes que realizar actos violentos para ser considerado un terrorista a efectos legales. Las recientes casuales observaciones de los políticos no tienen base en la ley o en hechos.

Ademas, bitcoin no es domestico a los EE.UU ni a cualquier otro país. Es una comunidad mundial, como puede verse en este [https://bitnodes.21.co/nodes/live-map/ mapa de nodos de Bitcoin]

... en traducción ...
<!--
== Bitcoin will only enable tax evaders which will lead to the eventual downfall of civilization ==

Cash transactions hold the same level of anonymity but are still taxed successfully. It is up to you to follow the applicable state laws in your home country, or face the consequences.

== (already translated) Bitcoins can be printed/minted by anyone and are therefore worthless ==

Bitcoins are not printed/minted. Instead, [[Blocks]] are computed by miners and for their efforts they are awarded a specific amount of bitcoins + transaction fees. See [[Blocks]] for more information on how this process works.

== (already translated) Bitcoins are worthless because they're based on unproven cryptography ==

SHA256 and ECDSA which are used in Bitcoin are well-known industry standard algorithms. If you believe that these algorithms are untrustworthy then you should not trust Bitcoin, credit card transactions or any type of electronic bank transfer.

== Early adopters are unfairly rewarded ==

Early adopters are rewarded for taking the higher risk with their time and money.

In more pragmatic terms, "fairness" is an arbitrary concept that is improbable to be agreed upon by a large population. Establishing "fairness" is no goal of Bitcoin, as this would be impossible.

The vast majority of the 21 million Bitcoins still have not been distributed. By starting to mine or acquire bitcoins today, you too can become an early adopter.

== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin design.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each is divisible by up to 10^8.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grows too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people can start dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so this is not a problem. If you lose your coins, all other coins will go up in value a little. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's safe.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters profit from the usefulness of a stable and widely accepted p2p currency.

Not to be confused with the [[Bitcoin randomizer|Bitcoin Randomizer]] which is a game that really is self-described as a Ponzi scheme.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

Name them if you can.

See also the [[Myths#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_it_s_not_legal_tender|legal tender]] question.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. There is no fundamental difference between classical currencies and Bitcoin as it applies to banking. Banks will still be free to take in bitcoins and present them to customers as "available for withdrawal" while still lending most of those bitcoins to a different customer for a profit. Some of those bitcoins will be held in reserves in case of a bank run. It will be up to the bank to hold a sufficient supply of reserves in order to prevent insolvency in the event of a bank run. Central banks were established to enforce reserve requirements and so, with Bitcoin lacking a central bank, some banks will almost surely collapse, taking their customers' deposits with them.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking Fractional reserve banking].

Conventional banks in the United States guarantee that account holders can withdraw 100% of their dollars based on their "word" and the fact that they are backed up by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation FDIC]. This program insures depositors up to a certain amount (currently $250K USD per depositor). The FDIC is widely known to have reserves sufficient to cover only a very small fraction of the total deposits it insures though the FDIC itself can be considered to be backed up by the US Congress in the event of its insolvency. After politically desired, the FDIC's role could be extended to insure Bitcoin banks and establish a minimum reserve requirement. Such a change would only happen after public outrage occurs after the inevitable collapse of major Bitcoin banks.

Because Fractional Reserve Banking is possible with bitcoins, the money supply of bitcoins (which includes demand deposits) can greatly exceed 21 million.

== Point of sale with bitcoins isn't possible because of the 10 minute wait for confirmation ==

Transactions '''can''' take tens of minutes to become ''confirmed'', and this won't change for the foreseeable future. Even after the computing power of the network is orders of magnitude larger than today, the difficulty of generating a block will self-adjust to maintain a target of 6 blocks per hour. Three potential solutions to allow POS transactions are:

1) For small transactions, simply assume the customer isn't ripping you off. Give the customer his latte immediately after the transaction posts to the network. The transaction should propagate through the network almost instantly, allowing the seller to see the transaction within seconds (albeit with zero confirmations.) The cost of a double-spend attack should make small-scale fraud not worthwhile.

2) Utilize a [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819 'listening' period] prior to rendering the service or good. This has yet to be formally implemented in the standard Bitcoin client, but would allow a vendor to receive the transaction and then monitor the Bitcoin network for a certain period of time (maybe 10 seconds) for possible double spends. Vendors might utilize specialized payment processors with multiple well-connected nodes for this purpose. As explained by Satoshi, the network nodes only accept the first version of a transaction they receive to incorporate into the block they're trying to generate. When you broadcast a transaction, if someone else broadcasts a double-spend at the same time, it's a race to propagate to the most nodes first. If one has a slight head start, it'll geometrically spread through the network faster and get most of the nodes. Therefore, the longer the listening period goes without a double spend attempt, the far less likely a double-spend attempt will actually succeed. If a double-spend is detected, the vendor is notified: no latte.

3) Create a network of transaction hubs. These entities would communicate using a common API. They would float short-term loans between each other to facilitate instant transactions.

Imagine that Alice uses Carol's Clearinghouse as her hub, and Bob uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange. Both Alice and Bob have accounts with their respective hubs, and have already deposited some bitcoins in their accounts. When Alice wants to buy a latte from Bob at a point of sale, Alice tells Carol "I want to send Bob ''x'' bitcoins. He uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange." After checking that Alice's account does contain at least ''x'' bitcoins, Carol sends a message to Dave, saying "Credit Bob's account with ''x'' bitcoins immediately; I'll send you the real bitcoins in the next block." Bob instantly sees his balance increase, and gives Alice her latte.

As always, trust is required - Alice has to trust Carol, and the hubs have to trust each other. Due to competition, various hubs could develop with vastly different fee structures, membership requirements, trustability, etc.

(But the point of Bitcoin is you don't need trust to execute the transaction, in the above description of option 3 you replaced the bitcoins with a trust-based centralized authority.)

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners are expected to earn profit from [[transaction fees]].

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing prevents the creation of services overlayed on top of Bitcoin that provide fraud protection services.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

Yes, but quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while. Bitcoin's security can be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

No more so than the the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

Your assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of bitcoins would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were later shut down for counterfeiting and intent to fraud after the coins, which contained less than $1 worth of silver, were put into circulation with the general money supply, supposedly having a value of 1 USD. These actions were encouraged by the makers of Liberty Dollars.

Bitcoins are not necessarily equal in value to dollars or any other currency and no one is saying they are. No member of the public will be tricked into accepting a bitcoin instead of a dollar.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' the decentralized Bitcoin network is rife with its own set of difficult considerations.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behaviour ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the official Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 50 to 100 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

Apart from the “official” Bitcoin client, other clients are available (and currently in development) from other groups of developers. As long as these clients adhere to the Bitcoin protocol, it is impossible for the developers of the official client to stop them from competing for blocks, because the network cannot tell them apart from official clients.

[[de:Mythen]]
[[en:Myths]]
--!>

Mitos

2016-04-25T09:45:41Z

Victorsueca: Fixed fail on translation

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* pueden ser impresas al arbitrio subjetivo de los controladores
* pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduiciario no resuelve ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* fáciles de transferir
* fáciles de securizar
* fáciles de verificar
* fáciles de granularizar

Al contrario que el dinero fiduiciario, las bitcoins son:
* predecibles y de [[Controlled_Currency_Supply|oferta limitada]]
* no controladas por una autoridad centralizada (como [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal FED] o [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE BCE]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduiciaria, las bitcoins son:
* potencialmente anónimas
* resistentes a la congelación
* exentas de tasas
* transferibles a bajos precios

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio. Usted no puede intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlas. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Es similar al oro - ¿está el oro respaldado por algo? ¡No! Es sólo oro. Lo mismo se aplica a Bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se "crea" mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad de la cadena de bloques está "protegida" de posibles [[Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power|ataques]] por la existencia de una extensa red de nodos de computación. Y eso es todo.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Tampoco el oro está respaldado por nada más, a excepción de su valor físico intrínseco. Las bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que son valoradas subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente bitcoins. Vea [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Vea también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de las bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Justamente porque algo que consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, la causalidad es lo contrario de eso (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas realizarán minería (por ser la extracción rentable), en consecuencia la [dificultad] crecerá, por lo que lo hará también el coste de extracción. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende occurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga el coste de la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/minar las bitcoins y, por eso, las bitcoins son sin valor ==
Las bitcoins no se imprimen/minan. En lugar, los [[Bloque|bloques]] se computan por los mineros y ellos son recompensados con las bitcoins de cantidad específica y con las gastos de transacción. Véase [[Bloques]] para más informaciones sobre como ese proceso funciona.

== Las bitcoins no tiene valor porque son basadas en la criptografía no probada ==
SHA256 and ECDSA, que se usa en Bitcoin, son los algoritmos bien conocidos y acceptado como estándares de industria. Si cree que estos algoritmos no son digno de confianza, debería que no confiar al Bitcoin, la tarjeta de crédito ni otros modos del transferencia bancaria electrónica.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ámpliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero en diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10,000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mineria|Los mineros]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no requieren registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== Bitcoin is a form of domestic terrorism because it only harms the economic stability of the USA and its currency ==

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States according to this, you need to do violent activities to be considered a terrorist for legal purposes. This has no bearing on politicians and idiotic US attorney's public remarks.

Also, Bitcoin isn't domestic. It's a worldwide community. See this map of Bitcoin nodes
http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=2346.0

== Bitcoin will only enable tax evaders which will lead to the eventual downfall of civilization ==

Cash transactions hold the same level of anonymity but are still taxed successfully. It is up to you to follow the applicable state laws in your home country, or face the consequences.

== (already translated) Bitcoins can be printed/minted by anyone and are therefore worthless ==

Bitcoins are not printed/minted. Instead, [[Blocks]] are computed by miners and for their efforts they are awarded a specific amount of bitcoins + transaction fees. See [[Blocks]] for more information on how this process works.

== (already translated) Bitcoins are worthless because they're based on unproven cryptography ==

SHA256 and ECDSA which are used in Bitcoin are well-known industry standard algorithms. If you believe that these algorithms are untrustworthy then you should not trust Bitcoin, credit card transactions or any type of electronic bank transfer.

== Early adopters are unfairly rewarded ==

Early adopters are rewarded for taking the higher risk with their time and money.

In more pragmatic terms, "fairness" is an arbitrary concept that is improbable to be agreed upon by a large population. Establishing "fairness" is no goal of Bitcoin, as this would be impossible.

The vast majority of the 21 million Bitcoins still have not been distributed. By starting to mine or acquire bitcoins today, you too can become an early adopter.

== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin design.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each is divisible by up to 10^8.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grows too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people can start dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so this is not a problem. If you lose your coins, all other coins will go up in value a little. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's safe.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters profit from the usefulness of a stable and widely accepted p2p currency.

Not to be confused with the [[Bitcoin randomizer|Bitcoin Randomizer]] which is a game that really is self-described as a Ponzi scheme.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

Name them if you can.

See also the [[Myths#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_it_s_not_legal_tender|legal tender]] question.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. There is no fundamental difference between classical currencies and Bitcoin as it applies to banking. Banks will still be free to take in bitcoins and present them to customers as "available for withdrawal" while still lending most of those bitcoins to a different customer for a profit. Some of those bitcoins will be held in reserves in case of a bank run. It will be up to the bank to hold a sufficient supply of reserves in order to prevent insolvency in the event of a bank run. Central banks were established to enforce reserve requirements and so, with Bitcoin lacking a central bank, some banks will almost surely collapse, taking their customers' deposits with them.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking Fractional reserve banking].

Conventional banks in the United States guarantee that account holders can withdraw 100% of their dollars based on their "word" and the fact that they are backed up by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation FDIC]. This program insures depositors up to a certain amount (currently $250K USD per depositor). The FDIC is widely known to have reserves sufficient to cover only a very small fraction of the total deposits it insures though the FDIC itself can be considered to be backed up by the US Congress in the event of its insolvency. After politically desired, the FDIC's role could be extended to insure Bitcoin banks and establish a minimum reserve requirement. Such a change would only happen after public outrage occurs after the inevitable collapse of major Bitcoin banks.

Because Fractional Reserve Banking is possible with bitcoins, the money supply of bitcoins (which includes demand deposits) can greatly exceed 21 million.

== Point of sale with bitcoins isn't possible because of the 10 minute wait for confirmation ==

Transactions '''can''' take tens of minutes to become ''confirmed'', and this won't change for the foreseeable future. Even after the computing power of the network is orders of magnitude larger than today, the difficulty of generating a block will self-adjust to maintain a target of 6 blocks per hour. Three potential solutions to allow POS transactions are:

1) For small transactions, simply assume the customer isn't ripping you off. Give the customer his latte immediately after the transaction posts to the network. The transaction should propagate through the network almost instantly, allowing the seller to see the transaction within seconds (albeit with zero confirmations.) The cost of a double-spend attack should make small-scale fraud not worthwhile.

2) Utilize a [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819 'listening' period] prior to rendering the service or good. This has yet to be formally implemented in the standard Bitcoin client, but would allow a vendor to receive the transaction and then monitor the Bitcoin network for a certain period of time (maybe 10 seconds) for possible double spends. Vendors might utilize specialized payment processors with multiple well-connected nodes for this purpose. As explained by Satoshi, the network nodes only accept the first version of a transaction they receive to incorporate into the block they're trying to generate. When you broadcast a transaction, if someone else broadcasts a double-spend at the same time, it's a race to propagate to the most nodes first. If one has a slight head start, it'll geometrically spread through the network faster and get most of the nodes. Therefore, the longer the listening period goes without a double spend attempt, the far less likely a double-spend attempt will actually succeed. If a double-spend is detected, the vendor is notified: no latte.

3) Create a network of transaction hubs. These entities would communicate using a common API. They would float short-term loans between each other to facilitate instant transactions.

Imagine that Alice uses Carol's Clearinghouse as her hub, and Bob uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange. Both Alice and Bob have accounts with their respective hubs, and have already deposited some bitcoins in their accounts. When Alice wants to buy a latte from Bob at a point of sale, Alice tells Carol "I want to send Bob ''x'' bitcoins. He uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange." After checking that Alice's account does contain at least ''x'' bitcoins, Carol sends a message to Dave, saying "Credit Bob's account with ''x'' bitcoins immediately; I'll send you the real bitcoins in the next block." Bob instantly sees his balance increase, and gives Alice her latte.

As always, trust is required - Alice has to trust Carol, and the hubs have to trust each other. Due to competition, various hubs could develop with vastly different fee structures, membership requirements, trustability, etc.

(But the point of Bitcoin is you don't need trust to execute the transaction, in the above description of option 3 you replaced the bitcoins with a trust-based centralized authority.)

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners are expected to earn profit from [[transaction fees]].

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing prevents the creation of services overlayed on top of Bitcoin that provide fraud protection services.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

Yes, but quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while. Bitcoin's security can be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

No more so than the the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

Your assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of bitcoins would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were later shut down for counterfeiting and intent to fraud after the coins, which contained less than $1 worth of silver, were put into circulation with the general money supply, supposedly having a value of 1 USD. These actions were encouraged by the makers of Liberty Dollars.

Bitcoins are not necessarily equal in value to dollars or any other currency and no one is saying they are. No member of the public will be tricked into accepting a bitcoin instead of a dollar.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' the decentralized Bitcoin network is rife with its own set of difficult considerations.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behaviour ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the official Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 50 to 100 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

Apart from the “official” Bitcoin client, other clients are available (and currently in development) from other groups of developers. As long as these clients adhere to the Bitcoin protocol, it is impossible for the developers of the official client to stop them from competing for blocks, because the network cannot tell them apart from official clients.

[[de:Mythen]]
[[en:Myths]]
--!>

Mitos

2016-04-25T09:42:09Z

Victorsueca: Translated more text

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* pueden ser impresas al arbitrio subjetivo de los controladores
* pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduiciario no resuelve ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* fáciles de transferir
* fáciles de securizar
* fáciles de verificar
* fáciles de granularizar

Al contrario que el dinero fiduiciario, las bitcoins son:
* predecibles y de [[Controlled_Currency_Supply|oferta limitada]]
* no controladas por una autoridad centralizada (como [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal FED] o [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE BCE]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduiciaria, las bitcoins son:
* potencialmente anónimas
* resistentes a la congelación
* exentas de tasas
* transferibles a bajos precios

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio. Usted no puede intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlas. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Es similar al oro - ¿está el oro respaldado por algo? ¡No! Es sólo oro. Lo mismo se aplica a Bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se "crea" mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad de la cadena de bloques está "protegida" de posibles [[Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power|ataques]] por la existencia de una extensa red de nodos de computación. Y eso es todo.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Tampoco el oro está respaldado por nada más, a excepción de su valor físico intrínseco. Las bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que son valoradas subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente bitcoins. Vea [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Vea también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de las bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Justamente porque algo que consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, la causalidad es lo contrario de eso (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas realizarán minería (por ser la extracción rentable), en consecuencia la [dificultad] crecerá, por lo que lo hará también el coste de extracción. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende occurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga el coste de la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/minar las bitcoins y, por eso, las bitcoins son sin valor ==
Las bitcoins no se imprimen/minan. En lugar, los [[Bloque|bloques]] se computan por los mineros y ellos son recompensados con las bitcoins de cantidad específica y con las gastos de transacción. Véase [[Bloques]] para más informaciones sobre como ese proceso funciona.

== Las bitcoins no tiene valor porque son basadas en la criptografía no probada ==
SHA256 and ECDSA, que se usa en Bitcoin, son los algoritmos bien conocidos y acceptado como estándares de industria. Si cree que estos algoritmos no son digno de confianza, debería que no confiar al Bitcoin, la tarjeta de crédito ni otros modos del transferencia bancaria electrónica.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ámpliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero en diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10,000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

En Marzo de 2013, en Estados Unidos. La [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] (Red de aplicación de delitos financieros) aprueba un nuevo conjunto de normas acerca de "Monedas descentralizadas virtuales", claramente refiriéndose a bitcoin. Según estas nuevas normas, "un usuario de una moneda virtual no es un Proveedor de Servicios Financieros (PSF) bajo las regulaciones de FinCEN, por lo tanto, no esta sujeto a registrarse como tal ni a mantener y reportar registros." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ Regulador de EEUU: Las casas de cambio de bitcoin deben estar sujetas a las leyes de lavado de dinero | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mining|Miners]], al minar bitcoins para uso personal no se requiere registrarse como PSF o transmisor de dinero. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Aplicación de las regulaciones de FinCEN a las operaciones de minería de bitcoins | Fincen]</ref>

En general, hay un [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneda_local numero de monedas] existentes que no son monedas oficiales respaldadas por gobiernos. Una moneda, después de todo, no es nada mas que una unidad de contabilidad conveniente. Mientras que las leyes pueden variar entre países, y definitivamente deberías comprobar las de tu jurisdicción, en general, comerciar con cualquier comodidad, incluyendo monedas digitales como bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], monedas de juegos como el oro del WoW o Linden dollars, no es ilegal.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== Bitcoin is a form of domestic terrorism because it only harms the economic stability of the USA and its currency ==

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States according to this, you need to do violent activities to be considered a terrorist for legal purposes. This has no bearing on politicians and idiotic US attorney's public remarks.

Also, Bitcoin isn't domestic. It's a worldwide community. See this map of Bitcoin nodes
http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=2346.0

== Bitcoin will only enable tax evaders which will lead to the eventual downfall of civilization ==

Cash transactions hold the same level of anonymity but are still taxed successfully. It is up to you to follow the applicable state laws in your home country, or face the consequences.

== (already translated) Bitcoins can be printed/minted by anyone and are therefore worthless ==

Bitcoins are not printed/minted. Instead, [[Blocks]] are computed by miners and for their efforts they are awarded a specific amount of bitcoins + transaction fees. See [[Blocks]] for more information on how this process works.

== (already translated) Bitcoins are worthless because they're based on unproven cryptography ==

SHA256 and ECDSA which are used in Bitcoin are well-known industry standard algorithms. If you believe that these algorithms are untrustworthy then you should not trust Bitcoin, credit card transactions or any type of electronic bank transfer.

== Early adopters are unfairly rewarded ==

Early adopters are rewarded for taking the higher risk with their time and money.

In more pragmatic terms, "fairness" is an arbitrary concept that is improbable to be agreed upon by a large population. Establishing "fairness" is no goal of Bitcoin, as this would be impossible.

The vast majority of the 21 million Bitcoins still have not been distributed. By starting to mine or acquire bitcoins today, you too can become an early adopter.

== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin design.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each is divisible by up to 10^8.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grows too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people can start dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so this is not a problem. If you lose your coins, all other coins will go up in value a little. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's safe.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters profit from the usefulness of a stable and widely accepted p2p currency.

Not to be confused with the [[Bitcoin randomizer|Bitcoin Randomizer]] which is a game that really is self-described as a Ponzi scheme.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

Name them if you can.

See also the [[Myths#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_it_s_not_legal_tender|legal tender]] question.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. There is no fundamental difference between classical currencies and Bitcoin as it applies to banking. Banks will still be free to take in bitcoins and present them to customers as "available for withdrawal" while still lending most of those bitcoins to a different customer for a profit. Some of those bitcoins will be held in reserves in case of a bank run. It will be up to the bank to hold a sufficient supply of reserves in order to prevent insolvency in the event of a bank run. Central banks were established to enforce reserve requirements and so, with Bitcoin lacking a central bank, some banks will almost surely collapse, taking their customers' deposits with them.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking Fractional reserve banking].

Conventional banks in the United States guarantee that account holders can withdraw 100% of their dollars based on their "word" and the fact that they are backed up by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation FDIC]. This program insures depositors up to a certain amount (currently $250K USD per depositor). The FDIC is widely known to have reserves sufficient to cover only a very small fraction of the total deposits it insures though the FDIC itself can be considered to be backed up by the US Congress in the event of its insolvency. After politically desired, the FDIC's role could be extended to insure Bitcoin banks and establish a minimum reserve requirement. Such a change would only happen after public outrage occurs after the inevitable collapse of major Bitcoin banks.

Because Fractional Reserve Banking is possible with bitcoins, the money supply of bitcoins (which includes demand deposits) can greatly exceed 21 million.

== Point of sale with bitcoins isn't possible because of the 10 minute wait for confirmation ==

Transactions '''can''' take tens of minutes to become ''confirmed'', and this won't change for the foreseeable future. Even after the computing power of the network is orders of magnitude larger than today, the difficulty of generating a block will self-adjust to maintain a target of 6 blocks per hour. Three potential solutions to allow POS transactions are:

1) For small transactions, simply assume the customer isn't ripping you off. Give the customer his latte immediately after the transaction posts to the network. The transaction should propagate through the network almost instantly, allowing the seller to see the transaction within seconds (albeit with zero confirmations.) The cost of a double-spend attack should make small-scale fraud not worthwhile.

2) Utilize a [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819 'listening' period] prior to rendering the service or good. This has yet to be formally implemented in the standard Bitcoin client, but would allow a vendor to receive the transaction and then monitor the Bitcoin network for a certain period of time (maybe 10 seconds) for possible double spends. Vendors might utilize specialized payment processors with multiple well-connected nodes for this purpose. As explained by Satoshi, the network nodes only accept the first version of a transaction they receive to incorporate into the block they're trying to generate. When you broadcast a transaction, if someone else broadcasts a double-spend at the same time, it's a race to propagate to the most nodes first. If one has a slight head start, it'll geometrically spread through the network faster and get most of the nodes. Therefore, the longer the listening period goes without a double spend attempt, the far less likely a double-spend attempt will actually succeed. If a double-spend is detected, the vendor is notified: no latte.

3) Create a network of transaction hubs. These entities would communicate using a common API. They would float short-term loans between each other to facilitate instant transactions.

Imagine that Alice uses Carol's Clearinghouse as her hub, and Bob uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange. Both Alice and Bob have accounts with their respective hubs, and have already deposited some bitcoins in their accounts. When Alice wants to buy a latte from Bob at a point of sale, Alice tells Carol "I want to send Bob ''x'' bitcoins. He uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange." After checking that Alice's account does contain at least ''x'' bitcoins, Carol sends a message to Dave, saying "Credit Bob's account with ''x'' bitcoins immediately; I'll send you the real bitcoins in the next block." Bob instantly sees his balance increase, and gives Alice her latte.

As always, trust is required - Alice has to trust Carol, and the hubs have to trust each other. Due to competition, various hubs could develop with vastly different fee structures, membership requirements, trustability, etc.

(But the point of Bitcoin is you don't need trust to execute the transaction, in the above description of option 3 you replaced the bitcoins with a trust-based centralized authority.)

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners are expected to earn profit from [[transaction fees]].

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing prevents the creation of services overlayed on top of Bitcoin that provide fraud protection services.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

Yes, but quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while. Bitcoin's security can be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

No more so than the the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

Your assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of bitcoins would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were later shut down for counterfeiting and intent to fraud after the coins, which contained less than $1 worth of silver, were put into circulation with the general money supply, supposedly having a value of 1 USD. These actions were encouraged by the makers of Liberty Dollars.

Bitcoins are not necessarily equal in value to dollars or any other currency and no one is saying they are. No member of the public will be tricked into accepting a bitcoin instead of a dollar.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' the decentralized Bitcoin network is rife with its own set of difficult considerations.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behaviour ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the official Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 50 to 100 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

Apart from the “official” Bitcoin client, other clients are available (and currently in development) from other groups of developers. As long as these clients adhere to the Bitcoin protocol, it is impossible for the developers of the official client to stop them from competing for blocks, because the network cannot tell them apart from official clients.

[[de:Mythen]]
[[en:Myths]]
--!>

Mitos

2016-04-20T17:19:41Z

Victorsueca: Translated more text

Aclaremos algunos conceptos erróneos acerca de Bitcoin.

== Bitcoin es como cualquier otra divisa digital; nada nuevo ==

Casi todas las demás divisas digitales están sometidas a un control centralizado. Esto implica que:
* pueden ser impresas al arbitrio subjetivo de los controladores
* pueden ser destruidas atacando el punto central de control
* los controladores pueden imponer reglas arbitrarias sobre los usuarios de la divisa

Siendo una divisa descentralizada, Bitcoin resuelve todos estos problemas.

== Bitcoin no resuelve ninguno de los problemas que el dinero fiduiciario no resuelve ==

Al contrario que el oro, las bitcoins son:
* fáciles de transferir
* fáciles de securizar
* fáciles de verificar
* fáciles de granularizar

Al contrario que el dinero fiduiciario, las bitcoins son:
* predecibles y de [[Controlled_Currency_Supply|oferta limitada]]
* no controladas por una autoridad centralizada (como [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_de_Reserva_Federal FED] o [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/BCE BCE]).

Al contrario que los sistemas de moneda electrónica fiduiciaria, las bitcoins son:
* potencialmente anónimas
* resistentes a la congelación
* exentas de tasas
* transferibles a bajos precios

== Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento ==

Es incorrecto afirmar que Bitcoin está respaldado por la potencia de procesamiento. Una divisa "respaldada" por algo significa que está vinculada a algo más mediante una central de cambio a un cierto tipo de cambio. Usted no puede intercambiar bitcoins por la potencia de procesamiento que se usó para crearlas. En este sentido, Bitcoin no está respaldado por nada. Es una divisa por derecho propio. Es similar al oro - ¿está el oro respaldado por algo? ¡No! Es sólo oro. Lo mismo se aplica a Bitcoin.

La divisa Bitcoin se "crea" mediante potencia de procesamiento, y la integridad de la cadena de bloques está "protegida" de posibles [[Weaknesses#Attacker_has_a_lot_of_computing_power|ataques]] por la existencia de una extensa red de nodos de computación. Y eso es todo.

== Bitcoin no posee valor ya que no está respaldado por nada ==

Tampoco el oro está respaldado por nada más, a excepción de su valor físico intrínseco. Las bitcoins poseen propiedades inherentes a su diseño que son valoradas subjetivamente por los individuos. Este valor se demuestra cuando los individuos intercambian libremente bitcoins. Vea [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value la teoría subjetiva del valor]. Vea también el mito [https://es.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mitos#Bitcoin_está_respaldado_por_la_potencia_de_procesamiento].

== El valor de las bitcoins se basa en cuánta electricidad y potencia de procesamiento se usa para su minería ==

Esta frase es un intento de aplicar a Bitcoin la [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/es/wiki/Teor%C3%ADa_del_valor-trabajo teoría laboral del valor], que es generalmente aceptada como falsa. Justamente porque algo que consume X recursos para ser creado no implica que el producto resultante valga X. Su valor puede ser mayor o menor, dependiendo de la utilidad que represente para sus usuarios.

De hecho, la causalidad es lo contrario de eso (esto se aplica a la teoría laboral del valor en general). El coste de extracción (minería) de bitcoins se basa en cuánto son valorados. Si el valor de los bitcoins crece más personas realizarán minería (por ser la extracción rentable), en consecuencia la [dificultad] crecerá, por lo que lo hará también el coste de extracción. Si el valor de los bitcoins desciende occurrirá lo contrario. Estos efectos se compensan para que la minería siempre tenga el coste de la cantidad de bitcoins que produce.

== Cualquiera persona puede imprimir/minar las bitcoins y, por eso, las bitcoins son sin valor ==
Las bitcoins no se imprimen/minan. En lugar, los [[Bloque|bloques]] se computan por los mineros y ellos son recompensados con las bitcoins de cantidad específica y con las gastos de transacción. Véase [[Bloques]] para más informaciones sobre como ese proceso funciona.

== Las bitcoins no tiene valor porque son basadas en la criptografía no probada ==
SHA256 and ECDSA, que se usa en Bitcoin, son los algoritmos bien conocidos y acceptado como estándares de industria. Si cree que estos algoritmos no son digno de confianza, debería que no confiar al Bitcoin, la tarjeta de crédito ni otros modos del transferencia bancaria electrónica.

== Los bitcoins no tienen valor intrínseco (al contrario que otras cosas) ==

Esto simplemente no es verdad. Cada bitcoin le da la habilidad a su propietario de adjuntar en transacciones una gran cantidad de cortos mensajes en un almacenaje de datos permanente con marcas de tiempo y distribuido globalmente, conocido como el blockchain de bitcoin. No existe ningún otro almacenaje de datos similar que esté tan ámpliamente distribuido. Se puede argumentar sobre el numero exacto de mensajes y como de rápido pueden ser adjuntados. Pero en diciembre de 2013, seria justo decir que 1000 de esos mensajes pueden ser adjuntados, cada uno 10 minutos después de ser enviado, considerando que una comisión de 0.001 BTC es suficiente para que la transacción se confirme rápidamente. Esta habilidad para adjuntar tiene ciertamente valor intrínseco ya que puede ser usada para probar la posesión de un documento en cierto punto en el tiempo, incluyendo un hash de una sola dirección del documento en una transacción. Considerando que los servicios de notaria electrónica cobran cerca de $10 por documento, esto le daría un valor intrínseco de cerca de $10,000 por bitcoin.

Mientras que otras comodidades tangibles tienen valor intrínseco, ese valor es normalmente mucho menos que su precio de venta. Pongamos por ejemplo el oro, si no se usara como un almacenaje de valor a prueba de inflación, y en vez de eso se destinara a usos industriales, seguramente no valdría lo que vale hoy, ya que los requerimientos industriales de oro serian mucho menores que el suministro disponible.

De cualquier modo, mientras que el valor intrínseco histórico, así como otros atributos como la divisibilidad, intercambiabilidad, escasez, durabilidad, han ayudado a establecer ciertas comodidades como medios de cambio, no son un prerequisito. Mientras que los bitcoins son acusados de carecer de valor intrínseco en este sentido, lo compensan con creces con otras cualidades necesarias para hacerlo un buen medio de intercambio, igual o mejor que el [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinero_mercanc%C3%ADa dinero mercancía].

Otra forma de pensar en ello es considerar el valor del bitcoin en la red global, en vez de un solo bitcoin separado. El valor de un teléfono se deriva de la red a la que esta conectado. Si no hubiera red telefónica, el teléfono seria inútil. De forma parecida, el valor de bitcoin se deriva de una red global de mercaderes, casas de cambio, carteras, etc... Al igual que se necesita un teléfono para retransmitir información vocal a través de la red, los bitcoins son necesarios para retransmitir información económica.

El valor se define finalmente por lo que la gente esta dispuesta a pagar - por oferta y demanda.

... en traducción ...
<!--
== Los bitcoins son ilegales porque no son una moneda corriente ==

In March 2013, the U.S. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Crimes_Enforcement_Network Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] issues a new set of guidelines on "de-centralized virtual currency", clearly targeting Bitcoin. Under the new guidelines, "a user of virtual currency is not a Money Services Businesses (MSB) under FinCEN's regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and record keeping regulations." <ref>[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/us-regulator-bitcoin-exchanges-must-comply-with-money-laundering-laws/ US regulator: Bitcoin exchanges must comply with money-laundering laws | Ars Technica]</ref> [[Mining|Miners]], when mining bitcoins for their own personal use, aren't required to register as a MSB or Money Transmitter. <ref>[http://fincen.gov/news_room/rp/rulings/html/FIN-2014-R001.html Application of FinCEN’s Regulations to Virtual Currency Mining Operations | Fincen]</ref>

In general, there are a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency number of currencies] in existence that are not official government-backed currencies. A currency is, after all, nothing more than a convenient unit of account. While national laws may vary from country to country, and you should certainly check the laws of your jurisdiction, in general trading in any commodity, including digital currency like Bitcoin, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares BerkShares], game currencies like WoW gold, or Linden dollars, is not illegal.

== Bitcoin is a form of domestic terrorism because it only harms the economic stability of the USA and its currency ==

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorism#United_States according to this, you need to do violent activities to be considered a terrorist for legal purposes. This has no bearing on politicians and idiotic US attorney's public remarks.

Also, Bitcoin isn't domestic. It's a worldwide community. See this map of Bitcoin nodes
http://forum.bitcoin.org/?topic=2346.0

== Bitcoin will only enable tax evaders which will lead to the eventual downfall of civilization ==

Cash transactions hold the same level of anonymity but are still taxed successfully. It is up to you to follow the applicable state laws in your home country, or face the consequences.

== (already translated) Bitcoins can be printed/minted by anyone and are therefore worthless ==

Bitcoins are not printed/minted. Instead, [[Blocks]] are computed by miners and for their efforts they are awarded a specific amount of bitcoins + transaction fees. See [[Blocks]] for more information on how this process works.

== (already translated) Bitcoins are worthless because they're based on unproven cryptography ==

SHA256 and ECDSA which are used in Bitcoin are well-known industry standard algorithms. If you believe that these algorithms are untrustworthy then you should not trust Bitcoin, credit card transactions or any type of electronic bank transfer.

== Early adopters are unfairly rewarded ==

Early adopters are rewarded for taking the higher risk with their time and money.

In more pragmatic terms, "fairness" is an arbitrary concept that is improbable to be agreed upon by a large population. Establishing "fairness" is no goal of Bitcoin, as this would be impossible.

The vast majority of the 21 million Bitcoins still have not been distributed. By starting to mine or acquire bitcoins today, you too can become an early adopter.

== 21 million coins isn't enough; doesn't scale ==

One Bitcoin is divisible down to eight decimal places. There are really 2,099,999,997,690,000 (just over 2 quadrillion) maximum possible atomic units in the bitcoin design.

The value of "1 BTC" represents 100,000,000 of these. In other words, each is divisible by up to 10^8.

As the value of the unit of 1 BTC grows too large to be useful for day to day transactions, people can start dealing in smaller [[Units|units]], such as milli-bitcoins (mBTC) or micro-bitcoins (μBTC).

== Bitcoins are stored in wallet files, just copy the wallet file to get more coins! ==

No, your wallet contains your secret keys, giving you the rights to spend your bitcoins. Think of it like having bank details stored in a file. If you give your bank details (or bitcoin wallet) to someone else, that doesn't double the amount of money in your account. You can spend your money or they can spend your money, but not both.

== Lost coins can't be replaced and this is bad ==

Bitcoins are divisible to 0.00000001, so this is not a problem. If you lose your coins, all other coins will go up in value a little. Consider it a donation to all other bitcoin users.

A related question is: Why don't we have a mechanism to replace lost coins? The answer is that it is impossible to distinguish between a 'lost' coin and one that is simply sitting unused in someone's safe.

== It's a giant ponzi scheme ==
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.

A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters profit from the usefulness of a stable and widely accepted p2p currency.

Not to be confused with the [[Bitcoin randomizer|Bitcoin Randomizer]] which is a game that really is self-described as a Ponzi scheme.

== Finite coins plus lost coins means deflationary spiral ==
As deflationary forces may apply, economic factors such as hoarding are offset by human factors that may lessen the chances that a [[Deflationary spiral]] will occur.

== Bitcoin can't work because there is no way to control inflation ==

Inflation is simply a rise of prices over time, which is generally the result of the devaluing of a currency. This is a function of supply and demand. Given the fact that the supply of bitcoins is fixed at a certain amount, unlike fiat money, the only way for inflation to get out of control is for demand to disappear. Temporary inflation is possible with a rapid adoption of Fractional Reserve Banking but will stabilize once a substantial number of the 21 million "hard" bitcoins are stored as reserves by banks.

Given the fact that Bitcoin is a distributed system of currency, if demand were to decrease to almost nothing, the currency would be doomed anyway.

The key point here is that Bitcoin as a currency can't be inflated by any single person or entity, like a government, as there's no way to increase supply past a certain amount.

Indeed, the most likely scenario, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and demand increases, is for the currency to increase in value, or deflate, until demand stabilizes.

== The Bitcoin community consists of anarchist/conspiracy theorist/gold standard 'weenies' ==

The members of the community vary in their ideological stances.

== Anyone with enough computing power can take over the network ==

CONFIRMED, see [[Weaknesses]].

That said, as the network grows, it becomes harder and harder for a single entity to do so. Already the Bitcoin network's computing power is quite ahead of the world's fastest supercomputers, together.

What an attacker can do once the network is taken over is quite limited. Under no circumstances could an attacker take anybody else's money. An attacker's capabilities are limited to taking back their own money that they very recently spent, and preventing other people's transactions from receiving confirmations. Such an attack would be very costly in resources, and for such meager benefits there is little rational economic incentive to do such a thing.

Furthermore, this attack scenario would only be feasible for as long as it was actively underway. As soon as the attack stopped, the network would resume normal operation.

== Bitcoin violates governmental regulations ==

Name them if you can.

See also the [[Myths#Bitcoins_are_illegal_because_it_s_not_legal_tender|legal tender]] question.

== Fractional reserve banking is not possible ==

It is possible. There is no fundamental difference between classical currencies and Bitcoin as it applies to banking. Banks will still be free to take in bitcoins and present them to customers as "available for withdrawal" while still lending most of those bitcoins to a different customer for a profit. Some of those bitcoins will be held in reserves in case of a bank run. It will be up to the bank to hold a sufficient supply of reserves in order to prevent insolvency in the event of a bank run. Central banks were established to enforce reserve requirements and so, with Bitcoin lacking a central bank, some banks will almost surely collapse, taking their customers' deposits with them.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking Fractional reserve banking].

Conventional banks in the United States guarantee that account holders can withdraw 100% of their dollars based on their "word" and the fact that they are backed up by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corporation FDIC]. This program insures depositors up to a certain amount (currently $250K USD per depositor). The FDIC is widely known to have reserves sufficient to cover only a very small fraction of the total deposits it insures though the FDIC itself can be considered to be backed up by the US Congress in the event of its insolvency. After politically desired, the FDIC's role could be extended to insure Bitcoin banks and establish a minimum reserve requirement. Such a change would only happen after public outrage occurs after the inevitable collapse of major Bitcoin banks.

Because Fractional Reserve Banking is possible with bitcoins, the money supply of bitcoins (which includes demand deposits) can greatly exceed 21 million.

== Point of sale with bitcoins isn't possible because of the 10 minute wait for confirmation ==

Transactions '''can''' take tens of minutes to become ''confirmed'', and this won't change for the foreseeable future. Even after the computing power of the network is orders of magnitude larger than today, the difficulty of generating a block will self-adjust to maintain a target of 6 blocks per hour. Three potential solutions to allow POS transactions are:

1) For small transactions, simply assume the customer isn't ripping you off. Give the customer his latte immediately after the transaction posts to the network. The transaction should propagate through the network almost instantly, allowing the seller to see the transaction within seconds (albeit with zero confirmations.) The cost of a double-spend attack should make small-scale fraud not worthwhile.

2) Utilize a [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819 'listening' period] prior to rendering the service or good. This has yet to be formally implemented in the standard Bitcoin client, but would allow a vendor to receive the transaction and then monitor the Bitcoin network for a certain period of time (maybe 10 seconds) for possible double spends. Vendors might utilize specialized payment processors with multiple well-connected nodes for this purpose. As explained by Satoshi, the network nodes only accept the first version of a transaction they receive to incorporate into the block they're trying to generate. When you broadcast a transaction, if someone else broadcasts a double-spend at the same time, it's a race to propagate to the most nodes first. If one has a slight head start, it'll geometrically spread through the network faster and get most of the nodes. Therefore, the longer the listening period goes without a double spend attempt, the far less likely a double-spend attempt will actually succeed. If a double-spend is detected, the vendor is notified: no latte.

3) Create a network of transaction hubs. These entities would communicate using a common API. They would float short-term loans between each other to facilitate instant transactions.

Imagine that Alice uses Carol's Clearinghouse as her hub, and Bob uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange. Both Alice and Bob have accounts with their respective hubs, and have already deposited some bitcoins in their accounts. When Alice wants to buy a latte from Bob at a point of sale, Alice tells Carol "I want to send Bob ''x'' bitcoins. He uses Dave's Anonymous Exchange." After checking that Alice's account does contain at least ''x'' bitcoins, Carol sends a message to Dave, saying "Credit Bob's account with ''x'' bitcoins immediately; I'll send you the real bitcoins in the next block." Bob instantly sees his balance increase, and gives Alice her latte.

As always, trust is required - Alice has to trust Carol, and the hubs have to trust each other. Due to competition, various hubs could develop with vastly different fee structures, membership requirements, trustability, etc.

(But the point of Bitcoin is you don't need trust to execute the transaction, in the above description of option 3 you replaced the bitcoins with a trust-based centralized authority.)

== After 21 million coins are mined, no one will generate new blocks ==

When operating costs can't be covered by the block creation bounty, which will happen some time before the total amount of BTC is reached, miners are expected to earn profit from [[transaction fees]].

== Bitcoin has no built-in chargeback mechanism, and this isn't good ==

'''Why some people think this is bad''': Chargebacks are useful for limiting fraud. The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud. If you buy something on eBay and the seller never ships it, PayPal takes funds from the seller's account and gives you back the money. This strengthens the eBay economy, because people recognize that their risk is limited and are more willing to purchase items from risky sellers.

'''Why it's actually a good thing''': Bitcoin is designed such that your money is yours and yours alone. Allowing chargebacks implies that it is possible for another entity to take your money from you. You can have either total ownership rights of your money, or fraud protection, but not both. That said, nothing prevents the creation of services overlayed on top of Bitcoin that provide fraud protection services.

The statement "The person handling your money has a responsibility to prevent fraud" is still true; the power has been shifted into your own hands. Fraud will always exist. It's up to you to only send bitcoins to trusted entities. It is possible to trust an online identity without ever knowing their physical identity; see the [http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/OTC_Rating_System OTC Web of Trust].

== Quantum computers would break Bitcoin's security ==

Yes, but quantum computers don't yet exist and probably won't for a while. Bitcoin's security can be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-quantum_cryptography upgraded] if this were considered an imminent threat.

See the implications of quantum computers on public key cryptography here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer#Potential

The ''risk'' of quantum computers is also there for financial institutions, like banks, because they heavily rely on cryptography when doing transactions.

== Bitcoin mining is a waste of energy and harmful for ecology ==

No more so than the the wastefulness of mining gold out of the ground, melting it down and shaping it into bars, and then putting it back underground again. Not to mention the building of big fancy buildings, the waste of energy printing and minting all the various fiat currencies, the transportation thereof in armored cars by no less than two security guards for each who could probably be doing something more productive, etc.

As far as mediums of exchange go, Bitcoin is actually quite economical of resources, compared to others.

== Shopkeepers can't seriously set prices in bitcoins because of the volatile exchange rate ==

Your assumption is that bitcoins must be sold immediately to cover operating expenses. If the shopkeeper's back-end expenses were transacted in bitcoins as well, then the exchange rate would be irrelevant. Larger adoption of bitcoins would make prices [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_%28economics%29 sticky]. Future volatility is expected to decrease, as the size and depth of the market grows.

In the meantime, many merchants simply regularly pull the latest market rates from the exchanges and automatically update the prices on their websites. Also you might be able to buy a put option in order to sell at a fixed rate for a given amount of time. This would protect you from drops in price and simplify your operations for that time period.

== Like Flooz and e-gold, bitcoins serve as opportunities for criminals and will be shut down ==

* Hopefully Bitcoin will grow to the point where no single organization can disrupt the network, or would be better served by helping it.
* Terrorists fly aircraft into buildings, but the governments have not yet abolished consumer air travel. Obviously the public good outweighs the possible bad in their opinion.
* Criminal law differs between jurisdictions.

== Bitcoins will be shut down by the government just like Liberty Dollars were ==

Liberty Dollars started as a commercial venture to establish alternative US currency, including physical banknotes and coins, backed by precious metals. This, in and of itself, is not illegal. They were later shut down for counterfeiting and intent to fraud after the coins, which contained less than $1 worth of silver, were put into circulation with the general money supply, supposedly having a value of 1 USD. These actions were encouraged by the makers of Liberty Dollars.

Bitcoins are not necessarily equal in value to dollars or any other currency and no one is saying they are. No member of the public will be tricked into accepting a bitcoin instead of a dollar.

Of course, actually 'shutting down' the decentralized Bitcoin network is rife with its own set of difficult considerations.

== Bitcoin is not decentralized because the developers can dictate the software's behaviour ==

The Bitcoin protocol was originally defined by Bitcoin's inventor, [[Satoshi Nakamoto]], and this protocol has now been widely accepted as the standard by the community of miners and users.

Though the developers of the official Bitcoin client still exert influence over the Bitcoin community, their power to arbitrarily modify the protocol is very limited. Since the release of Bitcoin v0.3, changes to the protocol have been minor and always in agreement with community consensus.

Protocol modifications, such as increasing the block award from 50 to 100 BTC, are not compatible with clients already running in the network. If the developers were to release a new client that the majority of miners perceives as corrupt, or in violation of the project’s aims, that client would simply not catch on, and the few users who do try to use it would find that their transactions get rejected by the network.

Apart from the “official” Bitcoin client, other clients are available (and currently in development) from other groups of developers. As long as these clients adhere to the Bitcoin protocol, it is impossible for the developers of the official client to stop them from competing for blocks, because the network cannot tell them apart from official clients.

[[de:Mythen]]
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