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joshuaxls

735 karma · joined May 30, 2008

founding cto @ angellist, now @ coinlist

crypto nerd

e-mail: josh at [coinlist domain]

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joshuaxls··on Ted Turner has died
This is still my favorite Onion article ever: “Ted Turner Sends Self Back In Time To Prevent AOL Time Warner Merger”

https://theonion.com/ted-turner-sends-self-back-in-time-to-p...

joshuaxls··on Ask HN: Has anyone managed to find enjoyment in their work after burnout?
You can definitely recover from burnout. The question is are you ready to face what happens after you recover? Because sometimes burnout is just burnout and you need a break. But other times burnout means you are on the wrong path, and you’ve got to make some kind of turn in your career.
joshuaxls··on SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities
Yes, we accept cryptographic proof of ownership for accreditation purposes.
joshuaxls··on SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities
This is why we've built CoinList: https://coinlist.co

We have seven years of experience running regulatory-compliant online fundraisings via AngelList. Now we're bringing that knowledge to ICOs.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
No one opens a bank account for the interest paid. Most accounts barely pay a tenth of a percent annually, maybe a quarter percent from a credit union—meanwhile, inflation is 2% a year. You’re losing net worth by holding USD in a bank account.
joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
If someone is willing to murder me for my money, a bank (or the FDIC) won’t keep that from happening. All the bank needs for me to wire all of my money into someone’s account is my ID, signature and the other account’s details. This would-be robber could strap a bomb to me while I execute the transaction, or hold a loved one hostage. The FDIC can do nothing in this scenario.

I’d suggest reading up on multisignature transactions and bitcoin, which is an even safer way to store bitcoin than I’ve mentioned: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/11108/multisig-future-bitcoin/

We simply disagree on the value of bitcoin.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
Yes, you're right. The point is, with bitcoin, there's really no need for banks.

It's easier (and safer) for me to hold a million dollars in bitcoin than a million dollars in cash. If I had a million dollars in cash, I'd be constantly worried that someone will find it and steal it. Hence the need for a bank. I feel much more capable hiding a private key, which is just information, than I do hiding 10,000 pieces of paper, which is physical.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
You don’t understand what the FDIC is for. It’s not there to protect your deposits from being stolen by robbers. It exists to ensure consumers that banks are guaranteed to be solvent while they practice fractional reserve banking. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Deposit_Insurance_Corpo...

If someone holds a gun to my head, I would give them my passphrase. I’d also go into my bank and wire my money into their account. In both scenarios, my money is gone forever.

Maybe someday, someone will invent a store of value that is safe, even if someone is threatening to kill you.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
Yes, it has a long way to go, but it's off to a good start. I doubt a significant portion of Western Union transactions are to ultra-remote locations, but I could be wrong.
joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
You're correct. I'm simply replying to his statement that there's no value proposition in bitcoin to consumers. My response is that it can easily replace a company worth $8.7B, thus showing it has consumer value, not that bitcoin will be worth $8.7B if it replaces Western Union.
joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
We're in agreement. Since USD is a physical store of value, it suffers from problems like robbery. Hence the need for banks.

With bitcoin, you don't need a bank. I have a 24-word passphrase in my head that can be converted to my private key—a "brainwallet". I know it, and my parents do. It's not written down or stored anywhere. It simply isn't physical.

With those 24 words, you can unlock all of the value I have stored in bitcoin.

It's utterly amazing.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
The point of bitcoin is that you don't need FDIC protection. You need FDIC protection with a bank because the bank isn't required to hold enough reserve to cover its deposits. If there's a run on the bank, and everyone wants to pull their deposits out, and the bank is insolvent, then the government guarantees to protect consumers by printing more money (inflation) to fulfill the bank's reserve requirements.

With bitcoin, you either have it or you don't. You can run your own bank, as long as you know how to safely store a private key.

joshuaxls··on BitPay and PayPal
This has been a bear market for bitcoin for months—many of the bears have been rooted out. It's not a conspiracy that bulls are coming in and pushing the price up. It's expected. Not every bull will close their position immediately. That's too simple of a view of how markets work.

There is massive value in bitcoin. Payments, asset tracking, international remittances, etc. Take just one of those markets, and just one company—say Western Union and international remittances. That's $8.7B worth of market cap that bitcoin obsoletes.

joshuaxls··on The New York Times Calls for Marijuana Legalization
Coincidentally, California issued an arrest warrant today for a man with TB who refuses to stay in a hospital. The state does have the power to make personal health issues criminal.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/37165/20140725/homeless-man-wit...

joshuaxls··on Prism: Create and explore personalized infographics of your SMS history
It's preferred over texting in almost every country I've visited, but it's never caught on in the US.
joshuaxls··on The 19-year-old jailed for the crime of sarcasm
Yeah, this article seems to be missing a lot. According to a piece on the Today show, he also said:

I think I’ma shoot up a kindergarten. And watch the blood of the innocent rain down. And eat the beating heart of one of them.

Hard to make a judgment about any of this without the full context. But being held without trial is definitely a heinous misstep of justice.

http://www.today.com/news/teen-charged-held-months-over-terr...

joshuaxls··on 3px of padding makes all the difference in the world
Great comment. We have found this to be true in our own A/B testing. It sometimes makes me cringe, but you can't argue with data.
joshuaxls··on Hackers can be business guys, and other lessons from Paul Graham
"Golf is a game of luck. The more I practice, the luckier I get."

Ben Hogan, one of my favorite quotes.

joshuaxls··on No email at AngelList
Which emails are those? Besides our weekly digest I only see two emails sent from startups interested in you.
joshuaxls··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2013)
AngelList, San Francisco, H1B candidates welcome.

We're always ready to talk with talented, motivated designers and developers. We've built a world-class team and will continue to do so in 2013.

Each week we help hundreds of startups raise capital and connect with talent. Come join us in the center of the startup universe.

You can apply through our own product at https://angel.co/angellist/recruiting, or email me at josh@angel.co.

joshuaxls··on The Best
Yeah, you're probably right. I'm removing my comment, though I stand by my point.
joshuaxls··on Server Side Upgrades
No. In the case of IE 6 or Windows XP it's been shipped to millions of users and they have to go through the trouble of upgrading themselves. Besides, those are platforms, not frameworks.

If there's a bug or security hole in Rails 2.3, we go in and fix it for our users and ship it immediately.

joshuaxls··on Server Side Upgrades
I disagree. If it works once, it works. We're running on Rails 2.3, have been for two years, and have no plans to upgrade. I can't imagine any extra feature we'd need from the framework; if so, we build it ourselves. We've hacked Rails up to fit our needs, and I think that's the way it should be.
joshuaxls··on Ask HN: Who is Hiring? (March 2012)
For the best collection of startup jobs—many with equity and salary data—see http://angel.co/jobs. Here's all of YC's listings:

http://angel.co/y-combinator/recruiting

And of course we're always recruiting at AngelList in SF:

http://angel.co/angellist/recruiting

joshuaxls··on Startup Data Trends
They've open-sourced it: https://github.com/bocoup/StartupDataTrends
joshuaxls··on Top job boards for software devs
AngelList has just launched a talent-matching service: http://angel.co/jobs.

See exactly who you'll be working with, how much you'll be making, details on equity, who has invested, etc. All from some of the choicest, funded startups.

joshuaxls··on Driving has lost its cool for young Americans
I recommend stick shifts to everyone. It should take all four limbs to drive a car.

When "driving a car" means turning a key and then pointing it in the right direction, it's no surprise the experience has lost its luster. If your life is about constantly being online, then I see the article's point—public transit is your best option. If you enjoy driving, then get a car that's fun to drive.

Unfortunately the appeal of manuals is lost on most Americans.

joshuaxls··on Google Chrome v15 Released
Best new feature: different colors for padding and margin in the inspector. Already super useful.
joshuaxls··on AngelList API
Definitely. That's what I'm currently working on. Expect it end of this week, maybe beginning of next.
joshuaxls··on AngelList API
AngelList dev here. Feel free to send questions, ideas and other feedback my way. I'm more than happy to whitelist any HN users that want to do something awesome on the API.
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