Bitcoin blocks have been pretty full recently
Hey coins101,
I think you are the best suited to answer this guy's question:
http://spreadcointalk.org/index.php?topic=749.msg3993#msg3993Let's get the big data discussion going.
There is so much you guys could do while I concentrate on coding.
The more activity I see in the forum, the more it motivates me to spend those extra hours coding.
One question that I have is centered around the viability of collecting "Big Data" from bitcoin transactions. Since bitcoin is a digital currency it can be spent from any location to purchase goods at any other location. Thus how does knowing the location of the user bring any added value?
It's a good question.
First, you need to know how consumers, consume payment systems. To do that, all you have to do is look at how many mobile Bitcoin wallets there are.
Second, you need to know how consumers, consume communications systems. To do that, all you have to do is look at how many smartphones there are.
Mobile is by far the most popular everything.
Lastly, you need to know what Big Data is: exponentially growing user generated data. Every 10 minutes, the bitcoin blockchain is different, and bigger than it was.
So, combine these things. Users transacting using mobile payments systems, powered by smartphones and generating lots of data.
People out in areas where there are lots of shops makes big bitcoin data valuable to a whole host of commercial organisations. None of them particularly caring about who you are. They can get all the information about you that they need from the types of places you shop, or areas you spend a lot of money and the time of day you do stuff.
You can get tons of useful information from data aggregation - add up everything and divide by users, by location, by time, etc.
So, our big bitcoin data market will generate heat maps of purchasing activity.
People sitting at home buying stuff on Overstock. Meh. What it might show is pockets of urban sprawl and what time of day or week people shop online. Apart from that. It's not very attractive.
Mobile data. That's where the action is. Best thing is that its hard to get if you're a small business, so we'll change that and make it easy.