Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 72 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#21

Post by verdverm »

conception wrote: post #12

For me personally, I think it's the fact that Bitcoin and especially other cryptos, are far far less secure than people think from attacks. The amount of money you need to move the market or execute at 51% attack ( https://www.crypto51.app/ ) especially if you are working with other large investors is trivial. For a group that loves independence from "big banks" and "Fiat" and the democratization of money, they seem…

Go to coinmarketcap and you'll see the daily pump & dumps. Blockchain claims all this moral superiority, and then you look at what the majority have done on the space. Feel bad for those trying to do something meaningful...

Look at how the concentration of wealth is more skewed in cryptos than IRL.

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#22

Post by conductr »

jamroom wrote: post #11

I think a lot of HN users like to think of themselves as early adopters of new technology and are disappointed for missing out on the crypto highs at the end of 2017. I think they feel if they could have been in the loop at that time they could have cashed out. Thus crypto discussions are going to have a lot of negativity in the comments since the best way to make yourself feel better about it is to pretend it was a…

Or if your like me, you bought at $10 held until $20000 and decided was time to sell. That’s when I found out the wallet file format was no longer readable by the bitcoin client. So my coins are in cryptopurgatory. Maybe someday I’ll hire a dude to come help me. But he will probably steal my coins instead.

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#23

Post by vorpalhex »

All blockchains have fundamental problems including the majority problem[1]. They don't really solve any problems, because all blockchain problems are just restating other problems with the words "but on the blockchain" added. Tracking your fruit to make sure it's fresh by making trucks have sensors that post to the blockchain? Yeah, you're just shifting the burden of trust from whoever fills out the paperwork to whoever made and installed the sensor - you haven't done anything.

It's a buzzword that's used blindly in the hopes of attracting capital [2] that has no real meaning. Out of a dozen blockchain related job offers I was approached with, not a SINGLE founder could answer simple questions about how to assure verification or prevent blockchain manipulation.

Blockchain is up there with fad diets, crazy health claims for boring foods, and nonsense cancer treatments. Does it have a potential role? Sure, it'd probably be kind of a cute feature in a game.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/51-attack.asp [2] https://www.wsj.com/articles/bringing-blockchain-to-the-coff...

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#24

Post by burkaman »

carapace wrote: post #9

I can't speak for all of HN... My $0.02: it wastes electricity to solve a non-problem.

Same for me, but "wastes" is an understatement.

> From 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2018, we estimate that mining Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Monero consumed an average of 17, 7, 7 and 14 MJ to generate one US$, respectively. Comparatively, conventional mining of aluminium, copper, gold, platinum and rare earth oxides consumed 122, 4, 5, 7 and 9 MJ to generate one US$, respectively, indicating that (with the exception of aluminium) cryptomining consumed more energy than mineral mining to produce an equivalent market value.

> During this period, we estimate mining for all 4 cryptocurrencies was responsible for 3–15 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0152-7

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#25

Post by vorpalhex »

PaulHoule wrote: post #3

Personally I like Ripple. I like permissioned blockchains. Why is it that blockchains weren't invented sooner? I'll contend that you'd be laughed out of any distributed systems conference if you suggested any protocol where the workload capacity doesn't increase when you add nodes. If you have ten traders who trade under a buttonwood tree, then having ten copies of the database makes the system bulletproof. If you ha…

Unfortunately CBD is probably the next Blockchain... Theoretical benefits, hampered by real world ponzi schemes.

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#26

Post by smt88 »

My take is that it's several things:

- Lots of crypto links posted to HN are scams or have no technical merit

- No one has come up[1] with a use case for blockchain that actually requires blockchain, outside of cryptocurrency (which is something non-technical people and speculators don't understand or won't admit)

- Because of rampant scams and speculation, a lot of online blockchain/crypto conversations have a high noise-to-signal ratio

1. https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-...

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#27

Post by verdverm »

code_chimp wrote: post #17

I personally like Hyperledger Fabric ( https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/fabric ) for a private blockchain technology. That being said I still have not found the problem that it is the solution for other than addressing our CTO's case of FOMO.

It works well when you are trying to get several companies to interoperability. The hype gets them moving, I don't really care that they aren't using the best tech. What matters is that the supply chain is becoming more efficient and trustable. (even if the def of trust is not the "holy Grail" public/permissionless claims to have found.)

Honestly, trust the companies that obey the laws more than those trying to create a lawless society

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#28

Post by bdcravens »

jamroom wrote: post #11

I think a lot of HN users like to think of themselves as early adopters of new technology and are disappointed for missing out on the crypto highs at the end of 2017. I think they feel if they could have been in the loop at that time they could have cashed out. Thus crypto discussions are going to have a lot of negativity in the comments since the best way to make yourself feel better about it is to pretend it was a…

Your comment sums up pretty nicely why HN is against it: you're focused on the price, which is only tangentially connected to the technology. "But rich!" is a pretty shallow argument in the HN world.

I would like to point out that I'm in a category that I think many HNers are: I'm critical of Bitcoin, yet I hold some (been involved since 2010, when I mined). Most of my criticisms are legitimate even while the price is rising; again, price is tangential.

Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?

#29

Post by JoshTriplett »

I don't think HN is anti-blockchain. HN is anti-hype. Bitcoin and blockchain are not the solutions for every problem; HN can sometimes respect the hustle of "say blockchain so that you get more VC money", but that doesn't mean HN won't criticize the actual technology if it's "X but with Blockchain!!". And HN can go either way on "technical solutions for social/legal problems", so it's at least controversial to suggest that a blockchain will solve a social/legal problem without doing anything but writing code.
Post reply on HN