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Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#71

Post by tjs8rj »

subhro wrote: post #52
luka-birsa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a lot of interesting debates in the comment section and I fully agree with the OP. He's calling it skeptical, but I'd say HN is an order of magnitude more skeptical about blockchain than any other topic. I'd pick a much harsher word. As a blockchain / crypto enthusiast I'm actually unable to have a meaningful discussion on HN. It's gotten to the point where I can't even bother to share my views in the commen…

> People are so dismissive and set that blockchain is a scam I have never heard/read anyone on HN saying blockchain is a scam. Blockchain is a mathematical construct. If anyone says blockchain is a scam, he/she/they may as well say addition is a scam, so is subtraction. What IS scam, in my opinion, is the ability to exchange crypto currency for tangible and non abstract products that has a meaningful value in day to…

I’m no crypto fanatic or crypto hater, but I always found this “backed by real assets” besides the point and often dogmatic. To what extent is fiat or stock “backed by a real world asset”? What about collectibles or startup options? What about a tech company with nothing but a website and employees?

I don’t think you actually care if something is “backed by real world assets”, you’re concerned with downside risk. What is the likelihood bitcoin goes to zero within a decade? What level could it go to? It’s “fundamentals” are at least its level of intrigue with the population (much like Instagrams only fundamentals are its attention of the population).

Stock is backed by a company, fiat is backed by the govt, Instagram is backed by the attention it receives, Bitcoin as well. This is more a spectrum than a binary, and Bitcoin doesn’t seem that far off from most tech companies who’s only “real asset” is attention.

Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#73

Post by oliwarner »

subhro wrote: post #52
luka-birsa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had a lot of interesting debates in the comment section and I fully agree with the OP. He's calling it skeptical, but I'd say HN is an order of magnitude more skeptical about blockchain than any other topic. I'd pick a much harsher word. As a blockchain / crypto enthusiast I'm actually unable to have a meaningful discussion on HN. It's gotten to the point where I can't even bother to share my views in the commen…

> People are so dismissive and set that blockchain is a scam I have never heard/read anyone on HN saying blockchain is a scam. Blockchain is a mathematical construct. If anyone says blockchain is a scam, he/she/they may as well say addition is a scam, so is subtraction. What IS scam, in my opinion, is the ability to exchange crypto currency for tangible and non abstract products that has a meaningful value in day to…

Blockchain is a scam.

This is one of those "guns don't kill people" arguments. Of course blockchain isn't a scam it's just a tool, but every instance of blockchain I've seen used has been inefficient and unnecessary and better performed by other existing technology. People trying to flog their banal products as something special because blockchain is the scam.

Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#74

Post by knuthsat »

cody8295 wrote: post #59
knuthsat wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, nothing gets me salivating as much as the idea of a digital Euro issued by the EU, implemented to be fully private (can't see sender/receiver/transaction count/transaction amounts), bulletproofs [0], combined with view keys that are single-use only when the law needs to intervene. Zero-knowledge proofs used to determine if I paid my taxes without knowing how much I earn and similar exotic behavior. Was quite sur…

Or you could use a decentralized and fully private crypto like Monero?

Well, I wouldn't mind a centralized and fully private crypto authorized by EU. They can authorize private construction of digital Euro wallets, so that only I know the key, but require me to give them a single-use view key if law demands it.

Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#75

Post by navd »

oauea wrote: post #21
navd wrote: post #3

Pretty much Twitter at this point for me. There's too much pessimism on HN when it comes to crypto. I appreciate criticism but Twitter has all the deep thinkers

Ah yes those 280 character tweets lend themselves extremely well to deep thought.

You know people link to their blog posts and stuff right?

Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#77

Post by k00b »

doomroot wrote: post #35

https://stacker.news/ Is really fun if you’re interested in primarily bitcoin. You can authenticate yourself with a tiny tiny bitcoin payment over the lightning network.

Hey, I'm the founder on SN. Thanks for the mention! You generated some extra traffic today.

There actually isn't a cost to using Lightning Login (lnurl-auth). It operates without really touching the Lightning Network, i.e. a channel. It just uses your Lightning wallet's key pair to authenticate you.

More on login: through the QR code (or lnurl string), I effectively send your wallet a randomly generated string, a challenge, it signs it using a deterministically derived key pair using my domain and your wallet key pair, then hits an endpoint on my server with the signature which authenticates you.

Re: Ask HN: What is the HN of Cryptocurrency?

#78

Post by k00b »

k00b wrote: post #77
doomroot wrote: post #35

https://stacker.news/ Is really fun if you’re interested in primarily bitcoin. You can authenticate yourself with a tiny tiny bitcoin payment over the lightning network.

Hey, I'm the founder on SN. Thanks for the mention! You generated some extra traffic today. There actually isn't a cost to using Lightning Login (lnurl-auth). It operates without really touching the Lightning Network, i.e. a channel. It just uses your Lightning wallet's key pair to authenticate you. More on login: through the QR code (or lnurl string), I effectively send your wallet a randomly generated string, a cha…

The site however does use the Lightning Network to provide Sybil resistance. Upvotes/posts/comments cost 1 sat, ~1/2000 of a dollar. This helps gate the site allowing mostly Bitcoiners in and imports an incentive structure - those more like in person social interactions.

Rather than staking your reputation, you're staking Bitcoin. Rather than earning just reputation, you're earning Bitcoin (your earned karma/upvotes is Bitcoin you can withdrawal from SN at anytime).

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