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A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

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Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#141

Post by loomstate »

malloreon wrote: post #16

I have long wondered how cryptocurrency fans would answer the question: ‘Would you be happy if the crypto-utopia you bring up happens in the next 10 years, and all value is stored/transacted through a cryptocurrency, but it was a coin that you do not possess now, nor could you transfer any of you current currencies into it?’ Say tomorrow someone releases the one true coin, but no one notices. All other cryptocurrenci…

That is a false premise. For a crypto to be valuable it needs a network of actors who agree on its value. Looks at bitcoin for example, its bar the most valuable crypto network yet there are many options that a technically superior. However, has first mover advantage and a large network of believers.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#142

Post by solotronics »

malloreon wrote: post #16

I have long wondered how cryptocurrency fans would answer the question: ‘Would you be happy if the crypto-utopia you bring up happens in the next 10 years, and all value is stored/transacted through a cryptocurrency, but it was a coin that you do not possess now, nor could you transfer any of you current currencies into it?’ Say tomorrow someone releases the one true coin, but no one notices. All other cryptocurrenci…

Most of us involved since early times ( <$1 / BTC ) were intially attracted to the libertarian ideal of a decentralized currency. Like gold, it's truly yours, and nobody can take it from you if you control the private keys.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#143

Post by Sir_Substance »

root_axis wrote: post #77
bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cryptocurrency hasn’t done this yet but it certainly has the potential to do exactly this.

How?

The simple fact that you ask this question tells me you don't live in india, where a few years ago the government straight up deleted quite a lot of personal wealth by declaring the two largest notes worthless with mere hours of warning:

http://time.com/4567605/india-currency-change-queues-delhi/

The original statement was:

> I think there's value in reducing the politically privileged's means to dominate their power over the general populaced

We can argue whether there's value in that. But if you're asking /how/ bitcoin et al can do that, the answer is that it removes direct control over the currency from nations and parliaments.

They may still be able to wield indirect control through a variety of other means, but that /is/ less control than simply being able to declare 500 and 1000 rupee notes valueless.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#144

Post by lukifer »

DenisM wrote: post #87

This gets asked often, but in case something changed recently - what are the use cases of cryptocurrencies that are not: - Attempts to side-step the law (however misguided the law is) - Trivial to do using a typical centralized database (e.g. Federal Reserver or VISA) - Tantamount to waiting for a greater fool to buy out the current players I am not looking for answers of the form "well whenever you want to avoid a t…

It's a very good question. There's an interesting argument that the greatest value is not in the ledger, but in a mechanism for reliable, unalterable history: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/05/25/blockchains-never-forg...

It's also worth considering that crypto is effectively the greatest experiment the world has ever seen in free banking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_banking. Hypothetically, this could be done with paper+metal currencies, or centralized digital currencies; but for whatever reason, crypto is getting a regulatory pass where past "experiments" have been shut down hard by states who claim a monopoly on issuing currency, for better or worse.

Rather than viewing blockchains through the narrow lens of "Money 2.0", I think it's more relevant to view both money and blockchains as social technologies to solve coordination problems, and then inquire about those technologies' performance characteristics, incentives, externalities, and moral hazards. I think there's longterm potential for blockchain use cases to find traction; but at the same time, it may be that centralized solutions simply achieve superior results, in the same way that Amazon out-competes mom-and-pop retail, and Netflix out-competes buying DVDs. (The market lessons of the last twenty years seem to indicate that consumers value cost and convenience vastly more than abstract notions of freedom.)

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#145

Post by solotronics »

syrrim wrote: post #130
pepesza wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's interesting how something which was built on the idea of decentralization by design has given way to a clear power structure, where those who have the sway to control the fate of the technology have largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment over the health and success of the system as a whole. Care to elaborate? Some examples?

The ten MB block size limit lowers the number of transactions that can occur in a single block therefore inflating what miners can charge for a transaction. Increasing the blocksise would require miners to choose to mine a hard fork. See the DAO hack for what can happen with strong governance.

Without a small block size you would end up with a centralization of nodes onto datacenter servers.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#146

Post by Semaphor »

School-Cotton wrote: post #63
sh4rk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. Definitely yes. Why would I pay middlemen (banks) when there is no need to? Also why would I trust them, when there is no need to?

Cryptocurrencies are not a replacement for banks; they are a replacement for gold. If cryptocurrencies ever become mainstream, banking services will be built on top of them, just as they were originally built on top of gold. The only thing I can think of that cryptos let you do cheaper than banks is rapid, relatively frictionless funds transfer, so I’ll admit their utility there. But other than that, what banking ser…

Loans, money transfer, storing your money are all things that can be replaced. Seems like a decent chunk.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#147

Post by semi-extrinsic »

sowbug wrote: post #136
malloreon wrote: post #16

I have long wondered how cryptocurrency fans would answer the question: ‘Would you be happy if the crypto-utopia you bring up happens in the next 10 years, and all value is stored/transacted through a cryptocurrency, but it was a coin that you do not possess now, nor could you transfer any of you current currencies into it?’ Say tomorrow someone releases the one true coin, but no one notices. All other cryptocurrenci…

[Using U.S. law as a convenient set of terms of art, not to be geocentric.] The internet is a technical embodiment of the First Amendment (freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, right of peaceable assembly, right to complain about the government). Bitcoin is a technical embodiment of some of the Fifth Amendment (due process -- protection against deprivation of property, and even life/liberty if you…

> Bitcoin is a technical embodiment of some of the Fifth Amendment (due process -- protection against deprivation of property, ...)

How is it in any way different than having money in your bank account? If the government wants to, they can decide to take all your money from all your account, but they can also decide to throw you in jail until you hand over the keys to your Bitcoins. In the end there is no difference.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#148

Post by solotronics »

School-Cotton wrote: post #63
sh4rk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question. Definitely yes. Why would I pay middlemen (banks) when there is no need to? Also why would I trust them, when there is no need to?

Cryptocurrencies are not a replacement for banks; they are a replacement for gold. If cryptocurrencies ever become mainstream, banking services will be built on top of them, just as they were originally built on top of gold. The only thing I can think of that cryptos let you do cheaper than banks is rapid, relatively frictionless funds transfer, so I’ll admit their utility there. But other than that, what banking ser…

absolute control over your money

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#149

Post by sowbug »

ForHackernews wrote: post #35
kakarot wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to link those two unrelated concepts together a bit better? Money isn't effectively and fairly distributed and it's obviously not a pipe dream.

Money is more fairly distributed than cryptocurrencies. Credit Suisse found that 97% of bitcoin is held by 4% of addresses (though some may belong to exchanges): http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-97-are-held-by-4-of-a...

Addresses do not necessarily correspond to people or institutions. Those 4% of addresses could represent any number of holders. The other 96% of addresses could be someone's buggy script gone wild.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#150

Post by jayd16 »

arisAlexis wrote: post #121
brazzy wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also why would I trust them, when there is no need to? Because your alternative is to trust the crypto infrastructure, which is far less trustworthy.

what do you mean by crypto infrastructure? you mean the code or the miners? actually banks have failed in the past, this infrastructure not yet

>actually banks have failed in the past, this infrastructure not yet

Man, what are you talking about? There's a new "$100 million in coins go missing" story every 6 months.

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