121–130 of 360 posts
tl;dr - A16Z is reclassifying themselves as an "investment advisor", which will allow them to make riskier bets (crypto, real estate, etc). They'll still invest in startups like any other VC firm.
Crypto maybe, not real estate doesn't sound as risky as startups.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting Why not just use the real Paypal?
Paypal micropayments cost 5% + 5 cents. cryptocurrency micropayments could potentially be much smaller. What if you could pay per packet the wifi access point forwards for you? Or pay per watt some charger gives you? Maybe nanopayments is a better name for them.
Though the idea of even jokingly giving miniscule amounts of money to friends has some traction in stuff like WeChat. If the systems were more open then you could run a collection system on your site pretty easily.
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…
> We've seen our internet rights to speech and expression violated by companies imposing their values on their user base. You mean stuff like not supporting hate groups such as white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers or something else?
10 years ago, people who clamored about a subset of the NSA's dragnet could have been justifiably labeled "conspiracy theorists".
Cultures and public opinions change over time. In America, and certainly for the most part on the internet, the ability to express opinions, including and especially controversial ones, is both a hallmark of and litmus test for freedom. Censoring controversial statements based on the current cultural temperament is antithetical to it.
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…
> Ethereum has successfully navigated core upgrades and has a clear path to scalability. And for all this technical progress there's still the human problem that the core team/individuals decided exploiting vulnerable contracts' and hard forking the failed DAO were morally right ideas. As long as those team members are involved then the truth is that no one in the Ethereum ecosystem can escape the Spectre of their wi…
I can imagine at least a couple of scenarios where it might be in the interests of (some?) investors to spruik such a thing.
There’s a lot of power being generated by, and flowing within and between, various organisations throughout the world. It’s probably possible to tap in to that a gather some of it close to you, especially if you are a group of tech minded wealthy folk.
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…
>Bitcoin et al. are a very real promise that the future of banking and finance and money will be decentralized. Which as far as I'm concerned, is about freedom as much as speech is. You don't have any freedom if you have to beg VISA or PayPal for permission to spend your money.
The moral high ground you are trying to claim in your second argument is undercut by your first argument. If this was all about freedom, we would see similar sized investments in open and decentralized platforms focused on free speech. The reason we aren't seeing that is obvious. It is much easier to see a path to profitability in the cryptocurrency space.
Most cryptocurrency investments aren't about freedom, they are about carving out a piece of the pie from the existing financial services industry. There is nothing immoral about turning a profit, just be open about it. It is dishonest for cryptocurrency investors to claim their intent is to save the world especially considering how much electricity and therefore fossil fuels some of the popular cryptocurrencies waste.
Sell the tech on its own merits and accomplishments. There is a reason why the "making the world a better place" pitches have been parodied for years.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Securely signing a cryptographic message with a provable timestamp still requires a trusted third party, as far as I know. A trusted third party can be corrupted.[1] Writing data on a decentralized blockchain inherently provides a secure timestamp that cannot be modified without being noticed. Not to mention the extreme costs involved with trying to rewrite a blockchain's history. [2] I disagree with the parent comme…
> still requires a trusted third party That would be the judiciary. If they -- the people with the guns and the resources of the state -- become corrupted, you'd be unwise to think that your cryptographic signatures are going to help much. In the example given, having lodged the evidence with the court would have prevented the abuse.
It was you who suggested simple cryptographic signatures in your initial reply to the parent comment. I was only pointing out that securely signing a message with a timestamp requires a cryptographic entity known as a "Trusted Third Party". Please see the first link in my original comment.
> That would be the judiciary. If they -- the people with the guns and the resources of the state -- become corrupted, you'd be unwise to think that your cryptographic signatures are going to help much.
If there was verifiable proof on a globally distributed blockchain that evidence had been tampered with by a judiciary member of a democratic country, I find it very hard to believe they would get away with it in the long term.
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…
> Ethereum has successfully navigated core upgrades and has a clear path to scalability. And for all this technical progress there's still the human problem that the core team/individuals decided exploiting vulnerable contracts' and hard forking the failed DAO were morally right ideas. As long as those team members are involved then the truth is that no one in the Ethereum ecosystem can escape the Spectre of their wi…
Skepticism might be warranted, but it should be noted by now that decentralized finance has a place in the present and future of our planet and it's not going away. I strongly encourage technologists to keep an open mind and do in depth research into the space. Yes, 2017 was over-hyped. The tech was not mature then, and while it has matured some since then, there's still quite a ways to go. Bitcoin Lightning network…
Money is a collective action problem, a public good - it requires a solution that bounds everyone - just like defence.