A16Z is re-registering as a financial advisor, renouncing its status as a VC

Post by dd36 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

stale2002 wrote: post #177

slg wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We've seen our internet rights to speech and expression violated by companies imposing their values on their user base. >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 groun…

> we would see similar sized investments in open and decentralized platforms focused on free speech This is already a mostly solved problem. There are lots and lots of places on the internet, when I can engage in speech and it won't be censored. Yes, the big platforms might censor you, but there are still lots and lots of small platforms that won't or can't.

Post by dd36 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 1:52 PM UTC

MusaTheRedGuard wrote: post #211

zby wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with decentralized money is that there is no way to manage the supply - you can only commit to a given supply curve, but you cannot adjust it according to the state of the economy. Money is a collective action problem, a public good - it requires a solution that bounds everyone - just like defence.

> you can only commit to a given supply curve, but you cannot adjust it according to the state of the economy. Why do you think this? Ethereum has changed its inflation schedule a few times recently. It seems you are basing this on the hard capped supply model of bitcoin which is not the same as every cryptocurrency.

Post by phamilton » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 2:04 PM UTC

xtracto wrote: post #215

mruts wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing how slow and expensive both BTC and ETH are, micropayments aren’t really viable, tbh. The mining and gas fees for BTC and ETH respectively are going to be higher than the cut a payment processor would take. The one advantage that you might be alluding to is that bitcoins are divisible into satoshi’s, which are much more granular than cents.

That hasn't been my experience. I pay some services with BTC via CryptoPay and is really fast. What is the alternative? Card? 2% + .3 fee. That's expensive. ACH? takes 5 days to be processed. What is the fast, cheap digital alternative?

Post by gruez » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 2:20 PM UTC

phamilton wrote: post #225

xtracto wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hasn't been my experience. I pay some services with BTC via CryptoPay and is really fast. What is the alternative? Card? 2% + .3 fee. That's expensive. ACH? takes 5 days to be processed. What is the fast, cheap digital alternative?

Venmo and the like. Any ledger will work just fine if it's built for fast payments. That ledger doesn't need to be distributed and/or decentralized. Solving trust is an oversold benefit of BTC in my opinion.

Post by gruez » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 2:24 PM UTC

dd36 wrote: post #221

stale2002 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we would see similar sized investments in open and decentralized platforms focused on free speech This is already a mostly solved problem. There are lots and lots of places on the internet, when I can engage in speech and it won't be censored. Yes, the big platforms might censor you, but there are still lots and lots of small platforms that won't or can't.

What free speech is he referring to? The only speech I know of that has been censored is terrorist groups. It makes me uncomfortable when I see people here complaining about that.