Ethereum 2.0 launches • Hacker News Board

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#51

Post by dylkil » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:54 PM UTC

RikNieu wrote: post #49

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

I feel that no one is using crypto currency for it's original intended purpose, and in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions. Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with. This is stupid. But alas.

>Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with.

Except ethereum has a decentralized composable financial ecosystem gaining traction as we speak with over $15b locked up.

[1]https://blog.coinbase.com/a-beginners-guide-to-decentralized... [2]https://defipulse.com/

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#52

Post by xiphias2 » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:54 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

Ethereum is very different from Bitcoin, so this comment is offtopic, and it's tackling a different problem space, but if you are really interested, I'm reading the Bitcoin Standard book, and I can recommend it if you really want to understand what problem Bitcoin solves. There's no simple answer, only learning about the history of money and monetary theory from a non-Keynsian view.

https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Standard-Decentralized-Altern...

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#53

Post by speeder » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:55 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

As for Ethereum itself:

It is basically a distributed computing platform designed to handle money, idea is you make a program that handles money, and it runs in a decentralized manner, this way noone can interfere with it, for example you could make a program that tells the users the password to login on a dissident newspaper if they donate something, since it is decentralized the government would have a harder time taking it down. (that is just a simple example, people doing all sorts of stuff with this)

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#54

Post by louwrentius » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:57 PM UTC

xiphias2 wrote: post #52

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

Ethereum is very different from Bitcoin, so this comment is offtopic, and it's tackling a different problem space, but if you are really interested, I'm reading the Bitcoin Standard book, and I can recommend it if you really want to understand what problem Bitcoin solves. There's no simple answer, only learning about the history of money and monetary theory from a non-Keynsian view. https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Sta…

I'm not looking for links to books.

I'm looking for an explanation in plain English that shows why any of this matters.

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#55

Post by csolorio » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:57 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

I first used it to pay a contractor in Argentina, since then I stick with the store of value hypothesis. It’s like gold but easier to hold and trade without having the government devalue it by printing more dollars. Or put another way, why does a dollar have value?

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#56

Post by twox2 » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

RikNieu wrote: post #49

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

I feel that no one is using crypto currency for it's original intended purpose, and in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions. Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with. This is stupid. But alas.

Well, it's very useful for LARGE and semi-clandestine cross-border transactions, but yes it's not a liquid currency. It's more of a separate economy.

It's just programmable money so it's really the beginnings of a new financial system that is a bit divorced from our current one. It's not panacea for the world financial problems, but it's cool and fun.

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#57

Post by GekkePrutser » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

kzrdude wrote: post #37

howlgarnish wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Bitcoin touched an all time high and proceeded to plummet $1700+ immediately afterwards, dragging all other cryptos along with it.

I wonder why all other cryptos follow bitcoin up and down, though.

I think it's because Bitcoin is kind of the 'de facto' cryptocoin. It's the easiest to exchange. Most exchanges exchange to/from bitcoin, not directly between altcoins.

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#58

Post by busterarm » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

RikNieu wrote: post #49

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

I feel that no one is using crypto currency for it's original intended purpose, and in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions. Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with. This is stupid. But alas.

> in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions.

Hawala has succeeded in performing that role for centuries.

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#59

Post by pmachinery » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #46

I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…

> I don't understand cryptocurrencies.

People buy cryptocurrencies and hope the price rises and they can dump it back into the USD it has always been valued in, before everyone else does the same.

Since spamming forums to inflate the price doesn't work as it did a decade ago, in order to prevent them crashing to the floor, all kinds of nonsense white elephant use-cases have to be imagined/invented.

We all understand cryptocurrencies. (You're just not supposed to admit it out loud.)

Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches

#60

Post by mikro2nd » Tue, Dec 01, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

louwrentius wrote: post #54

xiphias2 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethereum is very different from Bitcoin, so this comment is offtopic, and it's tackling a different problem space, but if you are really interested, I'm reading the Bitcoin Standard book, and I can recommend it if you really want to understand what problem Bitcoin solves. There's no simple answer, only learning about the history of money and monetary theory from a non-Keynsian view. https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Sta…

I'm not looking for links to books. I'm looking for an explanation in plain English that shows why any of this matters.

The world needs a form of money that is not under the control of any one sovereign power or group of sovereigns. Understanding this may necessitate reading some books, but in short, sovereigns have historically proven to be untrustworthy, so a trust-free form of money is a powerful notion.