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Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

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Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#791

Post by yitchelle »

mrb wrote: post #489
rzodkiew wrote: post #338

Bitcoin is a mystery to me. Somehow it's hailed as revolutionising the economy, by replacing currency with a worse kind of currency. It feels like this is where all the "how to get rich quick" book writers and other hustle bros went and created one giant financial pyramid, which works in quite simple way: - buy bitcoin - tell everyone around how revolutionary it is, so they buy it and what you holding increases in va…

While away on vacation, I once sent $1000 in cold hard cash, on a Sunday, to an unbanked person in Los Angeles, in less than 1 hour, thanks to bitcoin and the recipient withdrawing it for cash at a Bitcoin ATM. There is not a single alternative service in the world that would have made this possible. If people thought a little beyond their personal use cases, they would understand the utility of Bitcoin/crypto for ma…

Unless you are physically handling your $1000 cold hard cash from your hand to receiver's hand, there are many steps in the chain that could go wrong, and then it's gone.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#792

Post by fabianhjr »

rcstank wrote: post #692
fabianhjr wrote: post #559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It would be much more difficult to exchange goods and services if we had to barter for instance. But perhaps you have some alternative in mind that I haven't thought of. There has been very few research and development into decentralized economic planning. (Imagine if only a fraction of the development resources that have gone into High Frequency and Momentum Trading had been invested into Decentralized Economic Pl…

Isn't decentralized planning essentially the current economy? If I have a skill to provide a service, I can start my own business in my town to make a living. I don't have to accept currency as payment. I can more or less accept payment via other goods such as food for my family. In smaller towns this is still not unheard of. My father in law is a mechanic and many people pay him with goods rather than currency (he s…

> decentralized planning essentially the current economy

No it isn't, decentralized economic planning involves communal ownership not private (shareholder) ownership which allows communal management and prioritizing the needs of people and not the wants of those with most money/capital.

The current political-economy in most countries is Liberalism. ( https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Economic_liberalism )

> If I have a skill to provide a service, I can start my own business in my town to make a living.

If you have a skill then under decentralized economic planning you would provide it as needed and not start a business (own or otherwise)

> I can more or less accept payment via other goods such as food for my family. In smaller towns this is still not unheard of.

That would be barter, it is more common to accept non-currency IOUs when doing communal work / services rather than directly into goods/services.

> If a competitor opened up next to him, they'd both then compete, thus trigger your decentralized planning since they both have to innovate or come up with methods to gain customers.

In a decentralized planned economy if someone else wanted to work as a mechanic then they would cooperate rather than compete.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#793

Post by skinnymuch »

latchkey wrote: post #586
bryanlarsen wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Western Union has been doing this for > 150 years.

Have you ever tried to use Western Union while in a foreign country? I did it in Vietnam. Everything was a barrier. Language, paperwork, carrying cash around safely, time and finally most importantly, fees. No thanks.

You probably can’t carry cash around safely all the time. If Bitcoin was ubiquitous and easier ways to use it and carry it were in place, that wouldn’t be the safest thing either.

Western Union just needs the verification code and proof of who you are to give you money. I don’t see the big barrier with it.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#794

Post by gher-shyu3i »

rzodkiew wrote: post #338

Bitcoin is a mystery to me. Somehow it's hailed as revolutionising the economy, by replacing currency with a worse kind of currency. It feels like this is where all the "how to get rich quick" book writers and other hustle bros went and created one giant financial pyramid, which works in quite simple way: - buy bitcoin - tell everyone around how revolutionary it is, so they buy it and what you holding increases in va…

The economy throughout history was not based on artificial deflationary currencies that are controlled by the banks and governments. It's time to go back to them and put power in the hands of the working people, not corrupt individuals who control the amount of wealth as they wish.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#795

Post by capableweb »

thehappypm wrote: post #648
capableweb wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says the "Product Manager at a mid size fortune 500 tech company", how much of your day consists on focusing 100% on societal problems really? Besides shitting on other peoples choices, why don't you try to reach out to the graduates and ask them why they work in the cryptocurrency space? Most of the people I know, including myself, have "improving the world" as the reason for working on cryptocurrencies. Even though…

> be quiet No

Good comeback :) (if you're posting on HN for others reasons that honestly and constructively discussing things, you might be better off posting somewhere else).

I hope you didn't take my "be quiet" as a "shut up and don't criticize" but more of a "put your money where you mouth is". We need people who are skeptical as much as we need people who are optimistic. But instead of complaining and asking "how can people do this?!" you're almost certainly better off trying to enact the change your want to see in the world, than posting about it on random forums.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#797

Post by vzcx »

thehappypm wrote: post #424

I am embarrassed by the industry. How many of our generation's best and brightest minds are doing crypto and day trading? Imagine if these minds were focused on societal problems -- energy, health, food. I know multiple Harvard CS graduates who went right into the crypto space. What a waste.

I see Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as part of a larger movement that's looking for an "exit" from institutions like, well, Harvard.

I think the building of those alternatives is actually rather important, given how poorly these well established institutions seem to be at solving problems, including the ones you list.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#799

Post by mrb »

noja wrote: post #561
mrb wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While away on vacation, I once sent $1000 in cold hard cash, on a Sunday, to an unbanked person in Los Angeles, in less than 1 hour, thanks to bitcoin and the recipient withdrawing it for cash at a Bitcoin ATM. There is not a single alternative service in the world that would have made this possible. If people thought a little beyond their personal use cases, they would understand the utility of Bitcoin/crypto for ma…

> There is not a single alternative service in the world that would have made this possible. Apart from any "send money to your relatives back home" service, sms banking in entire continents, or Hawala. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala

«send money to your relatives back home» → I suggested to the recipient we use Western Union, but he had been banned from WU. Thus demonstrating the censorship-resistant value of Bitcoin. Other services we briefly considered seemed like I would have to first go through a verification step which would have taken ~24 hours, so not a solution. Remember our transaction was made in under 1 hour.

«SMS banking» → Non existent in our situation (US recipient)

«Hawala» → Maybe, but unworkable in our situation. None of use have used Hawala, we wouldn't even have known WHERE to look for Hawala providers...

Thank you for demonstrating my point. Nothing could have beaten Bitcoin/crypto in this instance.

Re: Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, may accept it as payment in the future

#800

Post by vmception »

jpaul23 wrote: post #657
chill1 wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Internet is not required [1] to sync a full Bitcoin node. There have also been numerous proof-of-concepts for transmitting Bitcoin transactions via radio. [1] https://blockstream.com/satellite/

Very nice initiative, but for first time users you still need to download 300GB+ of blockchain

https://aws.amazon.com/snowmobile/#:~:text=AWS%20Snowmobile%....

https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217665948-Resto...

https://www.fastcompany.com/3048163/in-cuba-an-underground-n...

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