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MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

reuters.com

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Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#781

Post by hanniabu »

orbots wrote: post #484

Anyone know what the "select" cryptocurrencies are? The focus on Bitcoin's lack of intrinsic value and energy use is really getting boring. I read Hacker News comments for more information on a story. How about some of that for a switch? Go bitch about intrinsic value and ecological disaster on one of the other bitcoin threads please.

> Anyone know what the "select" cryptocurrencies are?

Ethereum is pretty much where everything is happening and has been the case for a few years. On that platform there's multiple projects that are interesting and show promise like Uniswap, Aave, Synthetic, Maker, Vechain, Filecoin, etc.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#782

Post by Gibbon1 »

rantwasp wrote: post #779
nexthash wrote: post #765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, no, no ! That's the whole reason behind why it sucks... you can't trust it! You have to verify every record on that chain by yourself, and if you make a mistake in a transaction or other operation there is no court or process that can give you restitution. Its also very inefficient (massively slow) compared to a distributed database, while functionally doing the same thing. There are barely any use cases where yo…

not sure if you’re a troll, but that’s the reason why you trust it. you can actually verify every transaction that happened on the chain. the way this is done is not unlike any system that uses event sourcing (including the distributed databases that you worship). here is a killer use case for blockchain: supply chain management with a lot of entities and lack of trust. smart contracts are a thing. also, there are bl…

> supply chain management with a lot of entities and lack of trust.

This tells me you know zero about supply chain management.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#783

Post by hanniabu »

smithza wrote: post #561

Serious question: what happens when nobody wants their HW assets to verify the blockchain? What happens when the infrastructure falls apart or the demands on the blockchain verification outpaces the number of machines available to verify? Can you buy/sell btc off of the internet? Why would we want a future with digital assets that are inherently relying upon things that can fall apart with an EMP (not trying to be a…

It was have to be a global catastrophe, and at that point there's honestly probably more important things to worry about. Nevertheless, the blockchain can be rebooted from a checkpoint. This hasn't been done before but there's no doubt it's doable and I'm sure a somebody will put forth a proposal in the coming years for this.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#784

Post by hanniabu »

thehappypm wrote: post #458
solosoyokaze wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a ton of utility in crypto. Here's one scenario I've never seen discussed but is absolutely real: Imagine you're an abused spouse or child who needs money to escape their situation. Opening up a bank account isn't an option for a lot of people, but anyone can instantly open a crypto "account" and start stashing a nest egg away from the prying eyes of their oppressors. Crypto is the only option for this, and…

This scenario is hard to imagine being worth a trillion dollars.

What about wealthy individuals that want to divest some of their wealth from the influence of nation states. When a country struggles that has direct impact on the currency and we're seeing that even in the US as the money supply increased 22% last year and will be up to 40% with the recent stimulus. This also isn't just and issue with the US. I think it was Belgium (?) that recently reported negative interest rates. Countries have also started divesting away from USD in their reserves since Trump was president. So this is a real concern that people/governments have that this offers a solution to.

BTW gold doesn't solve this because when you buy it it's being held by someone else, whom is tied to the country it resides in, and you're back to square one. Even if you were to buy it physically and keep it in your own safe you're still stuck with the same problems because it's not portable. Bitcoin is portable.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#785

Post by hanniabu »

maceurt wrote: post #436
nemo44x wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A store of value protected from (and even a beneficiary of) government mismanagement, central bank mismanagement, corporate mismanagement, etc. Because we are forced to generally keep our wealth in things susceptible to political influence it’s nice to have a place to store value away from that. My homes value can be wrecked by a variety of government or central bank policies. Same with my equities and bonds. So havi…

> A store of value protected from (and even a beneficiary of) government mismanagement, central bank mismanagement, corporate mismanagement, etc. Precious Gold/ Silver is way more adverse to risk than crypto and actually exists as a physical good. > My homes value can be wrecked by a variety of government or central bank policies. Crypto can be affected by those things also. I see the utility in certain aspects, but…

Gold is not portable. Bitcoin has portability. You can store billions of dollars on a piece of paper in your pocket.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#786

Post by hanniabu »

nikolay wrote: post #428
zionic wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining participation does not change the issuance of new bitcoin. If there was 1 miner in the entire world the issuance would be the same. Please educate yourself more about crypto in general, understanding the core concepts only takes a few minutes of research.

Why would I want to touch something laden with crime with a 10-foot pole?! And something so detrimental to climate? Bitcoin didn't, isn't, and is not gonna change anything - it's nothing but a speculation tool! Can we please stop inflating its bubble? Yes, there are meaningful cryptocurrencies, but Bitcoin holds no future - it's like sticking to VHS when there's Bluray or to a 3.5-inch floppy when there's MicroSD.

> Why would I want to touch something laden with crime with a 10-foot pole?!

So I guess you should get rid of your USD....

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#787

Post by lotsofpulp »

Solvitieg wrote: post #612
nexthash wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your evidence for these claims? Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies go through multiple price fluctuations a day. The American dollar currently underpins and backs a majority of the world's financial system [1]. Sure it isn't flawless, but its way better than something that has no backing from anything . I would prefer to use the currency issued by the world's most powerful independent state, because they are…

I'm not making claims, I'm posting my opinion about what I read on this website.

Because it’s still the best option. I know my USD tomorrow is going to be worth less than USD today. But I don’t think there is a better option for some portion of my assets, and I still trust that it will be useful to me in the future.

But I also don’t keep more than a few years worth of USD, instead I hold other equities that I believe will increase in value relative to USD. USD gives me liquidity, but not necessarily a good store of value. Other assets give me store of value, but not liquidity.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#789

Post by leppr »

gbear605 wrote: post #652
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suppose you've got two political systems each vying for legitimacy. They each have their own currency, and their own set of policy outcomes. Is it so laughable that whichever one achieves the best results for its users will be the one to establish both market and political dominance? Is letting such a competition play out via the value of their respective currencies any better than traditional means of resolving this…

A market doesn’t work in countries without a strong government, since for a market to work, there needs to be faith that the other party isn’t going to break the rules of the market. If you’re trying to sell your goods and someone comes in with a gun, then you have to hope that either you have a gun or can call police. If you have to resort to using a gun, then that leads to huge costs and lots of dead people.

That's precisely the main innovation of Bitcoin. Without the aid of a central authority, people are able to decide on a set of rules that must be respected to play in the market. People can switch to different "markets" with different rules at will.

The value of these markets is itself decided through a free market.

Given a sufficient level of digitization, it's not hard to imagine how many kind of real world markets could be backed by Bitcoin-like systems.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#790

Post by hntrader »

nexthash wrote: post #671
hntrader wrote: post #607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can say the same things about artwork or gold. To me these things are totally useless, paint on a canvas (when I could just look at a photo of the same thing) and a shiny piece of metal, no utility whatsoever, who cares? Well the value doesn't come from one person's assertion of value, it's supply and demand. Apparently enough people like paint on a canvas and shiny metal for their own reasons.

Sorry, but in case you don't have much intuition, let me fill you in. People value gold and artwork because it is beautiful and you can have it for yourself. Gold also has several utilitarian uses. Now compare these things to a digital token. Can I frame and admire a digital token? Can I use it for anything? Do I even understand what it is or how it works most of the time? No. So it therefore has no value for me. Mil…

I can look at artwork on my computer for free, or print out a high resolution image that's indistinguishable for a few dollars. Yet people pay a fortune for the "real thing", even though their eye doesn't know the difference.

Tell me again how this is in any way rational or logical? It's not, you've just bought into the narrative that artwork has legitimate value but haven't bought into the narrative that BTC has legitimate value.

You are trying to push your subjective opinion of value as an assertion. Just because you derive utility from original art but not bitcoin doesn't mean there's value in the former and not the latter. Value is assigned by supply and demand, not by an authoritative top-down council composed of u/nexthash.

It may well be the case that the market's opinion of BTC's value changes and the price drops to near nothing. But then again maybe people will wake up to the fact that an original artwork is indistinguishable from a photo, and the art market collapses too :-)

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