Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

timdaub.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 650 posts

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#351

Post by ashtonkem »

takoid wrote: post #306
imtringued wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider Monero useful but most of its users are unethical. It's pretty telling that the author of the blog post bashes it in the exact way you should. "Don't buy it" as if it was meant to be speculated with.

Wasn’t Bitcoin painted in a similar light before it became mainstream? Monero’s users being unethical (in your opinion) is a testament to the usefulness of the technology, not the other way around. Would you say the same thing about Tor?

All the claims of Bitcoin being anonymous were either incredibly misguided or delusional. Bitcoin is arguably far less anonymous than even cash, as it creates a permanent record of transactions. If your account is ever de-anonymized, and there are good techniques to do that, then any transaction you’ve ever sent ever is going to be visible. The only privacy benefit Bitcoin has over cash is that it’s easier to transmit it remotely, which eliminates in person risk.

Monero is at least designed to be anonymous. It’s possible that some flaw or mistake will eventually be uncovered that will break its privacy, but the underlying structure is better.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#352

Post by boh »

ike77 wrote: post #293
ethanbond wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize it’s law and not technical incapability that prevents financial institutions from lending like this, right?

I don't think law would prevent a fully collateralized loan on the basis of borrower/lender risks. AML seems a non issue too, as the loan only moves the question. KYC remains one big problem but there are many startups providing those services and they are slowly gaining acceptance in courts. Don't be impressed if a few years (and maybe even months) from now you start to see classical banks trading mortgages onchain.

The banking system doesn't work like a tech company. They're highly dependent on a credit eco-system. If the debt they sell is backed by highly volatile collateral, their own debts will become unsustainably expensive with the additional risk factors. Yes I know the future of crypto is sunshine and rainbows but the price swings of the past three months makes this a highly volatile asset class (regardless if the price is moving up). Even security backed debt negatively effects risk factors, but at least securities have accompanying rights to offset losses--crypto has absolutely zero safety nets.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#353

Post by iso8859-1 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #325
duckfang wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hardest pill to swallow is that we already had a very low cost of moving money around between hostile nation-states. And it's been around since the 8th century - read 700ACE-800ACE. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala Its money dealer to money dealer, and the money dealers keep scrips. Average fees are from 0.2% to 0.5% . It's definitely un-sexy since its not technology based. No chains of blocks or programmers…

>And the only reason why it's not more massively used is because of the US's adherence that it's "terrorism". I don’t think so. A system with clear record keeping, auditable by third parties, and subject to the judiciary is far better than below: > Trust and extensive use of connections are the components that distinguish it from other remittance systems. Hawaladar networks are often based on membership in the same f…

Technology doesn't imply a good civil society (where you can, on average, trust people. Aka "social capital").

But does technology imply social capital? I don't think so.

So if you set up the dichotomy, and had to choose, I'd choose "social capital" every time.

I know, you didn't use this phrasing. But when I read "allegiance to your tribe", what does that even mean? If you're American and you support your troops, isn't that "allegiance to your tribe"?

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#354

Post by peter_l_downs »

dbspin wrote: post #60
drom5 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that the killer app currently is decentralised finance, lending and trading for example on the chain. The second killer app is NFTs, basically the exchange of art on the chain.

Hypothetically, NFTs are amazing. They have the potential to revolutionise royalties and help artist directly profit from the success of their work. There are successful marketplaces like Nifty Gateway for visual NFT's and some under development for music NFTs. But... Right now, Etheriums soaring 'gas' prices are basically freezing new entrants into the market. The cost of 'minting' a token on the blockchain right no…

Couldn't agree more that NFTs are theoretically very interesting but the way they work right now is absolute garbage. See this experience report: https://freezine.xyz/4/nfts/index.html

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#355

Post by rank0 »

rawtxapp wrote: post #315
whimsicalism wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ie. So they can have cash while continuing to be speculatively exposed to eth. I think that ethereum might have great applications, but a loan backed by more collateral than it is worth doesn't seem like one of them, unless Dao starts allowing for the use of collateral that is less liquid than eth. The issue is that contracts don't have any way of "calling in" to the legal API, so you can't put up your house as colla…

They also avoid capital gains tax which would be pretty significant. They can use the money to hedge their bets against crypto by buying traditional markets if they wanted. For house mortgages, there are companies that are "tokenizing" houses on the blockchain, so putting it up collateral would be as simple as depositing that token. That said, I think this is far from becoming reality anytime soon, just because there…

I believe that technically, any conversion between crypto assets is still a taxable event. If you want to follow the (silly) rules, you have to pay taxes on your gains once you purchase something using your borrowed stablecoin.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#356

Post by lottin »

rawtxapp wrote: post #268
martin_a wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After all those years, there's still not a single useful blockchain application around. These days I see lots companies telling me, they put their "supply chain on blockchain" and while I understand what they probably want to tell me ("you can't tamper with where our stuff comes from") I don't see the point in that. If you've got trust issues with your subcontractors you should fix those and not "seal" the willingly…

I know someone who got a 7 figure loan backed by cryptocurrency collateral in a matter of minutes using makerdao. The best part? They didn't even had to provide their name. This is the future folks, I highly recommend that you actually try some of these projects before writing them off.

What happens in the event of default?

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#358

Post by virgo_eye »

microtherion wrote: post #253
charcircuit wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>A store of value should have some reserves behind them or some physical asset Nope. This is old people thinking. Young people are used to digital items being worth money. People spend real money on cosmetics in video games despite there being nothing physical about them. These "imaginary" things spawned into existence can have value.

Have you considered that your use of the term "real money" undermines your position a bit? People spend money on things with little tangible value all the time. The benchmark, IMHO, is whether others accept these things as payment. It's generally pretty hard to pay your utility bill with Farmville coins, or buy groceries with Angry Birds Mighty Eagles.

You can't pay your utility bill with Apple stock, or buy groceries with crude oil ETFs. You have to convert them into money first. Does this mean that they are not a store of value?

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#359

Post by rawtxapp »

lottin wrote: post #356
rawtxapp wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know someone who got a 7 figure loan backed by cryptocurrency collateral in a matter of minutes using makerdao. The best part? They didn't even had to provide their name. This is the future folks, I highly recommend that you actually try some of these projects before writing them off.

What happens in the event of default?

It's over-collaterized, so if you fall below the 150% minimum collateral ratio, maker smart contract could liquidate the asset to cover the loan and then return the remaining 50%-liquidation fees back to you. As long as you're conservative in your borrowing (as in you borrow up to 25%-50% of your holding), your chances of getting liquidated are pretty slim.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#360

Post by rank0 »

rawtxapp wrote: post #268
martin_a wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After all those years, there's still not a single useful blockchain application around. These days I see lots companies telling me, they put their "supply chain on blockchain" and while I understand what they probably want to tell me ("you can't tamper with where our stuff comes from") I don't see the point in that. If you've got trust issues with your subcontractors you should fix those and not "seal" the willingly…

I know someone who got a 7 figure loan backed by cryptocurrency collateral in a matter of minutes using makerdao. The best part? They didn't even had to provide their name. This is the future folks, I highly recommend that you actually try some of these projects before writing them off.

I really am struggling to see the practical value here. You have to provide collateral worth more than your borrowed amount. The rates are HORRIBLE for borrowers. Straight up predatory.

The anonymity part is cool, but if I want to borrow to get a mortgage how exactly does this help me? I do not have $500,000 in crypto laying around and a traditional lender will give me a 2% interest rate instead of 15%

Post reply on HN