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Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

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Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#551

Post by barkingcat »

chaostheory wrote: post #404
lazzlazzlazz wrote: post #375

The Hacker News community has long been anti-crypto, and as someone deeply involved in the space, these long threads of complaints and diatribes are difficult to handle. Everyone is missing so much context. Ethereum gas prices are astronomical because there's unprecedented demand to use the network: NFT art and collectibles are exploding (NBA TopShot, Foundation, SuperRare, Rarible, OpenSea, etc.) at the same time De…

I'm going to agree https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599852 The only surprise is that HN is still a terrible place to discuss crypto. Not many posters or commenters seem to have much knowledge, which is strange for HN

Not strange at all!

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#552

Post by svachalek »

maeln wrote: post #64

I really, really don't understand where cryptocurrencies are going. Billions have been poured in this technology for almost no actual return technologically wise. And I understand, because interest are not aligned. It really seems like nobody actually care about advancing the state of art, except actual researcher who work in universities and not in crypto startups... Cryptocurrencies had a goal and a usefulness when…

It's going slower than the WWW but I feel it could be just as big. There are major problems with big banks, social networks, and the advertising model of the web and crypto can solve all of this: decentralization, democratization, and micropayments all in one. No doubt it will create its own problems but there is big potential. Just look at what's going on with Ethereum and Defi instead of the older generation of deflationary currencies.

But you are right, there are way too many attempts at new networks and currencies, when we need to be consolidating around the best of those and building up the application layer. I think there are huge opportunities for people who create the killer apps for crypto.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#553

Post by lynx234 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #533
lynx234 wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cryptocurrency solves absolutely none of the existing legal reasons that banks can't issue large loans in minutes or seconds to existing (or new, well collateralized) clients. Yes, this is definitely correct in that crypto does nothing to solve the legal requirements of the banks and does not help the banks. But it's worth mentioning that this sort of fully collateralized and anonymous borrowing does not (and would…

Banks don't need to issue fully collateralized loans. That is not a thing people need to do in the real world, because banks will gladly issue partially collateralized loans. As for anonymous loans, those exist solely to service criminal customers, so that is not an advantage of cryptocurrency.

For people holding crypto assets which they don't plan to sell, it's a valid way to borrow other assets for use. Potentially for other investments. Definitely not just for criminals.

And overall, it's a demonstration of a financial product which can only be built in the space of decentralized finance. I do not know of another tool which allows anyone around the world to borrow significant amounts of money anonymously and without an account. Whether it's a net good for the world I don't know, but I do believe it's a powerful technology and space.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#554

Post by shuckles »

svachalek wrote: post #548
shuckles wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This whataboutism ignores the logic of the question: the banking system is not incentivized to burn power. You would expect each node to try to minimize their input costs to maximize returns. For a given unit of compute, putting in more energy does not increase profits for any participant in the traditional banking system. This isn’t the case for cryptocurrencies, so they are asked a fair question.

This isn't the case for Proof of Work cryptocurrencies. Many newer networks are moving away from the POW model.

There might be an answer to the original question. I was pointing out, “But what about banks!?” is simply not a good one, and why it isn’t.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#555

Post by exdsq »

khongbietgi wrote: post #394
exdsq wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the Algorand team -- first blockchain project where I used an app I wanted to use and only afterwards realised it was using their blockchain.

That's great. Do you mind sharing the name of that project?

They store the data of FIDE Online chess matches, so the officially ranked games that you can play for online titles. Not sure why they chose a blockchain - perhaps they're actually used for identity too, so there's some p2p elements of arranging matches, but as I said I didn't even know they were involved until I saw an advert one day mentioning it.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#556

Post by rawtxapp »

phamilton wrote: post #540
rawtxapp wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, it took me a while to understand why anyone would get an over-collaterized loan until it just clicked, then I was like this is the future, it doesn't make any sense to sell the most valuable and appreciating asset ever, but you can still use the money from it.

> sell the most valuable and appreciating asset ever What happens when it stops appreciating? Or is the premise that bitcoin will alway outpace interest rates?

In the short term it could do anything, in the long term you'd expect it to constantly appreciate.

It's a scarce/deflationary/limited supply asset which is compared against an endless money printer.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#557

Post by Karunamon »

Retric wrote: post #523
Karunamon wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the issue is the amount of waste heat produced by the light bulb or data center. ..which in the case of the average crypto, is overshadowed many times over. One block mined equates to $333K worth BTC generated alone, and that's not counting the value of every transaction included in that block. A block happens every 10 minutes give or take, so in an hour, that's about 2 million worth of coin generated and 13K transac…

Coal power plants generate more value in the from of electricity than they lose value as waste heat. Otherwise they wouldn’t operate. But, clearly the creation of value is independent of something being wasted as you can have more or less efficient power plants that generate the same value using more or less fuel and thus more or less waste heat. Similarly, as I just pointed out different algorithms would use more or…

But that heat you speak of applies to any kind of long-running computation. Whether that be render farms, ML model training, distributed computing like BOINC, or anything else with similar properties.

It seems to me that crypto is being unfairly singled out. Things that are digital have meaningful existence.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#558

Post by treelovinhippie »

It lost its way in 2017 during the first bubble when all of the cryptobro speculators flooded the scene.

The Sydney Ethereum meetup I started in 2014 suddenly jumped in numbers and became full of wankers in suits wanting to discuss the price, wanting to apply the tech inside financial institutions and explore new regulations.

2017 was worrying. 2018 solidified that Ethereum was merely going to serve the interests of the established financial apparatus.

There's no revolution or cryptoanarchy here; only power grabs and new oligarchies.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#559

Post by tarsinge »

skybrian wrote: post #405
rawtxapp wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Borrowing, lending, decentralized exchanges, innovations like flash loans that are just not possible in current financial system. The sky is the limit in terms of innovations possible, it's literally some code running on the global computer that is Ethereum.

How does borrowing work in an automated, trustless environment? Doesn’t someone have to decide whether you’re likely to pay back the loan with money you haven’t earned yet?

Look up Aave it’s Open Source, I was surprised at first but it seems to work. Also flash loans are an interesting new financial tool previously not available for individuals.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#560

Post by tarsinge »

langitbiru wrote: post #467
rawtxapp wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's over-collaterized, so you put more crypto than the loan value. You might say "why the hell would I do that?", in order of importance: 1) you hold on to your asset's appreciation, 2) access the liquidity, 3) avoid capital gains tax.

I think in the past someone mentioned about under-collaterized loan. It's based on your reputation. The idea is you use your Ethereum account to do activities. Based on these activities, people could give you a loan. Such activities can be something like answering questions (imagine Stackoverflow but the authentication runs on Ethereum).

You can do loans with no collateral at all if you use flash loans.
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