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Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

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Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#571

Post by qeternity »

svachalek wrote: post #552
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 def…

Why do people still lump crypto and micropayments together? Decentralization is always going to be less efficient and thus more costly than centralized equivalents which makes it just about the worst solution for micropayments.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#573

Post by hnick »

eek04_ wrote: post #329
rawtxapp wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gives freedom to people, how is that bad? The whole point is that it's a permissionless, borderless technology that anyone can participate in. There's really nothing holding innovation back. Flash loans are an example of that innovation, where if you see an arbitrage opportunity in the market, you can profit from it even if you don't own huge capital, so it levels the playing field for all these financial actors.

> It gives freedom to people, how is that bad? That's just a slogan. The devil is in the details. To use an extreme example: Murder laws removes my freedom to kill random people; how is that good?

That impinges on someone else's freedom. I'd go with something like selling 2 kidneys or contracts that result in indentured servitude.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#574

Post by csa »

dfjklgj45985 wrote: post #569
csa wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will be sure to relay this answer to my non-tech friends who ask about cryptocurrencies. I’m sure this answer will send them running to buy. /s All joking aside, for a conversation you say you have weekly, this is a really lame answer due to the abstractness of it. My guess is the reason you don’t give concrete answers is because either tech already exists for that use case or non-crypto tech could be easily develo…

GP is incredibly "concrete": >...any kind of marketplace or platform but with community governance and no rents, decentralized exchanges, global-by-default payments, highly interoperable and efficient financial infrastructure... As seen in various forms here: https://ethereum.org/en/dapps/ I can only guess that you are not familiar with the technical jargon. Your pleading strikes me as potentially disingenuous, but I…

I have read the white papers.

I am familiar with the jargon.

The list that was provided was of abstract ideas without stating a specific market — any market.

The ethereum apps you linked to might be interesting from a technological standpoint, but they don’t really add value — they just are [banking function] or [payment function] with cryptocurrency.

The most generous example that I can come up with is that crypto makes it possible to displace PayPal and similar payment processing middlemen, but I’m not sure most people (outside of a few legal outliers) actually want those middlemen replaced. So even then, the issue isn’t that crypto is so great, it’s just that the fiat currency system is slightly inefficient while being incredibly fixable.

I guess I just don’t see the demand in the marketplace for what crypto is providing the supply for (other than as a tool for speculation... it’s really good at that).

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#575

Post by csa »

svachalek wrote: post #546
csa wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Yes. This is sadly a non-answer to the question posed. I am asked this question all the time by people I know, and the best I can come up with is illegal activities, super niche tech applications (e.g., DNS name reg), and libertarian fantasies. You have an audience here at HN who is more than willing to advocate for cryptocurrencies if they/we can be shown a compelling use case. “Yes” is not an obvious compellin…

Check out UniSwap and Aave if you haven't before. If those aren't compelling use cases, tell your friends to stay away.

I showed them to two of my non-tech friends.

They both said some variation of “why would I want to use that?”

The product of crypto does a crappy job of selling itself.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#576

Post by hnick »

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #428
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blockchain is just a ledger. So "the Blockchain" does not make anything significantly better. Its in fact ridiculously expensive. The idea is that everytime sweat shop X finishes sewing sequins on a dress, they can scan the RFID tag on the dress with their smartphone, and the ledger gets updated, and then Walmart can prepare for that dress, the shipping company can print out labels etc. Its a good idea. Industries ar…

I appreciate the response, but it's still entirely unclear how blockchain would help here. In a supply chain, why would blockchain be better than a centralized process? It seems to be trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Tampering. Bribes, hacking, idiocy, whatever. A proper blockchain is tamper resistant, so everyone trusts it.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#577

Post by rspeele »

UncleMeat wrote: post #529
gh55 wrote: post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the moment DeFi loans are fully collateralized, with the loan to value ratio affecting the interest rate you pay. If your collateral drops in value you have to recollateralize the loan, or are liquidated.

I don't understand. Why would I need a loan for $X if I already have $X to put up as collateral?

I have been trying to understand this too. Best I can figure, it's basically a short sell on USD.

The key element is that the loan is not denominated in BTC, but a stablecoin pegged to fiat. DAI is one of these pegged 1:1 to USD.

Say you are holding Bitcoin and think it's going to the moon. You tie up your Bitcoin as collateral and take out a loan of roughly 75% of its value, in DAI. Then you spend that DAI to buy more Bitcoins. Now you are exposed to Bitcoin's price movements on two ends: the BTC you bought with your loan, and the BTC you put up as collateral. If Bitcoin's DAI price goes up by more than the interest rate on the loan, you can sell and have more than enough to repay the loan. The extra is pure profit and plus your collateral grew in value in the meantime too, so you're a winner on both fronts.

On the other hand, if Bitcoin's price goes down by too much and you can't repay the loan, your collateral could be liquidated and become property of the lender. You lose everything.

Color me surprised that the amazing decentralized finance, the future of banking, etc. is... yet another way to speculate on "number go up".

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#578

Post by khongbietgi »

exdsq wrote: post #555
khongbietgi wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

ah i see, they do have some small write up here as well https://worldchess.com/algorand/

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#579

Post by sopp »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #175
louwrentius wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to a legitimate problem that “blockchain” can solve, which can’t be solved with existing tools? I think every smart person working on any kind of blockchain-related tech is seriously wasting their talent and life.

Can you point to a legitimate problem that "whatsapp" solved that could not be solved with existing tools? Between SMS, MMS, 'normal' calls and Skype, whatsapp added nothing technically new to the world.

Whatsapp is an app not a technology - the protocols allowibg users to communicate through whatsapp are the real innovation there

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#580

Post by ab_testing »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #56

Building something useful on something that is primarily used as highly volatile financial speculation instrument always rubbed me the wrong way. The whole crypto scene is just about making quick dough with a technology, that for some reason remains hyped through and wrapped in mysticism. Face it, there is no sexy killer app for the masses. Wait. There is one: Crypto trading to... make quick dough. And the cryptonerd…

I think that if you come across some well known crypto, it is better you just hold on to it and pray for appreciation due to high demand rather than trading in and out of it frequently.
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