Live data from Hacker News

SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

cryptoslate.com

61–70 of 577 posts

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#61
post #31

A point that most crypto heads miss is that the world does not run algorithmically. Legal contracts do not work like a software program and that characteristic is a feature not a bug. Not being able to reverse transactions that were part of an exploit is in infact a bug. Businesses need that tolerance for error. You need an oracle in your system. The oracle can maintain transparency of the attestations carried out if…

Indeed. Credit cards are far less decentralized than cash. But because credit cards have an administrator to protect the consumer, they are also preferable to cash.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#62
post #27

These incidents really illustrate the main flaw of smart contracts: a single bug in your code can lead to incredible losses. I simply don't think it's possible for human beings to write good enough software for smart contracts.

Mostly it involves people making systems that are too complex to trivially analyze. You can not write arbitrarily complex secure code. You need to limit your scope and do one very simple thing extremely tersely and correctly. You can make powerful systems with simple correct independent components. You can not make complex secure monolithic systems. It gets even worse when you look at contracts with delegation. The p…

Yes, I agree. Most of the security of smart contracts should be in the VM. Things like self-asserting the results and only finishing the transaction if it actually passes a double-check. Or set value limits to each smart-contract (so even if there's a bug it will only operate on 0.00001 BTC for example).

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#64
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oil is physical; it takes up space, and needs special protections to not pollute the container it's stored in. Digital goods, meanwhile, can just be transferred permanently "into the void" (i.e. to an account without an associated key.)

Interesting didn’t know this. I always assumed it had to go to someone else. So digital currency can’t go below zero (or where you are paying someone to take it off you).

If you delete your wallet, nobody has the money any more. “Sending it into the void” only helps with proving that fact to someone else.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#65
post #31

A point that most crypto heads miss is that the world does not run algorithmically. Legal contracts do not work like a software program and that characteristic is a feature not a bug. Not being able to reverse transactions that were part of an exploit is in infact a bug. Businesses need that tolerance for error. You need an oracle in your system. The oracle can maintain transparency of the attestations carried out if…

This is consistently the case too, not just in financial systems. Even language, which is loosely structured and something we get 'wrong' a lot on a day to day basis, is better for that reason - strictness just doesn't fit into the world of human beings. We're much better at using context to make case by case calls - a rigorous, inflexible system is playing against our greatest strengths.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#66

These incidents really illustrate the main flaw of smart contracts: a single bug in your code can lead to incredible losses. I simply don't think it's possible for human beings to write good enough software for smart contracts.

Human beings write software that flies people around the world and shuttles people between the Earth and space. Managing money is not more important than many things we use software for.

Putting your money in one of these smart contracts is like getting on a fully autonomous plane, with no pilot.

And you get a refund for your plane ticket if you reach your destination, but if you don't, whoever figured out the trick to crash the internet-connected plane gets to keep all the ticket money. And that could be the same person who wrote the plane's software.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#67

There is no such thing as a stablecoin, it's a made up term to try to lend legitimacy to new crypto scams. And I say this as someone who just bought some Ethereum in the hopes of making a profit :)

This is uninformed. What do you call USDC, which is directly redeemable for US Dollars by anyone with a Coinbase account? Every USDC is backed by one USD of deposits in a US-based bank. USDC is a stablecoin, and there are plenty of others out there.

redeemable until it's not.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#68
post #31

A point that most crypto heads miss is that the world does not run algorithmically. Legal contracts do not work like a software program and that characteristic is a feature not a bug. Not being able to reverse transactions that were part of an exploit is in infact a bug. Businesses need that tolerance for error. You need an oracle in your system. The oracle can maintain transparency of the attestations carried out if…

Yes, secure your own keys or risk losing everything doesn't work in the real world. This is a level of required diligence by the end-user that is unacceptable for any real world use.

With billions being syphened from African countries, it's hard to make the case that crypto microloans are a net good for the continent.

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#69

Is there a website along the lines of istheshipstillstuck.com or arewewebyet.org but for "Is that coin / smart-contract dead already" ? Would be an useful reference in this ever-changing landscape, though I would pity the maintainers.

https://rekt.news/leaderboard/

Re: SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following DeFi exploit on Polygon

#70
post #15

There is no such thing as a stablecoin, it's a made up term to try to lend legitimacy to new crypto scams. And I say this as someone who just bought some Ethereum in the hopes of making a profit :)

Maybe the world just needs less people trying to get something for nothing. If the scammers operating these currencies teach the greedy traders a lesson we'll all be better off.

Agreed.

I'd like to figure out how to build a cryptocurrency that is useful for conducting actual business but toxic to investors.

An economy that lacked parasitic middle men would be a good thing for the status quo to have to compete with.

Post reply on HN