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Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

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Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#41

Post by lottin »

astoor wrote: post #21
seibelj wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN will never understand crypto / blockchain. Bitcoin and NFTs are amazing tools with huge potential for monetization of all sorts of digital goods. It has never been a better time to be a digital artist and earn a living. The lack of imagination and "get off my lawn" around here is absurd.

The problem is that HN actually does understand crypto and blockchain. The layperson might believe the myth that NFTs, for example, are "amazing tools with huge potential for monetization of all sorts of digital goods", but most of HN will know the reality - you are "buying" nothing more than a URL in a JSON file (i.e. no legal ownership of anything), almost all artists will lose money (there are over 20M listings on…

Indeed, the mainstream media talks about NFTs as if they were property titles, completely misleading the public into thinking NFTs are something they are not. A lot of people also think Bitcoin spends a lot of electricity because it needs to do super complicated calculations. When you explain them how bitcoin actually works they usually can't believe it. The misinformation floating around with regards to cryptocurrencies is staggering.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#42

Post by JonathanBeuys »

jjnoakes wrote: post #28

This (this specific news as well as crypto in general) still feels like externalizing a fairly important cost - the energy usage required to keep this world-wide distributed ledger going. Change my mind?

Bitcoin's energy consumption depends on mining revenue. Currently the main component of mining revenue is block reward. Block reward will go to zero over time. How much energy Bitcoin will use then is not known today. It is a new experiment that mankind is performing for the first time.

The old financial system is not very efficient. In the USA alone, millions of people work in the finance sector. Automating those tasks via crypto systems might save a lot of energy.

There is a good chance that Bitcoin's energy usage will be completely solar based in the long run.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#44

Post by cheeze »

jjnoakes wrote: post #28

This (this specific news as well as crypto in general) still feels like externalizing a fairly important cost - the energy usage required to keep this world-wide distributed ledger going. Change my mind?

Talk about beating a dead horse. Read literally any HN thread ever posted about cryptocurrencies to see this discussed ad nauseum.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#45

Post by snarf21 »

blhack wrote: post #4

Absolutely incredible news. Micropayments are one of the paths out of advertiser hell and were one of the original dreams of many crypto nerds and advocates. I still think that twitter is pure mind cancer, but I have to give it to Jack on this. Great move, and something I hope gets repeated to the rest of the web. For those who aren’t very familiar with the crypto space: this uses a bitcoin side chain called lightnin…

Leaving BTC and lighting aside, I don't think most people would opt out of ads in favor of micro payments. There is a minority who have the money that would but I see nothing in society that points to making such a change possible. Do you have any studies that show people would pay for news/socials/etc. in exchange for no ads/tracking/+privacy? Even the paid streaming services have ads and even when you pay, I'm sure they are still selling tracking data.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#46

Post by CJefferson »

JonathanBeuys wrote: post #42
jjnoakes wrote: post #28

This (this specific news as well as crypto in general) still feels like externalizing a fairly important cost - the energy usage required to keep this world-wide distributed ledger going. Change my mind?

Bitcoin's energy consumption depends on mining revenue. Currently the main component of mining revenue is block reward. Block reward will go to zero over time. How much energy Bitcoin will use then is not known today. It is a new experiment that mankind is performing for the first time. The old financial system is not very efficient. In the USA alone, millions of people work in the finance sector. Automating those ta…

The bits of the old financial system which duplicate bitcoin (doing simply electronic transactions) are very efficient.

I see no reason all the other stuff wouldn't still be around in a world where bitcoin replaced the dollar.

Also, there is no way bitcoin can come close to scaling to even a tiny fraction of the transactions which happen every day.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#47

Post by shawn-butler »

blhack wrote: post #4

Absolutely incredible news. Micropayments are one of the paths out of advertiser hell and were one of the original dreams of many crypto nerds and advocates. I still think that twitter is pure mind cancer, but I have to give it to Jack on this. Great move, and something I hope gets repeated to the rest of the web. For those who aren’t very familiar with the crypto space: this uses a bitcoin side chain called lightnin…

Isn't this what Brave tried doing in their browser circa 2016?

Doesn't seem like micropayments fit the current consumer mindset the way periodic subscriptions do.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#48

Post by dane-pgp »

jjnoakes wrote: post #28

This (this specific news as well as crypto in general) still feels like externalizing a fairly important cost - the energy usage required to keep this world-wide distributed ledger going. Change my mind?

There are many ways to re-internalize the costs of CO2-producing energy use, such as putting a carbon tax on energy providers which emit CO2.

In contrast, writing specific policies to target (specific uses of) specific cryptocurrencies, without exempting the renewable energy used in their production, and without targeting other "frivolous" uses of energy, would be an inelegant approach.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#49

Post by chrisfosterelli »

snarf21 wrote: post #45
blhack wrote: post #4

Absolutely incredible news. Micropayments are one of the paths out of advertiser hell and were one of the original dreams of many crypto nerds and advocates. I still think that twitter is pure mind cancer, but I have to give it to Jack on this. Great move, and something I hope gets repeated to the rest of the web. For those who aren’t very familiar with the crypto space: this uses a bitcoin side chain called lightnin…

Leaving BTC and lighting aside, I don't think most people would opt out of ads in favor of micro payments. There is a minority who have the money that would but I see nothing in society that points to making such a change possible. Do you have any studies that show people would pay for news/socials/etc. in exchange for no ads/tracking/+privacy? Even the paid streaming services have ads and even when you pay, I'm sure…

Perhaps not everybody, but this is a core business model for a lot of mobile apps. "Pay and we remove the ads". I've paid for quite a few apps just to get the ads out of the way.

Re: Twitter enables tipping with Bitcoin, plans to let users authenticate NFTs

#50

Post by blhack »

snarf21 wrote: post #45
blhack wrote: post #4

Absolutely incredible news. Micropayments are one of the paths out of advertiser hell and were one of the original dreams of many crypto nerds and advocates. I still think that twitter is pure mind cancer, but I have to give it to Jack on this. Great move, and something I hope gets repeated to the rest of the web. For those who aren’t very familiar with the crypto space: this uses a bitcoin side chain called lightnin…

Leaving BTC and lighting aside, I don't think most people would opt out of ads in favor of micro payments. There is a minority who have the money that would but I see nothing in society that points to making such a change possible. Do you have any studies that show people would pay for news/socials/etc. in exchange for no ads/tracking/+privacy? Even the paid streaming services have ads and even when you pay, I'm sure…

Many people already have opted out of ads. People like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi who have massive, lucrative substacks, for instance.

Many others have done patreon. Many, many youtube creators and podcasters have strong incomes due to that.

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