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Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

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Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#71

Post by LispShmisp »

prohobo wrote: post #42
svennek wrote: post #3

I think basically because there is nothing interesting left to discus. One camp (where I am in) basically believes it is an environmental disaster, unsuitable for its stated purpose and most likely as scam by the "whales" manipulating the price, and with a potential 51%-disaster. The other camp believes that it is the future of money, untraceable wealth storage and inflation/"confiscation proof" and that all the envi…

Yeah, I'd say your entire approach is antithetical to healthy discussion: insinuating anyone who is interested in crypto is technically inept, and turning the discussion into a 2-sides polarization. There's no use in talking about crypto in a sincere way now because of the way its been politicized. I tried recently to explain to someone that cryptographically codifying law and contracts can be beneficial in a lot of…

Did they ask you to explain it? Did you talk about shortcomings of it?

Most of the crypto related posts feels like advertising/preaching. Issues with their proposed solutions are rarely focused on and when they're brought up, hand waving begins.

I think this is a consequence of crypto proponents using mostly same talking points, usually decentralization/some libertarian dream. Technical discussions are rarely initiated. I've been following this since early days of BTC and I'm so tired of it. I don't see anything in it that would help our society. Maybe due to your political leanings you do.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#72

Post by [deleted] »

spapas82 wrote: post #23
rapsey wrote: post #8

Because after ~13 years, mind boggling amount of money and development time, it is still just as useless in the real world as it ever was.

Actually no it is not useless in the real world! Using crypto makes it very easy to send and receive money very quickly, without the need to rely to the "system" of banks, governments etc. I can't think of a more useful application, for me it's more of a revolution!

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#73

Post by throwaway554 »

jacknews wrote: post #67
spapas82 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually no it is not useless in the real world! Using crypto makes it very easy to send and receive money very quickly, without the need to rely to the "system" of banks, governments etc. I can't think of a more useful application, for me it's more of a revolution!

That's a bit like saying that paragliders allow you to fly from one country to another, without the 'system' of aviation, airports, passports, customs, etc. Apart from the fun of it, or for smuggling drugs, it's not that practical for everyday use - just use 'the system'.

Bitcoin was the only way for WikiLeaks to accept donations back when they were cut off from all payment processors.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#74

Post by gjulianm »

onion2k wrote: post #25
MadeThisToReply wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There absolutely are good uses for crypto, and even for things like NFTs What do you think are the good uses for crypto and NFTs? (This is a genuine question; I've never been sure what to think about crypto.)

Crypto solves a problem around distributed trust. If you have a bunch of people who need to trust something is correct, but don't trust each other, putting that data on a verifiable blockchain that you pay people to cryptographically sign is a good solution. The thing is though, that's a really unusual problem that few people actually have. If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable suppl…

> NFTs could enable people to transfer digital assets between platforms without needing the platforms to talk to one another. I could buy an NFT of a 3D model of some Yeezy sneakers, and then bring that NFT to Fortnite for my avatar to wear there, and to the Metaverse to show off there, and to a sneakers forum to verify my ownership in the community there as well. That could be quite useful. 3D cosmetic assets for games and stuff is a massive market, and using NFTs would enable people to transfer goods between those markets. It'd only really work if the asset itself is stored in some sort of distributed architecture though (IPFS for example.)

This ignores the actual implementation. You still need the platforms to talk to one another in the design stage at least (the most difficult one) in order to be able to create an asset that can actually be used in different applications. If right now you cannot upload a 3D model to Fortnite straight away, why do you think it would be easy to do with NFTs?

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#75

Post by svennek »

throwaway554 wrote: post #60
svennek wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you see bitcoin fit into that axis, i.e. how does bitcoin help the unfortunate (that is VERY late to the "game") ? That might disprove my "nothing interesting to discus.

Bitcoin is an unconfiscable, permissionless inflation hedge. It's a big deal for people that live in authoritarian countries that coincidentally always have huge inflation numbers.

Until you end up in jail... sadly.

That is my point. If your country is "sufficiently bad" bitcoin will not (and cannot) help you in the long run.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#76

Post by EugeneOZ »

I personally had a hope that we’ll build some new decentralized things, some real new web - more sustainable, reliable, less regulated, less censored.

My heartbeat was increasing every time I was finding some project promising to build this new network.

But every time, after lines of poetic, pure, brave, and romantic description of their mission, there was a line about their new token and why you should buy it.

With the time I’ve got the immunity to such promises and prejudice - they all are just scam projects.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#77

Post by kreeben »

prohobo wrote: post #42
svennek wrote: post #3

I think basically because there is nothing interesting left to discus. One camp (where I am in) basically believes it is an environmental disaster, unsuitable for its stated purpose and most likely as scam by the "whales" manipulating the price, and with a potential 51%-disaster. The other camp believes that it is the future of money, untraceable wealth storage and inflation/"confiscation proof" and that all the envi…

Yeah, I'd say your entire approach is antithetical to healthy discussion: insinuating anyone who is interested in crypto is technically inept, and turning the discussion into a 2-sides polarization. There's no use in talking about crypto in a sincere way now because of the way its been politicized. I tried recently to explain to someone that cryptographically codifying law and contracts can be beneficial in a lot of…

Maybe you just failed to explain to that person what the roadmap of going from coin to blockchain powered book of law looks like, because it's quite the road.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#78

Post by aardvark179 »

onion2k wrote: post #25
MadeThisToReply wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There absolutely are good uses for crypto, and even for things like NFTs What do you think are the good uses for crypto and NFTs? (This is a genuine question; I've never been sure what to think about crypto.)

Crypto solves a problem around distributed trust. If you have a bunch of people who need to trust something is correct, but don't trust each other, putting that data on a verifiable blockchain that you pay people to cryptographically sign is a good solution. The thing is though, that's a really unusual problem that few people actually have. If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable suppl…

I’ve never been convinced by claims of using blockchains for probably supply chains. While it’s true a blockchain can’t provide a shared ledger that both parties can trust has not been tampered with after the fact, it doesn’t say anything about the world outside the blockchain, so does not remove the trust problem.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#79

Post by anonymoushn »

EugeneOZ wrote: post #59
spapas82 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually no it is not useless in the real world! Using crypto makes it very easy to send and receive money very quickly, without the need to rely to the "system" of banks, governments etc. I can't think of a more useful application, for me it's more of a revolution!

We can say that when it will be easy to withdraw the transferred coins (convert them into real, offline currencies such as dollars, euros, and so on). Right now you need to confirm your identity, pass the KYC procedure - no difference in comparison to real banks.

My real bank won't send a wire transfer on a weekend with settlement time measured in seconds, so no, it's not like a bank.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#80

Post by sysadm1n »

I think it's because no real tangible thing has come out of the cryptoverse (apart from rare exceptions like ransomware gangs cashing out tumbled coins and buying lambos and rolexes). Everything in the crypto sphere is just 1s and 0s or in the ether. Everyday Joe reads up about Bitcoin and the first thing they want is a solid physical coin they can hang on their wall. On the other hand: people use BTC to acquire illegal drugs via the darknet, so there is a case to be made for BTC being exchanged for tangible goods, albeit a tarnished one, since those drugs are banned in most countries. BTC got a bad name early on, and has yet to shake that off.

I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to banks and governments launching their own digital currency. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. If it means it's highly traceable so it can't be used for illegal things, then so be it. That's where we're heading now.

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