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The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

stephendiehl.com

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Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#21

Post by yannoninator »

traeregan wrote: post #15
anonymoushn wrote: post #11

This particular source is extremely low quality and is motivated by the author's undisclosed competing product. I would like to see higher quality sources on the front page of hacker news one day.

> the author's undisclosed competing product Which is: http://adjoint.io "Adjoint digitises cash and settlement processes for multinational corporates."

Interesting! What advantage does Adjoint have over all the cryptocurrencies in existence can it handle payments without your bank declining your payment or chargebacks?

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#22

Post by nikanj »

dvh1990 wrote: post #13

"Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime." So you're saying there IS a use case :)

And that use case is HUGE. Cryptos are really enabling unprecedented efficiency in a wide variety of crime

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#24

Post by throwawayffffas »

dvh1990 wrote: post #13

"Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime." So you're saying there IS a use case :)

Actually I think he is wrong about that, crime can be done better on a centralized infrastructure. See all crime before cryptocurrencies were a thing.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#26

Post by dqpb »

This is the sound someone makes when they realizing they're slowing down and everyone around them is speeding up.

Update: It seems I've triggered some sensitive HN'rs

Here's how to tell when someone has a real argument - they pick the best possible interpretation of the theoretical foundation of a system and then they disprove it.

Here's how to tell when someone is full of shit - they complain about meme coins.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#27

Post by zwiek »

coralreef wrote: post #5

This entire post seems to avoid or lack the understanding of the basic reasons blockchain were created; that is, to offer a decentralized, permissionless, censorship-resistant network. This was Satoshi's vision, and those values are a blockchain's express priority over scale and efficiency. Centralization is great for speed and efficiency, not so great for protection against authoritarian actors (governments or centr…

But what is it actually used for?

Okay, you can donate to WikiLeaks ... But probably 99.999% of people who have possessed cryptocurrency are just speculators: buy low, sell high. And ironically, the exchanges are centralized entities :p

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#28

Post by maneesh »

IronIvan wrote: post #8

> Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime. After all as we all know: If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear. And look at how inefficient all these permissionless, trustless protocols are! What a waste! Let's just all trust a central authority and think of the savings and the children.

This is why I always have thought that election voting would be a perfect use case for a blockchain.

Imagine a way that you could look up the blockchain with your key (SSN?) that is somehow one-way-hashed to show you the result of your vote. The value param would be plain-text. Someone else wouldn't be able to see your vote without your key, but you could confirm yours was recorded properly. Anyone could tally the values to get the final value.

Because the blockchain is trustless and distributed, you wouldn't have to worry about an election machine flipping your vote.

Apart from currency, this seems like a great use-case! Are there any flaws in this basic structure?

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#29

Post by bradhe »

Author's not wrong. I've seen some seriously cringe-inducing "talks" about what blockchain is and is not, and what it can or cannot unlock for you. I also find NFTs to be just...just...confusing.

But mostly I don't care. Do whatever you like as long as you're not hurting anyone. On average people are getting misinformed about some technologies, at worst willingly grifted. But I've seen worse technology trends come (and, by the way, go).

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#30

Post by swenger »

padobson wrote: post #17
IronIvan wrote: post #8

> Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime. After all as we all know: If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear. And look at how inefficient all these permissionless, trustless protocols are! What a waste! Let's just all trust a central authority and think of the savings and the children.

Yeah, this is what I don't understand from the naysayers. Anyone who says blockchain-driven assets don't have intrinsic value seems to ignore the value of trust - the ability to trust that the ledger is accurate seems extremely valuable. The author of the article skips over the question entirely, maybe he's addressed it elsewhere, but if the crypto skeptics continue to ignore one of its primary value propositions, I…

A blockchain doesn’t provide trust, though. A person who doesn’t understand technology doesn’t trust a distributed ledger, but they do trust their centralised bank because it’s regulated.
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