Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

stephendiehl.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 704 posts

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#171

Post by RobertRies »

bradhe wrote: post #29

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 (a…

Not to mention an important vehicle in enabling NK's nuclear program: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58719884

And all the other crimes that are made much more efficient/difficult to detect.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#172

Post by ethbr0 »

JuliusBranson wrote: post #162
andrewla wrote: post #103

If anything, I think stablecoins are way more dangerous than the author indicates. People talk about things like Bitcoin as a threat to sovereign currencies, and they are, as competitors, of sorts. But stablecoins are another matter entirely. One huge aspect of the value of sovereign currencies is that they are instruments of law -- courts will settle in them as a lowest common denominator, and it is safe to use them…

Stablecoins are dangerous because they have the potential to change the current selection effects on the elite. For one thing, stablecoins subvert the ability of the Federal Reserve to print money and give it to their friends at Goldman Sachs et al --- normally this is supposed to result in their friends have a larger fraction of money than they previously had. You start with 1 dollar, David at Goldman Sachs starts w…

It seems like there's another side to this story you're not mentioning... I think I read about it in history of the 19th and 20th centuries?

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#173

Post by floatboth »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #54
swenger wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It provides "distributed trust", in the sense that you know no single person or group is in control and you trust the distributed consensus, in terms of ledger state and algorithm accuracy.

Maybe no single entity is literally in full control but large mining pools and the developers of the software both have extreme influence over the chain.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#174

Post by discordianfish »

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #155

When it comes to crypto I am completely uninformed. In my uninformed opinion, I think there is probably something of value in crypto and the blockchain but I can't see it under the intense amount of bullshit the crypto community comes up with and I am not willing to dig through that mountain.

I felt exactly the same, until I did some research and realized it's bullshit all the way.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#175

Post by munchler »

webmaven wrote: post #106
bobmichael wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One IMO realistic use-case is providing a wealth preservation mechanism for people living in a country with a corrupt government that's experiencing hyperinflation, for example Lebanon.

> One IMO realistic use-case is providing a wealth preservation mechanism for people living in a country with a corrupt government that's experiencing hyperinflation, for example Lebanon. Sure, but (like it or not) that's covered under the umbrella of "crime".

In that case, I think the point is that some "crime" is ethically justified and worth supporting technologically. The OP's statement implies that all crime is bad.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#176

Post by ineptech »

rawtxapp wrote: post #99
the_gastropod wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the people most upset by money printing learned to be upset by money printing from crypto propaganda.

Propaganda? Does it matter where they learned it as long as it's true and factual?

Right, but it's not. The idea that inflation "dilutes" wealth and is therefore bad for rich people is not true.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#177

Post by bildung »

rawtxapp wrote: post #107
bildung wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is that those people can honestly see and use crypto as speculative assets, which is fine (if we ignore externalities for a second), not making up use cases.

Once you accept that the future is unknown, you'll see that every asset is a speculative asset, no? For the longest time, real estate was assumed to be 100% safe until 2008, etc.

The difference between investment and speculation is pretty established, isn't it? For example https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/difference-betwe...

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#178

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

ravenstine wrote: post #132
Scarblac wrote: post #38

I wonder how much of the Crypto hype is because the US banking system still lives in the 1980s or thereabouts. If everybody in the US had access to bank accounts with easy electronic transfers within 5 seconds for no charge, no chargebacks and so on, as people are used to in the EU, would people still be excited about Bitcoin?

I think that's certainly a part of it, but it's not the whole story, and I suspect it's perhaps responsible for 1/3 of the story. A bigger motivation, and perhaps the most quixotic one, is financial security . No, I don't mean that cryptocurrencies haven't been highly unstable in value. But the more that the cabal chooses to truly enter the 21st century, the greater the danger of that technology being used as a means…

> Whether you agree with that perspective is another thing. Many crypto enthusiasts, whether they are explicit about it or not, like the idea of creating an economic system that everyone can participate in that doesn't involve countless middle-men.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the whole blockchain thing depend on an uncountable number of middlemen to verify transactions? They just don't have to trust them. Not to mention they have to count on a market existing for the coins to give them value.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#179

Post by horsawlarway »

throwaway21332 wrote: post #144
horsawlarway wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that ledger isn't accurate. It's just distributed and difficult to change. I technically am the owner of (quite a few) bitcoin that were being processed by MtGox when they imploded. The wallet they were in at the time was emptied and no longer exists. I still receive the relevant court documents as the case continues still. As far as the ledger is concerned - they are no longer mine. --- So question to you: How d…

You know, there is a reason why crypto people chant "Not your keys, not your coins".

Sure, but value without an enforcement mechanism is not very useful.

People usually want to trade stored value in exchange for goods and services (at least in a functioning value store - I don't really believe bitcoin serves that purpose at the moment).

So lets say we agree that I pay you 10k in bitcoin in exchange for you remodeling my bathroom (and ignore how unlikely this scenario is with real crypto currencies). I pay you 50% up front (to purchase materials), and 50% on completion.

Then you run off with my initial 50%.

Now what?

----

Every solution I've seen is riddled with pitfalls and gotchas

- Use escrow? Wait - now we're just trusting a central authority again.

- Use Eth contracts? Well, maybe - but it requires a perfectly written contract or you're open to all sorts of strange edge behavior and side effects.

- Sue over the theft? Now the central authority is just the government again, and we're back at square one!

You see the disconnect I'm getting at? Eventually, if disagreements occur about how value was traded, there has to be a reconciliation mechanism. Right now, even in modern crypto - that reconciliation mechanism is still a central authority: Your government.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#180

Post by mountainb »

Scarblac wrote: post #38

I wonder how much of the Crypto hype is because the US banking system still lives in the 1980s or thereabouts. If everybody in the US had access to bank accounts with easy electronic transfers within 5 seconds for no charge, no chargebacks and so on, as people are used to in the EU, would people still be excited about Bitcoin?

The technology doesn't really matter that much. If the US banking system wants to compete, it could try paying yield on savings. That's one weird trick that has made banking attractive for well over 1,000 years. A banking system that does not pay yields to savers is just a glorified collection of ledgers.
Post reply on HN