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The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

stephendiehl.com

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Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#311

Post by AlotOfReading »

chuckcode wrote: post #286
can16358p wrote: post #121

Not being pegged to a centralized, state-controlled currency is a dealbreaker for me. It's still in infancy and it's true that 99% of the projects are get-rich-quick schemes with no intrinsic value. Though, I think the author lives in a country with a trustworthy government because that's not the case for many people including me. In the last two days my country's currency has shaken much more than crypto and I don't…

I'm a little surprised that the author is missing the critical innovation of crypto which is digital trust and observability. Sure it is easy to make an argument that one cryptocurrency or another is a bubble, but don't underestimate the importance of being able to distribute work and verify trust at scale. Just look at how git has transformed software development by mapping code to a hash. Or how DNS + SSL has trans…

That sounds like regular old cryptography, which I don't think anyone would argue isn't important. It's a very different discussion than "crypto" a.k.a cryptocurrencies.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#312

Post by louwrentius »

llimos wrote: post #301

Most people on HN are rational people who look at the world in a rational way. Bitcoin and friends are not operating in a rational market, therefore we don't understand them, and most of us would probably be pretty lousy investors since we would try to make decisions rationally instead of memeing and YOLOing. But, and this is a key point, that doesn't make us right and them wrong . It's just a different kind of marke…

We are perfectly capable to decide what is better because it isn't magic.

For every gain, somebody literally has to lose. All crypto money is just other people's money.

The people who win are vocal. The people who lose, stay silent, often in shame

And even if you disagree, those gains are not worth the destruction of our planet.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#313

Post by chishaku »

llimos wrote: post #301

Most people on HN are rational people who look at the world in a rational way. Bitcoin and friends are not operating in a rational market, therefore we don't understand them, and most of us would probably be pretty lousy investors since we would try to make decisions rationally instead of memeing and YOLOing. But, and this is a key point, that doesn't make us right and them wrong . It's just a different kind of marke…

The market aside from crypto is not rational.

The market we have today would be completely unimaginable to "traditional" market participants 12 years ago, 24 years ago and so on.

The myth of a rational market is a powerful one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_exuberance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspan_put

https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f32af-a71a-4892-b331-324aa14ff...

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#314

Post by pphysch »

llimos wrote: post #301

Most people on HN are rational people who look at the world in a rational way. Bitcoin and friends are not operating in a rational market, therefore we don't understand them, and most of us would probably be pretty lousy investors since we would try to make decisions rationally instead of memeing and YOLOing. But, and this is a key point, that doesn't make us right and them wrong . It's just a different kind of marke…

Rational/irrational is a vacuous distinction. Everyone has their own perspective on time and value.

This doesn't address any of the OP's arguments, however.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#315

Post by floatboth »

dqpb wrote: post #290
floatboth wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WHO CARES? Any cryptocurrency's monetary value is derived from exchange with the others — wasteful PoW titans like BTC and fraudulent wildcat banks like Tether. By participating in ANY openly traded cryptocurrency, you're participating in that economy that AS A WHOLE is involved in wasting power, fucking the GPU market, and massive financial fraud. Viewing any coin in isolation is completely stupid. Coins don't exist…

I've traded Algorand and never touched BTC or Tether. Your argument is like screaming that the Internet is full of porn and fake news and that any use of the internet (e.g. buying doilies on Etsy) is participating in that economy . Also, it's not the case that any currency (crypto or otherwise) is derived from exchange with other currencies. It's derived from it's exchange for goods and services. If I can incentivize…

What goods and services are cryptocurrencies exchanged with?

A couple people buying VPN accounts and weed are a tiny drop in the ocean that is all the speculation. The vast majority of cryptocurrency usage is fueled by the "get rich quick" hype.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#317

Post by gbolcer »

Putting aside cryptoeconomics for a second, a centralized database can be manipulated in a criminal activity. A decentralized, omni-inspected one with no clear owner and no ability to take an axe to it provides a cryptographically sound public ledger (unless it's a private blockchain of course). It'd be very difficult to--independent of the activities that the technology is being used for now--criminally tamper with the history.

I think you have to split it into conceptual layers. Decentralization at the lower layer has value independently of how it's used.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#318

Post by sjtindell »

paulgb wrote: post #303
sjtindell wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you said “their friends to print money” not “print money for their friends”.

Ok, fair, the part that I excerpted did confuse the two, but OP goes on to say: > David at Goldman Sachs starts with 1 dollar, you each have 50% of the wealth in the "nation." David and his friends start printing themselves money “David at Goldman Sachs” presumably refers to David Solomon, CEO of GS, and in this part of the post he and his friends are the ones printing the money.

True. It was definitely not a wildly coherent post.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#319

Post by agentultra »

I work in fintech and I don't see how a run on Tether will result in everyone getting their money back. The people financing it are hidden behind shell corps in shady countries with loose reporting and have not been playing ball with regulators. It's not reasonable to believe they have the reserves.

The systems of payments we have today are social systems. They're built on a system of obligations, credits, debits, and liabilities. The technology used to facilitate modern systems is merely a reflection of that system.

The entire reason for the crypto ecosystem to exist is to have a financial system free of that regulation and governance.

Re: The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

#320

Post by CTDOCodebases »

floatboth wrote: post #251
CTDOCodebases wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but opening foreign bank accounts is difficult and like western countries physical cash can be legally seized by authorities even if it was acquired legally.

Cryptocurrencies can also be legally seized. Anything can be.

True. But cryptocurrency gives people the option to resist seizure and suffer the consequences.
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