The Handwavy Technobabble Nothingburger of Crypto

Post by thewarrior » Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 10:58 PM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #599

ur-whale wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> energy to maintain the record of ownership. That is entirely incorrect. Energy is expended to allow transfer of ownership, not to maintain the record. If all miners save one dude with a laptop stopped to mine transactions tomorrow, you still wouldn't be able to spend Bitcoins for which you don't own the private key.

I agree with your technical clarification, but there would be no point in owning a balance if the ability for someone to receive it in a transaction without fear of double spend disappeared. Therefore, I stand by my statement. Bitcoin has no value without continuous expenditure of energy.

Post by mym1990 » Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 11:03 PM UTC

rawtxapp wrote: post #152

mym1990 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because the future is uncertain doesn't mean you can't do research to make a reasonable forecast. Typically speculation is specifically buying/selling without any reasoning other than 'I think someone will pay higher for this in the future'. Many assets don't even have to appreciate. A car is an asset if I have paid it off. I don't expect someone to pay me more than I paid for it unless it is a collectible or I…

Then I can say that I've done my research and I think it's reasonable that USD won't remain global reserve currency forever and that it's replacement won't be a governmental currency, but a decentralized one and Bitcoin would be the only reasonable candidate. Does this mean that I'm not speculating all of a sudden because I've done research and came up with a reasonable forecast?

Post by Jerrrry » Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 11:20 PM UTC

CTDOCodebases wrote: post #229

todd8 wrote: post #6

From the article: > Any application that could be done on a blockchain could be better done on a centralized database. Except crime. Governments, world-wide, may end up emulating China, which is planning to outlaw other crypto-currencies while providing its own. The information gathered by a national government monopolizing crypto-currency is simply too appealing to those that would like to deter crime, stop tax-avoi…

They will just try to turn crypto into the existing banking network by forcing citizen coin holders onto the exchanges, banning transactions from non custodial addresses and continuing to control the on-ramps and off-ramps. This way they can monitor transaction and if they don’t like something or are suspicious they can just seize the funds once they hit an on-ramp/off-ramp. A CBDC will be introduced and all other US…

Post by bradwood » Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 11:46 PM UTC

compiler-guy wrote: post #583

SuoDuanDao wrote: post #556

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most modern economies fiat is backed by the 'full faith and credit' of the issuing government, which requires more young people paying into the pension system than retirees drawing from it. That's as clear an example of a Ponzi scheme as can be imagined, albeit moving on a slower timeframe than we usually think of such things working.

Fiat is backed by the insistence of the issuing government that you pay your taxes in that denomination. It has very little to do with pension systems, except to the extent that the government runs those also denominated in dollars. But the US could end social security tomorrow and as long as it still required taxes and tariffs in the form of dollars, the dollar would still have value.

Post by worik » Wed, Nov 24, 2021, 11:52 PM UTC

SuoDuanDao wrote: post #550

sjtindell wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN’s attitude is very surprising to me. I would think that they could get very excited about flash loans, decentralized exchanges (automated market makers), daos, and other concrete innovations coming out of crypto asset projects. I think it’s mostly jealousy and a feeling that they missed the boat, so they want to see it sink. I think that because I’ve had the feeling many times. They may not realize these are early…

I suspect that much of HN, either directly or via their backers/employers, also comes out of the angel-investment scene and has emotional ties to the more conventional funding mechanisms that were themselves disruptive to traditional finance. "You can't make someone understand something when their income depends on not understanding it" and all that.