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Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

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Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#11

Post by oblio »

Quindecillion wrote: post #6

More bad takes from people who don't understand the point of Bitcoin and its blockchain. It's all so... tiresome. The fact that the author is comparing to services like Venmo or PayPal really goes to show how much they don't understand about what Bitcoin was built to achieve. Also goes to show that people like the author should also check their financial privilege: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-finan…

That's awesome!

I'm a refugee from Wallachia. My government has collapsed, my currency is destroyed by hyperinflation. How do I use Bitcoin for payments?

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#12

Post by 16012022 »

Quindecillion wrote: post #6

More bad takes from people who don't understand the point of Bitcoin and its blockchain. It's all so... tiresome. The fact that the author is comparing to services like Venmo or PayPal really goes to show how much they don't understand about what Bitcoin was built to achieve. Also goes to show that people like the author should also check their financial privilege: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-finan…

Tbf, blockchain is the dark matter of technology. People are never allowed to criticize it without the same, repeated feedback “If that’s what you think blockchain is, then you don’t understand it.”

Why doesn’t someone, then, who actually understands their almighty blockchain god, illuminate us, mere mortals, on the wonders of blockchain and how it can be good for society in the foreseeable future.

You know what’s really tiresome? Having the promises of blockchain sold to us for years now without a single, useful purpose for it in sight other than, well, cryptobros.

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#13

Post by Qasaur »

"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve." - Satoshi Nakamoto

- 1721 Mississippi bubble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company)

- 1813-1836 Second Bank of the United States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bank_of_the_United_Stat...)

- 1933 FDR gold confiscation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102)

- 1939 UK gold confiscation under guise of national security (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fish)

- 1971 unilateral termination of gold convertibility (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_shock)

- 2008-present ECB/Fed/BoJ/BoE/global QE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing)

I don't know about the author but I have a feeling that the track record of central banks isn't exactly stellar, and I'd much rather trust a decentralised system with zero ability for sustained debasement than trust a small centralised group of people who have time and time again abused that trust.

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#14

Post by fsflover »

Nextgrid wrote: post #4
CryptoPunk wrote: post #2

>>Let’s start with this: Venmo is a free service to transfer dollars, and bitcoin transfers are not free. Is the author really unaware of the horror stories of Venmo and PayPal freezing customer accounts? Articles like this want a return to serfdom, under the control of officialdom. There is no other conceivable reason why someone would not want people to have at least the option of taking custody over their own mone…

Maliciously freezing accounts is a result of bad regulation. Overbearing regulation that on one hand encourage companies to be extremely risk-averse and prone to many false positives, and on the other hand not enough consumer-focused regulation that would allow consumers recourse in case things go wrong (false positive or outright malicious theft of funds). Both can be resolved without blockchain.

> Maliciously freezing accounts is a result of bad regulation.

No, it isn't: https://web.archive.org/web/20160221002005/http://minifree.o....

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#16

Post by fsflover »

oblio wrote: post #11
Quindecillion wrote: post #6

More bad takes from people who don't understand the point of Bitcoin and its blockchain. It's all so... tiresome. The fact that the author is comparing to services like Venmo or PayPal really goes to show how much they don't understand about what Bitcoin was built to achieve. Also goes to show that people like the author should also check their financial privilege: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-finan…

That's awesome! I'm a refugee from Wallachia. My government has collapsed, my currency is destroyed by hyperinflation. How do I use Bitcoin for payments?

You transfer btc to someone else and they give you your purchase.

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#17

Post by bko »

16012022 wrote: post #12
Quindecillion wrote: post #6

More bad takes from people who don't understand the point of Bitcoin and its blockchain. It's all so... tiresome. The fact that the author is comparing to services like Venmo or PayPal really goes to show how much they don't understand about what Bitcoin was built to achieve. Also goes to show that people like the author should also check their financial privilege: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-finan…

Tbf, blockchain is the dark matter of technology. People are never allowed to criticize it without the same, repeated feedback “If that’s what you think blockchain is, then you don’t understand it.” Why doesn’t someone, then, who actually understands their almighty blockchain god, illuminate us, mere mortals, on the wonders of blockchain and how it can be good for society in the foreseeable future. You know what’s re…

Criticisms are okay, but this isn't a good criticism.

From the article:

> Let’s start with this: Venmo is a free service to transfer dollars, and bitcoin transfers are not free. Yet after I wrote an article last December saying bitcoin had no use, someone responded that Venmo and Paypal are raking in consumers’ money and people should switch to bitcoin.

Not everyone has access to Venmo or PayPal. For instance, sex workers are routinely booted off the platform in the US with their funds being frozen. People in developing countries also may not have access.

> In fact, I would assert that there is no single person in existence who had a problem they wanted to solve, discovered that an available blockchain solution was the best way to solve it, and therefore became a blockchain enthusiast.

How about people that want to hold western stable coins and they are legally prevented from holding dollars or similarly stable currency?

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#18

Post by Feeble »

Quindecillion wrote: post #6

More bad takes from people who don't understand the point of Bitcoin and its blockchain. It's all so... tiresome. The fact that the author is comparing to services like Venmo or PayPal really goes to show how much they don't understand about what Bitcoin was built to achieve. Also goes to show that people like the author should also check their financial privilege: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/check-your-finan…

No post body was provided.

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#19

Post by oblio »

fsflover wrote: post #16
oblio wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's awesome! I'm a refugee from Wallachia. My government has collapsed, my currency is destroyed by hyperinflation. How do I use Bitcoin for payments?

You transfer btc to someone else and they give you your purchase.

How do I transfer that money? I need specifics.

I'm a poor peasant from Wallachia, I barely know how to use a smartphone. ELI10.

1. How do I buy the Bitcoin in the first place? My government or bank aren't selling them to me.

2. How do I actually transfer that money?

Re: Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

#20

Post by enlyth »

Qasaur wrote: post #13

"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve." - Satoshi Nakamoto - 1721 Mississippi…

And how is the track record of decentralized "currencies"? Buying drugs, money laundering, rampant speculation, rug pulls, fraud, high fees, inefficiency, horrible UX, irreversible SFYL, and destroying the climate.
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