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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

#111

Post by thr0wawayf00 »

aww_dang wrote: post #99
thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crypto is essentially the modern equivalent of the pre-Federal Reserve era of US banking, commonly known as the "Free Banking" era or "Wildcat banking". Back then, states chartered their own banks, there was little cooperation between banking outfits and banks could issue their own currency. Financial crime targeting consumers was everywhere and currency stability was a major problem, two major issues that crypto fac…

Yet this era was also known as the "Gilded Age". Literally covered in gold. I'm not detecting nuance in this take. The Fed has created boom bust cycles and is hardly a bastion of price stability. The great depression and the continued interventions which prolonged it come to mind.

Boom and bust cycles are inherent to capitalist markets, you can't have capitalism without it. Blaming it all on the Fed isn't accurate. Markets boomed and busted long before the Fed existed.

> hardly a bastion of price stability

Relative to BTC, USD is much, much more stable. This is what I don't get about these kinds of arguments. What are you comparing the Fed to in this case?

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

#112

Post by teekert »

kybernetikos wrote: post #106
teekert wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since fascination is subjective you should never make that statement. Edit: Scrap that, you are right, cryptography is a necessary building block of crypto-currencies. What you are actually saying is: Fascinating bricks exist without brick-houses, the reverse is not true. Which is logical.

Sure, some fascinating bricks would be created even without brick houses, but having brick houses means that many more people are thinking about and creating fascinating bricks, and using those bricks for more purposes. It's like saying we shouldn't be pleased that pharmaceutical research is giving us greater insights into genetics because genetic science would exist even without pharmaceutical research. It's true th…

So we agree then ;)

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

#113

Post by mjdesa »

hiq wrote: post #89
mjdesa wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I owned a pretty decent amount of crypto back in 2012, but sold all of it and own essentially none now. I think what you’re missing here is that there is actually potential in the space and that there are a decent amount of people trying to solve real problems that exist today. The two big ones I can think of are payments and ownership. Payments has always been a difficult part of the web. Multi billion dollar compan…

I've been commenting a few times about this already, but you're just arguing for interoperability, and blockchains don't help in that regard.

Why has interoperability failed in the past? Why don’t we have it today?

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

#114

Post by bko »

egeozcan wrote: post #45
bko wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For instance, you can't use Venmo if you're under 18 (sorry, kids). And several Venmo users told BuzzFeed News that the company suspended their accounts and held their funds after they wrote silly captions to friends or tried to sell something to a friend — like a used computer. [0] Lots more examples in the article. Also they regularly kick off sex workers [1] [0] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leticiamirand…

If the government decides paid sex work is illegal, it'd also be hard to make transactions for it via Bitcoin. If you think taking your wallet (the key) and running away with it is an option, then how is it better than using cash?

It's not that its illegal. It's that its "discouraged" via arbitrary regulation usually under the guise of money laundering or high charge backs. For instance, cam girls are legal in the US, but they have a difficulty getting a payment provider Same is true for states with recreational marijuana.

Cryptocurrency also solves the problem of charge-backs. Venmo and PayPal gives a sense of finality, but it actually takes days to transfer the funds. That's why there are so many paypal scams on craigslist

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

#115

Post by pornel »

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…

You may not be realizing that PayPal's primary business is fraud detection and dispute resolution, not merely moving money. PayPal is layer above money transfers, providing insurance and reversibility of transactions that cryptocurrencies themselves don't have, and most don't want to have.

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

#116

Post by ddtaylor »

at_ wrote: post #102
ddtaylor wrote: post #15

HN really loves to hate cryptocurrency!

Clicked for me when I realised HN is compromised of the few for whom web2 has served quite nicely, so it's unsurprising that talk of web3 is received about as well as a brick through the Google bus window

Yeah it kind of makes sense why so many on HN hate it. Most of them are heavily entrenched in existing structures where friction for finance or regulatory capture are "working" well for them.

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

#117

Post by hiq »

mjdesa wrote: post #113
hiq wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been commenting a few times about this already, but you're just arguing for interoperability, and blockchains don't help in that regard.

Why has interoperability failed in the past? Why don’t we have it today?

Why would we get it thanks to blockchains?

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

#118

Post by goesnowhere »

Qasaur wrote: post #7
timeon wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the author really unaware of the horror stories of Venmo and PayPal freezing customer accounts? Can as example coinbase do the same? > want a return to serfdom From my point of view serfdom is the (block)chain. Only people with enough stake or those who pays are in control.

>From my point of view serfdom is the (block)chain. Only people with enough stake or those who pays are in control. I disagree with this but even if one assumes this to be the case, I'd much rather prefer a monetary system subject to the control of free market forces rather than the modern monetary system which is subject to a small group of unelected and unaccountable technocrats operating under the feeble assumptio…

Look up wildcat banking. Being "subject to the control of free market forces" is not a good thing for working class folks who only hold onto currency.

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

#119

Post by vintermann »

bko wrote: post #47
carlivar wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is legally preventing people from owning dollars different from banning Bitcoin (or gold)? Isn't the latter one of the main risks to Bitcoin?

It's not but its a lot easier and safer to hold digital currency than wads of cash in your floorboards. Easier to acquire, receive from abroad and verify as well. It allows for a form of civil disobedience against unjust laws

Is it though? If I hold wads of cash in my floorboards, you need to actually break in and take it.

If I hold something in a digital wallet, I can never be sure I've eliminated all the ways to take it remotely and anonymously.

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

#120

Post by aww_dang »

thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #111
aww_dang wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet this era was also known as the "Gilded Age". Literally covered in gold. I'm not detecting nuance in this take. The Fed has created boom bust cycles and is hardly a bastion of price stability. The great depression and the continued interventions which prolonged it come to mind.

Boom and bust cycles are inherent to capitalist markets, you can't have capitalism without it. Blaming it all on the Fed isn't accurate. Markets boomed and busted long before the Fed existed. > hardly a bastion of price stability Relative to BTC, USD is much, much more stable. This is what I don't get about these kinds of arguments. What are you comparing the Fed to in this case?

I'd go even further than that. The mismanagement of markets by central planners set the stage for cryptocurrencies. We're living in an era of speculative mania. Savings accounts have a negative real interest rate. This currency must go somewhere.

Centralized payment services are vulnerable to regulators, see eGold and Liberty Reserve. Note that BTC emerged shortly after these services were destroyed. Anti-terror legislation was used.

Of course there are always price fluctuations, but attempting to fix prices (i.e. interest rates) results in greater imbalances.

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

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