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Crypto is an unproductive bubble

alexkolchinski.com

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Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#141

Post by narrator »

jmcgough wrote: post #19

One of the biggest drawbacks for blockchain is that transactions can't be revoked after the fact (with the only exception being costly forks of the entire ledger), and there's no additional human oversight (like I'd get when sending a large amount of money through a bank) to protect me. If someone steals my credit card, I have my credit card company to give me some level of protection. They can block transactions if…

People have recovered stolen crypto, especially lately, because the FBI will get involved in tracking down the thieves and making them return crypto, but only for large amounts.

For example: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/feds-seize-dollar3...

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#144

Post by hedora »

babypuncher wrote: post #42
throw0101a wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the biggest drawbacks for blockchain is that transactions can't be revoked after the fact (with the only exception being costly forks of the entire ledger), and there's no additional human oversight (like I'd get when sending a large amount of money through a bank) to protect me. I believe this is viewed as a feature in the blockchain / cryptocurrency world.

They view it as a feature, but for all the reasons this poster pointed out, the rest of us view it as an anti-feature.

Thieves also consider the analogous irreversibility of cash transactions to be a feature.

The rest of us probably actually want an anonymous, "like cash" crypto currency that is resilient against theft (which basically implies some sort of non-repudiation and compensating transactions).

But, such a currency probably wouldn't be great for speculation or black market transactions, which are the killer use cases for bitcoin.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#145

Post by Nextgrid »

Cryptocurrencies have a valid but very specific use-case: being able to transact in a hostile environment. It does so by making certain trade-offs such as an energy-intensive verification process.

This is a very valid use-case when you need to transact against the will of a powerful adversary such as governments. It needs to be there and needs to be protected just like free speech needs to be protected.

However, day-to-day, if you're making transactions that the government approves of, it's better and more convenient to rely on said government to protect you and end up using a much more efficient (in terms of transactions per second, fees & energy usage) and convenient system such as credit cards.

Crypto is like a tank - useful if you need to go into battle and defend yourself, and while it can be used to go buy groceries at the mall, it's not the most convenient. When you're not in battle, you're better off just using a normal car and relying on local laws and subsequent enforcement to deter anyone from harming you, which, at least in civilized countries, works the majority of the time.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#146

Post by krapp »

ThomPete wrote: post #120

Everything is a bubble. Crypto is no different, but its not more a bubble than web2, web1, telnet and we could go on. Its interesting why people are so interested in trying to argue against crypto. Its here, its adding value, get over it.

>Everything is a bubble. Crypto is no different, but its not more a bubble than web2, web1, telnet and we could go on.

Tell me you don't know what a bubble is without telling me you don't know what a bubble is.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#147

Post by mancerayder »

Aunche wrote: post #54
benreesman wrote: post #43

How many times are we going to have this conversation? Yes crypto is an asset bubble, alongside equities, real estate, precious metals, you name it. Money printer go brrrr, more dollars are chasing the same amount of Apple sells iPhones. Crypto has no intrinsic value, it pays no dividend and doesn’t give you proxy rights, just like all the tech equities. Proof of work burns a lot of electricity, though this is compli…

>Crypto has no intrinsic value, it pays no dividend and doesn’t give you proxy rights, just like all the tech equities. Tech companies return money to their investors via buybacks. Most investors prefer this as they get to choose when they get taxed.

Buybacks? If you're running a company profitably you're supposed to invest your cash to expand the business, not inflate the share price. The share price is supposed to be a reflection of your future profitability, not your future buyback schemes.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#148

Post by cf141q5325 »

daenz wrote: post #6

I have a hard time imagining how your normal everyday people would put any faith whatsoever in crypto. It's another step removed from "just a bunch of numbers in an account" (current banking) that is even harder to explain and justify. Why should they trust it? So how can it succeed if everyday people don't want to use it?

Because its still more trustworthy then a currency that is managed under modern monetary theory. As in you can print as much money as you want as long as people have no store of value to escape into. You can argue about the validity of that argument all day long but the size of the crypto market speaks for itself. At the end of the day, somebody spend energy for its creation which gives it at least some sort of stored value.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#149

Post by gonehome »

neatze wrote: post #88
UncleMeat wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Banks won’t protect you from wire fraud. They will if you didn't initiate the wire. If you typed the wrong account number then you are SOL, but that's true of BTC too.

I am a person who wired ~15K to wrong bank account outside US, I only realized after got notification that money was not received it was days later, reversing wire was straight forward and took if not mistaken a week to process, while requesting to reverse transaction branch manager warned me that on another end bank might refuse to reverse transaction and then this money would be lost forever.

You were lucky, I’ve heard similar stories where the money ended up lost (good faith deposit for a mortgage wired to fraudster).

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#150

Post by callamdelaney »

Nextgrid wrote: post #145

Cryptocurrencies have a valid but very specific use-case: being able to transact in a hostile environment. It does so by making certain trade-offs such as an energy-intensive verification process. This is a very valid use-case when you need to transact against the will of a powerful adversary such as governments. It needs to be there and needs to be protected just like free speech needs to be protected. However, day-…

It’s 2022 - nobody cares about free speech or freedom.
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