Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 203 posts

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#91

Post by DennisP »

0des wrote: post #80
DennisP wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin has a single popular client. There are people who work on that client. Ethereum has five execution clients, developed by independent teams, and another five proof-of-stake clients, also developed by independent teams, plus an open community of researchers where anyone can participate. The Ethereum Foundation funds some of this, but not all of it. If the various teams don't agree to do something, it won't get…

> Bitcoin has a single popular client. False.

> Although there are many different implementations, the original implementation, Bitcoin Core, is by far the most popular, and it is used as the reference implementation

https://river.com/learn/what-is-bitcoin-core/

Since it is the reference implementation, other clients have to follow its lead. And that's the lead of a fairly small group:

> Over the years, the code has had more than 800 contributors. However, only seven people serve the role of “maintainers” nowadays.

https://bitcoinist.com/who-funds-bitcoin-core-developers-her...

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#92

Post by shanusmagnus »

konschubert wrote: post #63
tboyd47 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there are "leaders" in Bitcoin, it would not be the whales. It is not Proof of Stake where money buys you a voting right.

In Pow, Money buys you mining capacity which is voting rights.

It's true that in every field known to man, money buys influence, at least in some broad and hazily-defined sense of the word.

But the form of influence that can be bought in btc is not voting rights for what happens with the asset, not in any direct way. The distinction matters here.

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#93

Post by yokem55 »

0des wrote: post #80
DennisP wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin has a single popular client. There are people who work on that client. Ethereum has five execution clients, developed by independent teams, and another five proof-of-stake clients, also developed by independent teams, plus an open community of researchers where anyone can participate. The Ethereum Foundation funds some of this, but not all of it. If the various teams don't agree to do something, it won't get…

> Bitcoin has a single popular client. False.

Bitcoin-core is currently about 97% of bitcoin nodes.

Geth is about 80% of ethereum execution layer nodes.

But the bigger difference is cultural - alternative clients are a core part of ethereum's development culture and is actively supported and nurtured. This is complete with social campaigns to get folks to switch away from majority clients to prevent situations where a bug in one client could cause big issues in the network. The same kind of environment is not present in bitcoin land.

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#94

Post by kinakomochidayo »

0des wrote: post #80
DennisP wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin has a single popular client. There are people who work on that client. Ethereum has five execution clients, developed by independent teams, and another five proof-of-stake clients, also developed by independent teams, plus an open community of researchers where anyone can participate. The Ethereum Foundation funds some of this, but not all of it. If the various teams don't agree to do something, it won't get…

> Bitcoin has a single popular client. False.

It's true. Bitcoin Core is the most used, so development is basically centralized.

https://coin.dance/nodes

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#95

Post by kinakomochidayo »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #49
uncomputation wrote: post #16

Bitcoin has less foundation- or team-based leadership that have plagued other crypto projects. This leadership (eg Ethereum foundation) gives crypto projects the air of legitimacy, but also the impression, as Hinman put it, that some managerial work and direction is expected, tipping the scale towards security. If the network becomes decentralized to the point where no one party has sway over its direction (even a go…

If Ethereum can be changed from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake on a "whim", how is it not centralized in some capacity?

It was supposed to transition to PoS from the beginning.

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#96

Post by tboyd47 »

konschubert wrote: post #63
tboyd47 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there are "leaders" in Bitcoin, it would not be the whales. It is not Proof of Stake where money buys you a voting right.

In Pow, Money buys you mining capacity which is voting rights.

Tell that to the BCH investors

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#97

Post by paulmd »

pazimzadeh wrote: post #52

From the original Ethereum pre-sale blog post: https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/07/22/launching-the-ether-sal... > Ether is a product, NOT a security or investment offering. Ether is simply a token useful for paying transaction fees or building or purchasing decentralized application services on the Ethereum platform; it does not give you voting rights over anything, and we make no guarantees of its future value.

Ah yes, the "this ROM is legal as long as you delete it before 24 hours after you download it!" clause. Everyone knows it's not a crime as long as you loudly yell THIS IS NOT A CRIME while doing it. After all why would someone say that if it's not true?!

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#98

Post by pmyteh »

jsmith45 wrote: post #88
pmyteh wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the votes to break a filibuster in the Senate (on nearly anything; Republican party discipline is really strong) or to break the filibuster itself (a handful of Democrats refuse). So almost all votes are just messaging at this point. I also wouldn't assume a federal Act guaranteeing abortion access would survive the supreme court. There's a colourable claim that both healthcare and homicide regulation…

Of course in order to reject that healthcare qualifies under interstate commerce, they would need to either reject Wickard v. Filburn and Gonzalez v. Raich, or jump through some crazy hoops to justify upholding those, while stricking this law down. (Although I'd not be shocked if this court tried). Actions regulating healthcare within one state have at least as much impact on interstate commerce as growing pot or whe…

My perspective is perhaps coloured by being a political scientist: we have always (unlike the law professors) seen the supreme court in particular as a deeply political institution.

The present incumbents have made clear that they're open to reopening settled questions, and to a results-focused jurisprudence. Given that New York State Rifle and Pistol Association has just undercut state power in favour of constitutional interpretation while Dobbs goes entirely the other way, my presumption is that there are no major strictly federalist principles at play and results will be case-by-case. And, as with Bush v. Gore, they can always publish an opinion saying "this decision is confined to its own facts" if they want to signal that they're not intending to displace post-Lochner understandings of the commerce clause.

Re: Bitcoin is the only coin the SEC Chair will call a commodity

#99

Post by kinakomochidayo »

yokem55 wrote: post #93
0des wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bitcoin has a single popular client. False.

Bitcoin-core is currently about 97% of bitcoin nodes. Geth is about 80% of ethereum execution layer nodes. But the bigger difference is cultural - alternative clients are a core part of ethereum's development culture and is actively supported and nurtured. This is complete with social campaigns to get folks to switch away from majority clients to prevent situations where a bug in one client could cause big issues in…

Exactly this. There was a recent community push for consensus layer clients to be more decentralized, which seemed to have worked. Next is the execution layer clients to have better % in use.
Post reply on HN