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

Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

technollama.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 167 posts

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#71

Post by sshine »

unicornmama wrote: post #33
axg11 wrote: post #13

I live in Canada and recently invested a small amount in a startup via AngelList RUV. There were two funding options: (1) wire transfer, (2) transfer USDC via Ethereum network. One of these options is cheaper, faster, and more flexible than the other. Crypto has long been criticized for being gambling and lacking utility. I think utility is finally trickling in, although currently in limited settings. If you look at…

In Switzerland it costs me zero to transfer CHF.

This is the story in most countries with good economies: Local transfers are free for private individuals up to a certain amount. Exceed the bounds and you'll be offered a paid solution. So if one end of this system pays for the other, and the other thinks it's free, you're just paying indirectly via price adjustments.

Receiving CHF (Swiss Francs) via an IBAN transfer 1) cost a lot, 2) take several days.

Switching to a traditional money transfer provider requires KYC'ing.

I was once denied because my website seemed sketchy. It just has my company's name and a link to my personal homepage. I already have customers, so my first motivation to create a website was so that money transfer providers think I'm actually running a business and will allow payments.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#72

Post by gaspard234 »

axg11 wrote: post #37
aNoob7000 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easier for me to call my bank and initiate a wire transfer than it is to transfer money via USDC. I think the assumption a lot of people in crypto make is that everyone has a crypto account/wallet setup.

Do you live in North America? I would challenge anyone in Canada/US that claims it's easier to initiate a wire transfer (with zero ability to track progress) vs. send USDC to an ETH address.

I'll take you up on that challenge. I can open open up my Wells Fargo app and initiate a wire transfer within 5 minutes. In fact, I sent $1000 to a home contractors bank account earlier this week for no fee. And yes, WF sent me email updates of the status. I will concede it took 1 business day though.

How do I send USDC within 5 mins? I would have to 1) Open an account on a crypto exchange app

2) Go through the KYC process and hookup the same wells fargo account to buy USDC.

3) Purchase USDC, usually while paying a fee. And then still wait the day for the funds to be sent from WF to the exchange.

4) Send USDC to address, while also paying a fee.

There is a reason international remittances haven't worked as a use case, for ex Coinbase just closed down that entire project. How would immigrants who get paid in Cash buy USDC and how would their family in Mexico or El Salvador be able to convert that USDC into local spendable currency. I hate western union but it works better than any crypto money sending service.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#73

Post by sshine »

sdfhdhjdw3 wrote: post #69

> The current crash (...) What I keep coming back to is that something worth zero is still trading at $20k.

s/worth/that I value being worth/ :-)

If you want to make a private purchase online, not tied to your identity, I really don't see a good alternative.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#74

Post by sshine »

drdrek wrote: post #62

Saddest thing about Crypto even more than the energy cost is the human minds it consumed. I heard people saying that Crypto is what bright graduate students want to focus on and that just too bad. If you want to finance the un-financed or create decentralized finance go into fintech, crypto is just a bad implementation of fintech... If you want to change the world go into Biotech or Energy tech.. the next thing to ch…

"Too many smart people go into finance and law."

said some electric car manufacturer.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#75

Post by acdha »

axg11 wrote: post #35
unicornmama wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Switzerland it costs me zero to transfer CHF.

With one single integration, AngelList can receive USDC from anyone, anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter if you can transfer CHF very cheaply locally.

Kind of like how having a bank account allows you to receive wire transfers from anyone? Anything will sound simple if you leave out most of the hard parts like meeting legal requirements, fraud protection, etc. (better hope the reason USDC is cagey about their assets isn’t because they’re hiding something)

It’s true that US banks are slower at transfers but most people don’t hit that often enough to balance out the extra cost and risk, and if they started losing significant amounts of business it’s a lot easier to improve there than it is to duct-tape performance, privacy, or fraud protection onto a blockchain.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#76

Post by Wertigoyr »

nprateem wrote: post #65
p4bl0 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing a blockchain can do is a cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency is the only application that works because transactions are performative writings on the blockchain: they define truth. Once it is written on a blockchain that Alice has transferred X tokens to Bob, it instantly becomes a fact by definition, so you can trust what is written on the blockchain. In any other application, what's written on the blo…

Particl has created a decentralised anonymous marketplace that uses a smart contract to provide escrow between two untrusted parties. There are bound to be other possible applications. Writing off an entire new tech because you can't think of them is just narrow minded and silly.

But that's the point he made. It's not Blockchain it's Blockchain + escrow.

Escrow needs a third party. It destroys all your Blockchain advantage.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#77

Post by [deleted] »

nprateem wrote: post #65
p4bl0 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing a blockchain can do is a cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency is the only application that works because transactions are performative writings on the blockchain: they define truth. Once it is written on a blockchain that Alice has transferred X tokens to Bob, it instantly becomes a fact by definition, so you can trust what is written on the blockchain. In any other application, what's written on the blo…

Particl has created a decentralised anonymous marketplace that uses a smart contract to provide escrow between two untrusted parties. There are bound to be other possible applications. Writing off an entire new tech because you can't think of them is just narrow minded and silly.

[deleted]

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#78

Post by UncleMeat »

iamnotarobotman wrote: post #45
aNoob7000 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easier for me to call my bank and initiate a wire transfer than it is to transfer money via USDC. I think the assumption a lot of people in crypto make is that everyone has a crypto account/wallet setup.

For those in Canada, the banks and telephone lines were all down at one point. Even if you were on a different internet provider that was up, you bank would still be down. So the 'call my bank' option won't work here and wire transfer is no different to transferring money in crypto as they are both irreversible. But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder th…

> But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer.

Because I don't possess any USDC and acquiring some requires me to open an account with Coinbase or FTX or whatever, send them dollars, and then purchase USDC. And even though sending the USDC has a low fee, the exchange fee for purchasing USDC is nontrivial (1% at Coinbase).

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#79

Post by jimgo84 »

UncleMeat wrote: post #78
iamnotarobotman wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those in Canada, the banks and telephone lines were all down at one point. Even if you were on a different internet provider that was up, you bank would still be down. So the 'call my bank' option won't work here and wire transfer is no different to transferring money in crypto as they are both irreversible. But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder th…

> But I don't know how entering a .eth/.sol/etc address or scanning a QR code to send USDC over is harder than typing in the sort code, account number, IBAN number, etc to do a wire transfer. Because I don't possess any USDC and acquiring some requires me to open an account with Coinbase or FTX or whatever, send them dollars, and then purchase USDC. And even though sending the USDC has a low fee, the exchange fee for…

The fee part is incorrect. Coinbase offers 1:1 exchanges of USDUSDC with zero fee. On FTX it's the same, USDC and USD are treated 1:1 with no fee to convert. Deposit dollars, withdraw USDC or vice versa. Aside from these zero fee exchanges, many others have significantly lower fees for stablecoinfiat than they do for cryptofiat.

Re: Crypto Winter, or Crypto Ice Age?

#80

Post by mountainriver »

drdrek wrote: post #62

Saddest thing about Crypto even more than the energy cost is the human minds it consumed. I heard people saying that Crypto is what bright graduate students want to focus on and that just too bad. If you want to finance the un-financed or create decentralized finance go into fintech, crypto is just a bad implementation of fintech... If you want to change the world go into Biotech or Energy tech.. the next thing to ch…

Yeah it’s not really solving many problems, more people should go into AI, that’s where all the impact will be
Post reply on HN