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Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

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Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#141

Post by eru »

Retric wrote: post #84
EscapeFromNY wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USP of cryptocurrency is the ability to self-custody. If you sent your money to a company like Voyager, instead of controlling your keys yourself, you missed the point.

Let’s be real, a large fraction of all interest in crypto is as a financial asset. The financial transaction / storage side is relatively uninteresting to people because the existing financial system generally works really well for them in terms of risks, fees, uptime etc. Which isn’t to say the existing financial system works well for everybody all the time, but in practice crypto just isn’t showing real benefits to…

> The financial transaction / storage side is relatively uninteresting to people because the existing financial system generally works really well for them in terms of risks, fees, uptime etc.

In sane countries that is, yes. And that's where most of the global wealth is, too.

However, there are places where you need to worry a lot more about the government arbitrarily seizing your funds, or the banks just 'misplacing' them.

(I specifically write 'arbitrarily' above, because sane countries also typically want a cut of your income and/or wealth, but they write laws and regulations _beforehand_ that you can read to figure out how much you'll owe in taxes. Of course, some people also use crypto and other tricks to avoid paying taxes.)

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#142

Post by bugglebeetle »

cmcaleer wrote: post #125
Retric wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s be real, a large fraction of all interest in crypto is as a financial asset. The financial transaction / storage side is relatively uninteresting to people because the existing financial system generally works really well for them in terms of risks, fees, uptime etc. Which isn’t to say the existing financial system works well for everybody all the time, but in practice crypto just isn’t showing real benefits to…

One thing crypto does having going for it is the lack of moralising payment processors. I'm really baffled that sex workers and other groups who provide legal services that payment processors don't like aren't embracing crypto. Seems like a perfect environment for it and the on and off-ramps today are far better than what existed back in 2016.

> I'm really baffled that sex workers and other groups who provide legal services that payment processors don't like aren't embracing crypto.

These people also need to pay their bills and not have their money stolen or otherwise disappear in the “fraud all the way down” world of crypto. Cash solves most of these problems, as well as basic intermediate layers like LLCs.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#143

Post by raincole »

lvl102 wrote: post #36

Bitcoin solves this. Sorry I just had to. I think crypto as an investable asset class is finished. SEC is sending a very clear signal here. It’s entirely the community’s fault for failing to properly manage this space. They actually earned public’s trust (sometime during the pandemic). And then they threw it all away for a few bucks.

Crypto's fate is bound be like those alternative Reddits and Twitters.

What kind of users an alternative Reddit attracts?

1. People who don't like Reddit because of privacy concerns or other ideological reasons.

2. People who are banned by Reddit.

It turns out group 2 is much larger than group 1 and the community rots.

Now what kind of people who cryptos (a.k.a. alternative money) attract?

1. People who don't like banks or the government's monetary policy, and ideologically believe they have to own their own wallets.

2. People who literally cannot safely use normal money, from non-conventional porn artists to scammers and drug dealers.

It turns out group 2 is bigger than group 1 and you know the rest of story.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#144

Post by remote_phone »

this_user wrote: post #83
EscapeFromNY wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USP of cryptocurrency is the ability to self-custody. If you sent your money to a company like Voyager, instead of controlling your keys yourself, you missed the point.

And then you are still losing your money, because your supposedly secure hardware wallet had a backdoor all along. Or you are downloading a wallet app that is compromised. Or you are making any one of a million possible mistakes that can lose your everything you have in crypto. At the end of the day, you need to keep your keys on an a dedicated air-gapped system where you have epoxied the USB ports and have ideally w…

Is a gigantic safe and armed guards considered paranoid security measures?

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#145

Post by eru »

emodendroket wrote: post #135
cmcaleer wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing crypto does having going for it is the lack of moralising payment processors. I'm really baffled that sex workers and other groups who provide legal services that payment processors don't like aren't embracing crypto. Seems like a perfect environment for it and the on and off-ramps today are far better than what existed back in 2016.

Most customers are not willing to go to these lengths unless they’re doing something illegal.

You are right in practice. But it sounds an awful lot bit like the old "I have nothing to hide" argument against encryption, too?

Many payment processors do restrict the business they want to deal with beyond what the letter of the law requires. (And that is their prerogative as a private business!)

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#147

Post by samstave »

latchkey wrote: post #96
samstave wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should keep a record of all the crypto failures / scams / people dying in weird ways on some sort of blockhain

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/

I totally forgot about this! thank you.

there are so many really cool sites from the past that i cant recall what they were but i recall the experience, like that one with the gallaxy cluster of all music genres and how each were related, and each node played an sample for that genre...

/one handed popsicle typing

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#148

Post by cmcaleer »

emodendroket wrote: post #135
cmcaleer wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing crypto does having going for it is the lack of moralising payment processors. I'm really baffled that sex workers and other groups who provide legal services that payment processors don't like aren't embracing crypto. Seems like a perfect environment for it and the on and off-ramps today are far better than what existed back in 2016.

Most customers are not willing to go to these lengths unless they’re doing something illegal.

Most customers weren't willing to enter their CC information online in the late 90s and early 00s. It took horny trailblazers to get us to where we are today, to the overall benefit of e-commerce. Comparatively, putting CC info in to Coinbase and putting an address to withdraw the crypto in is far safer than what horny people did back then.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#149

Post by duped »

Retric wrote: post #84
EscapeFromNY wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USP of cryptocurrency is the ability to self-custody. If you sent your money to a company like Voyager, instead of controlling your keys yourself, you missed the point.

Let’s be real, a large fraction of all interest in crypto is as a financial asset. The financial transaction / storage side is relatively uninteresting to people because the existing financial system generally works really well for them in terms of risks, fees, uptime etc. Which isn’t to say the existing financial system works well for everybody all the time, but in practice crypto just isn’t showing real benefits to…

> a large fraction of all interest in crypto is as a financial asset

In the same class of assets as beanie babies and tulips, perhaps

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#150

Post by dang »

clint wrote: post #93
px43 wrote: post #25

[flagged]

[flagged]

Please don't cross into personal attack or call names on HN. If another comment is wrong, it's good to explain how it is wrong, in a neutral way that we all can learn from. Also fine to just chalk it up to the internet being wrong and not reply.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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