SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world • Hacker News Board

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#281

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 8:30 AM UTC

politician wrote: post #279

TeMPOraL wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's simpler than that. For a PoW blockchain based digital economy, the energy waste would scale much faster than the growth of said economy. There's lots of energy in space, but only so much of it is accessible at any given level - I would not like 99%+ of that to be dedicated to keeping the blockchain going. Today, this may be increasing fraction of energy generation on the planet. In 50 years, this may be dedicate…

Ok, “Nah” noted. But for the past billions of years, the same resources have been “wasted” throughout the entire uncountable universe. Dismantling a few planets around a few stars to build Bitcoin mining infrastructure is not remotely problematic for a K3 civilization, for instance. The argument that because humanity is wasting it it’s bad seems faulty.

The argument is that Bitcoin mining will asymptotically approach to taking all resources your civilization can access. Always stuck at 99.999...%, and only adding more 9-s.

So with K3 civilization, we're not talking about dismantling a few planets - but rather dismantling the neighbourhood galaxies.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#282

Post by GoblinSlayer » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 12:41 PM UTC

EA-3167 wrote: post #269

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference? Cryptocurrency is said to be used for crime and cryptography is said to be used for crime.

You need me to explain the difference between a field of math and a single implementation of that field? Really ?

Explain the difference between criminal use of cryptocurrency and criminal use of cryptography.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#283

Post by GoblinSlayer » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 1:03 PM UTC

bostonsre wrote: post #253

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anticrypto arguments like "it can be used for crime", "you have nothing to hide", "it's easier to give my credit card to the merchant" are obviously aligned with normie mentality.

Ignoring the fact that there is massive amounts of fraud and room for crime in the crypto currency space by denigrating the opposing viewpoint doesn't progress the conversation and just keeps the tribalism and fighting at the same levels. If you truly believe in crypto currency, why not try to address the concerns and push crypto currency in a direction that would ensure wider adoption?

I guess concerns must be addressed perfectly. Otherwise solution won't stand criticism. For example ransom, if paying ransom is legal, then it's legal, if it's illegal, then it should be reasonably stoppable with police resources as an easy meatspace crime. ICO scam - if you think you can get it wrong, then stay away from it just like you stay away from gambling. Investing everything in a risky asset - this absolutely happens on fiat market, but it's okay there just because.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#284

Post by GoblinSlayer » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

bostonsre wrote: post #254

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You hope for regulation, but so far regulation protected the capital from responsibility.

Regulation would be the least bad approach I think. The current crypto currency direction is untenable currently with the massive amounts of fraud present.

It's not least bad in every aspect.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#285

Post by EA-3167 » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

GoblinSlayer wrote: post #282

EA-3167 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need me to explain the difference between a field of math and a single implementation of that field? Really ?

Explain the difference between criminal use of cryptocurrency and criminal use of cryptography.

The entire basis of how the internet works is based on cryptography, and while everything has the potential to be misused, it's impossible to argue that the primary use of cryptography is criminal, unethical, or wasteful.

The same cannot be said for cryptocurrency.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#286

Post by methodical » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 3:18 PM UTC

redsky880 wrote: post #257

methodical wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great point- these are reasons why we have the regulation we have today in our current banking system, and why any financial system that doesn't have any ability to be regulated (i.e. crypto) is massively problematic and ends up with 99% of people being fleeced out of their assets (as we've seen in the crypto space).

where are you getting this '99%' figure?

The number is clearly an exaggeration, and it's a bit embarrassing that I have to point that out. One of the few benefits of crypto is that it's difficult to trace (although certainly not impossible except for unique cases like XMR), so obviously nobody has the data to attest what percentage of people definitively have fallen victim to scams. However, what is known for certain is that people lost $14 billion to crypto scams last year (globally), with the average amount lost per person likely much higher than many other types of scams, considering the entire US lost $10 billion to all other types of scams last year, and the number of people in the crypto space is a small fraction of the US population. Keep in mind that the two numbers are globally vs the US alone, but I would presume the majority of the $14 billion lost were from US investors. I found more targeted studies that have numbers like 33% of people in crypto have fallen victim to scams, but I can't find the original study so I've omitted referencing it directly.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#287

Post by matheusmoreira » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 7:20 PM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #197

matheusmoreira wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. It tells you someone didn't like your post. Don't think it's possible to infer anything other than that. Many times I've had posts oscillate between negative and positive scores. It's very likely there are people who agree out there.

When certain comments get consistently downvoted, that’s not someone not liking your post.

There is no consistency. I have a comment at -2 right now. Over the past few days it oscillated between positive and negative scores. Someone replied to it and my response is currently +6.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#288

Post by matheusmoreira » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 10:01 PM UTC

j0hnyl wrote: post #252

matheusmoreira wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all crypto is created equal. Monero is pretty much the state of the art for private electronic money.

I've heard folks that work at Chainalysis claim that they can track monero better than zcash.

Here on HN? Can you link me to their posts? If you have reason to believe monero has been deanonymized, please post details.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#289

Post by matheusmoreira » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 10:15 PM UTC

EA-3167 wrote: post #226

matheusmoreira wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and cryptography was made for pedophiles and terrorists. Am I right?

This Motte & Bailey argument using cryptocurrency and cryptography is so old, so stale, and it was never very convincing to start with. A whole field of mathematics doesn't compare to digital pet rocks.

It absolutely does compare. Especially when people start talking about how cryptocurrency was "made for crime". They sound a lot like those tiresome politicians complaining about pedophiles and terrorists "going dark" for the nth time.

Re: SEC asks for emergency order to freeze Binance US assets anywhere in the world

#290

Post by southernplaces7 » Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 11:35 PM UTC

Semaphor wrote: post #197

matheusmoreira wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. It tells you someone didn't like your post. Don't think it's possible to infer anything other than that. Many times I've had posts oscillate between negative and positive scores. It's very likely there are people who agree out there.

When certain comments get consistently downvoted, that’s not someone not liking your post.

In those cases its multiple people consistently disliking your posts. This doesn't necessarily make their downvotes any more valid or intelligent, or the post not worth seeing.