Bitcoins are clearly negative sum game (resources used, GPUs burned, CO2 emitted, money changed hands). Wish we could do less of it.
According to the same logic, life is also a negative sum game.
Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
51–60 of 121 posts
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
So where’s the productive output?
This is correct, All currencies have transaction costs, but compete on having lower transaction cost than the alternative. The theoretical maximum is zero transaction cost for a transaction. It cant go positive. Components of transaction cost are triangulation, transfer, and trust. Currencies attempt to lower the cost of the transfer and trust components. Any positive value a currency claims to have as method for set…
Don't forget externalities. E.g. you can get a fee-free bank account with fee-free cash withdrawals, courtesy of the bank being able to loan out that money under fractional-reserve restrictions. In that sense transactions can pay for themselves. Presumably nobody would print money if it wasn't being put to use. Hence, novel currencies can enable novel business models and potentially do more than just lower transaction costs in a zero-sum way. (Admittedly the value of such business models at present, e.g. crypto scams, is somewhat debatable)
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#53Meanwhile, SBF is settling right into prison gang life: https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/1av88z5/fir... No tats visible in the pic, tho.
It was being reported that he is now sharing a space with Sean “Diddy” Combs.
There’s a joke in there about which of the two screwed more people…
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is correct, All currencies have transaction costs, but compete on having lower transaction cost than the alternative. The theoretical maximum is zero transaction cost for a transaction. It cant go positive. Components of transaction cost are triangulation, transfer, and trust. Currencies attempt to lower the cost of the transfer and trust components. Any positive value a currency claims to have as method for set…
Don't forget externalities. E.g. you can get a fee-free bank account with fee-free cash withdrawals, courtesy of the bank being able to loan out that money under fractional-reserve restrictions. In that sense transactions can pay for themselves. Presumably nobody would print money if it wasn't being put to use. Hence, novel currencies can enable novel business models and potentially do more than just lower transactio…
Im not sure I follow what you are saying.
What externalities are you talking about?
What does do you mean by a transaction to paying for itself?
What does it mean to lower transaction costs in a zero-sum way? This seems like a contradiction
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#55[flagged]
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m just curious - if you were to try making a decentralized currency as a fun project, what mechanism would you use instead? I’m someone who doesn’t really use it, but was fascinated with it before “blockchain” became a buzzword. edit: proof-of-work. I have been out of the loop for years :) My next question is are there downsides to proof-of-stake, and why has bitcoin not moved towards it?
Bitcoin's advantage is mainly its name recognition and unchanging nature (== trust and protocol stability). You could never get the necessary support for any meaningful changes. For people who want proof-of-stake there are plenty of coins doing that. Etherium is probably the best known most established option. But no coin really solves the other big challenge of crypto-currency: barely anyone uses them as currency. M…
Bitcoin's advantage is that it's value has continued climbing, aside from some fairly big blips, irrespective of its design or utility. That's why people buy it and hold it. It's a magic piggy bank.
If a truly stable cryptocurrency was released that was actually suitable for everyday transactions at scale, the people who buy bitcoin would laugh at it for not offering a return on investment. It seems like such a currency will have to be adopted from the bottom up to succeed, not trickle from the top down.
Here's a question for you: What happens to the value of bitcoin when some other crypto-currency starts doing the things bitcoin has only promised? Does it crash, or does the magic bubble around a completely useless technology persist for as long as people are willing to believe in it?
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget externalities. E.g. you can get a fee-free bank account with fee-free cash withdrawals, courtesy of the bank being able to loan out that money under fractional-reserve restrictions. In that sense transactions can pay for themselves. Presumably nobody would print money if it wasn't being put to use. Hence, novel currencies can enable novel business models and potentially do more than just lower transactio…
Im not sure I follow what you are saying. What externalities are you talking about? What does do you mean by a transaction to paying for itself? What does it mean to lower transaction costs in a zero-sum way? This seems like a contradiction
> What externalities are you talking about?
Economic activity. Switching from free banking [1] to a centralised currency made trade easier in America which increased the amount of trade. It's why monetary unions work [2].
Bitcoin, similarly, has enabled certain modes of trade that previously didn't exist.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_banking
[2] https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/cato/v24n1-2/cato_v24n1...
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bitcoin's advantage is mainly its name recognition and unchanging nature (== trust and protocol stability). You could never get the necessary support for any meaningful changes. For people who want proof-of-stake there are plenty of coins doing that. Etherium is probably the best known most established option. But no coin really solves the other big challenge of crypto-currency: barely anyone uses them as currency. M…
Bitcoin's advantage is that it's value has continued climbing, aside from some fairly big blips, irrespective of its design or utility. That's why people buy it and hold it. It's a magic piggy bank. If a truly stable cryptocurrency was released that was actually suitable for everyday transactions at scale, the people who buy bitcoin would laugh at it for not offering a return on investment. It seems like such a curre…
it's called monero
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#59His "fortune" is mostly ownership of Binance which is now under the thumb of the US government. If—as widely theorized—Binance's secret ingredient is crime then it's not going to be worth what it once was.
There is Binance US and Binance the global version. I expect Binance US to be tailored to US laws and regulations, but are you implying the global version is also under tight US govt control?
Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Im not sure I follow what you are saying. What externalities are you talking about? What does do you mean by a transaction to paying for itself? What does it mean to lower transaction costs in a zero-sum way? This seems like a contradiction
> What externalities are you talking about? Economic activity. Switching from free banking [1] to a centralised currency made trade easier in America which increased the amount of trade. It's why monetary unions work [2]. Bitcoin, similarly, has enabled certain modes of trade that previously didn't exist. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_banking [2] https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/cato/v24n1-2/cato_v24n1..…
I think that is more of consequence resulting from lower transaction costs, rather than an economic externality. That said, I understand the definitions of externality is changing in popular usage.