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Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

fortune.com

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Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#61

Post by JumpCrisscross »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #60
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> that is more of consequence resulting from lower transaction costs, rather than an economic externality

An externality is "an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party's (or parties') activity" [1]. If Visa reduced its fees, the merchant's additional profit is an externality.

> understand the definitions of externality is changing in popular usage

Third-party economic consequences have always been the definition [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

[2] https://www.jstor.org/stable/26617802

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#62

Post by wongarsu »

beloch wrote: post #56
wongarsu wrote: post #23

Earlier 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…

About a decade ago Dogecoin made a big push to get online and offline business to accept it. Making a block every minute was quite beneficial for that, and the price used to be somewhat stable. Today nobody pays in Dogecoin. Lots of companies that used to except Bitcoin/Litecoin/Dogecoin stopped doing so because off lack out demand.

The issue isn't that crypto currencies can't be used as currency, it's more that they don't get used as currency outside niche use cases because they don't have a good USP. Most countries have decent enough currencies and payment systems

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#63

Post by keyringlight »

acoard wrote: post #17
matrix2003 wrote: post #13

Earlier 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?

> My next question is are there downsides to proof-of-stake, and why has bitcoin not moved towards it? There are minor downsides in theory. Proof-of-stake is a bit less "democratic" and gives more voting share to those who have more money, vs. just are mining. In practice, proof-of-stake coins seem to be doing fine. The main one here is Ethereum. The main reason Bitcoin hasn't is due to inertia and the interest for m…

Wasn't there a few times when one of the large cryptocurriencies were almost under control of large mining pools where their combined computation would have gone over half? That seems like another "who has more money".

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#64

Post by llamaimperative »

diego_sandoval wrote: post #27
r00fus wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do we need a so-called decentralized currency anyway? I'd be less antagonistic if its major use case wasn't money laundering.

Just some examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_currency_controls_(2... https://www.statista.com/statistics/316750/inflation-rate-in... https://hongkongfp.com/2023/12/15/hong-kong-govt-amends-nati... https://www.ibanet.org/article/5584f623-6456-4287-8c34-1907b... https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/20/americas/canada-trucker-p...

How are these solved by cryptocurrencies?

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#65

Post by wmf »

krmboya wrote: post #59
wmf wrote: post #6

His "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?

May 2024: "The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) appointed Forensic Risk Alliance (FRA) to serve as the outside monitor over the crypto exchange Binance. Binance must undergo a monitorship of three years as part of its plea deal with the DOJ related to money laundering violations." https://www.theblock.co/post/293834/doj-taps-fra-over-sulliv...

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#67

Post by mchannon »

ddtaylor wrote: post #29

CZ was at Lompoch I take it at a Low?

Far more likely he was at the (a?) satellite camp at Lompoc. Minimum security satellite camps share a small percentage of their facilities with a nearby low or medium:

R&D (that's Receiving & Discharge to you), warehouse, mail center.

FYI, Lompoc is pronounced Lom-poke to the townies. Not sure how the inmates pronounce it.

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#68

Post by hanniabu »

matrix2003 wrote: post #13
startupsfail wrote: post #5

Bitcoins are clearly negative sum game (resources used, GPUs burned, CO2 emitted, money changed hands). Wish we could do less of it.

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?

Proof of stake is superior. The downside others are saying has been proven false time after time but bitcoiners continue to spread the misinformation because Bitcoin relies on people not understanding it's downside.

https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#69

Post by colechristensen »

krmboya wrote: post #59
wmf wrote: post #6

His "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?

Yes, global banks also fall under US control if they want to transact with anything in the US financial system. Less so if they don’t have American customers, but they still do have to follow American laws.

For example several very old Swiss banks have been shut down by US regulators because they were doing business in the US with US citizens and their secrecy was being used to break US law by Americans.

Re: Binance founder 'CZ' leaves prison on Friday

#70

Post by harimau777 »

matrix2003 wrote: post #13
startupsfail wrote: post #5

Bitcoins are clearly negative sum game (resources used, GPUs burned, CO2 emitted, money changed hands). Wish we could do less of it.

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?

I think that the best solution would be gold.
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