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I wasted years of my life in crypto

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Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#121

Post by mr_windfrog »

I've always been intrigued by the whole "decentralized and fixed supply" argument around Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies.

But the more I look into it, the more I wonder: if one Bitcoin can be split into 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 or even smaller fractions for transactions, doesn't that kind of undermine the whole “fixed total supply” idea?

Also, sure, cryptocurrencies are decentralized in theory and the transactions are hard to trace. But at the end of the day, anyone holding crypt is still very much under the control of governments. You can't magically escape regulations or enforcement just because the currency is "decentralized." It's an interesting tension between theory and reality that I don't think enough people talk about.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#122

Post by jffry »

mr_windfrog wrote: post #121

I've always been intrigued by the whole "decentralized and fixed supply" argument around Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. But the more I look into it, the more I wonder: if one Bitcoin can be split into 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 or even smaller fractions for transactions, doesn't that kind of undermine the whole “fixed total supply” idea? Also, sure, cryptocurrencies are decentralized in theory and the transactions are h…

BTC cannot be split beyond 10^-8

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#123

Post by petesergeant »

koonsolo wrote: post #100
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

So the bitcoin market cap is currently at $1.8 trillion. You can compare that to USD M0 which is $5 trillion or EUR M0 which is around €4 trillion. Not bad for an "extremely inconvenient database".

South Sea Company at its height was worth almost 3x British GDP. Not bad for a company "with negligible business activities"!

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#124

Post by block_dagger »

jffry wrote: post #122
mr_windfrog wrote: post #121

I've always been intrigued by the whole "decentralized and fixed supply" argument around Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. But the more I look into it, the more I wonder: if one Bitcoin can be split into 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 or even smaller fractions for transactions, doesn't that kind of undermine the whole “fixed total supply” idea? Also, sure, cryptocurrencies are decentralized in theory and the transactions are h…

BTC cannot be split beyond 10^-8

With a soft fork it could easily.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#125

Post by block_dagger »

mr_windfrog wrote: post #121

I've always been intrigued by the whole "decentralized and fixed supply" argument around Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. But the more I look into it, the more I wonder: if one Bitcoin can be split into 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 or even smaller fractions for transactions, doesn't that kind of undermine the whole “fixed total supply” idea? Also, sure, cryptocurrencies are decentralized in theory and the transactions are h…

The max supply is what makes it "hard money." Splitting it into smaller pieces is a separate concept and does not devalue it.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#127

Post by block_dagger »

moffers wrote: post #34

I’d hesitate to say it’s wasted. Aren’t these some of the most complex, electronic, decentralized systems in human history? That skillset is going to be more and more important the more and more computers there are.

Statements about "I wasted years doing X" are almost always overblown. The more realistic take is "I didn't get the ROI I wanted in specific area X."

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#128

Post by ikt »

Nextgrid wrote: post #94
ikt wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's what I thought nano had done: https://nano.org/en instant, fee's a fraction of a cent, I thought this was it, international payments that don't rely on visa/mastercard! and then it just went no where :\

Because in practice services like TransferWise solved this problem using fiat currencies with fees low enough not to make it worth bothering with crypto.

I duno, I still can't make a payment on the net without Visa or Mastercard, still a problem to be solved to me

Looks like other people still trying to solve as well:

> Earlier this year, Coinbase changed online payments forever with a new protocol called x402. But could this technology really usher in a new age of 'machine to machine' payments? Let's run it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6wc6yvoZLY

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#129

Post by squeaky-clean »

hobs wrote: post #118
shuntress wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Git

Am I misinterpreting you or are you saying Bitcoin would make a better, faster, cheaper Git? If you are, I am already laughing.

They're saying git would not have been better or faster or cheaper if implemented in a classical centralized way.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#130

Post by ramchip »

HaZeust wrote: post #117
fsh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an ingenious solution to achieve a "trustless" currency that prevents double-spending without a central authority. Unfortunately, this solves the wrong problem. Spending money usually involves getting a good or service in return, which inherently requires "trust" (as does any human interaction). Your fancy blockchain is not going to help you if you order something with Bitcoin and no package arrives.

I always thought it was actually an ingenious solution to elections. There's absolutely no reason that a driver's license can't derive a hash that can only be proven and not reversed (for identity); and provides a one-time contribution to a blockchain that contains your vote - which you then receive your block's information when you finish voting. ANYONE can calculate the sums, anyone can verify and proof hashes, ide…

You're describing a transparency log, which doesn't require a blockchain.
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