Announcing SegWit support • Hacker News Board

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#11

Post by joshschreuder » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 12:52 AM UTC

bitL wrote: post #9

VMG wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying but I don't understand your question

My limited knowledge tells me that BTC will lose its main reason for existence - solution of Byzantine generals problem, allowing trustless store of value. With what I've read about SegWit, it's a practical solution to improve transaction throughput by moving transactions off blockchain, which in turn removes trustlessness from the equation. I'd like to know if my conclusion is correct.

I think that's off-chain networks like Lightning, not segwit

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#12

Post by bitL » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 12:54 AM UTC

School-Cotton wrote: post #10

bitL wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My limited knowledge tells me that BTC will lose its main reason for existence - solution of Byzantine generals problem, allowing trustless store of value. With what I've read about SegWit, it's a practical solution to improve transaction throughput by moving transactions off blockchain, which in turn removes trustlessness from the equation. I'd like to know if my conclusion is correct.

> With what I've read about SegWit, it's a practical solution to improve transaction throughput by moving transactions off blockchain SegWit has nothing to do with this — maybe you are thinking of Lightning Network?

Possibly. I guess I need to study it a bit more in depth, usual grad-level crypto & distributed algorithms aren't sufficient.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#13

Post by firasd » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 12:59 AM UTC

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#14

Post by sova » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:04 AM UTC

firasd wrote: post #13

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#15

Post by VMG » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:06 AM UTC

bitL wrote: post #9

VMG wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying but I don't understand your question

My limited knowledge tells me that BTC will lose its main reason for existence - solution of Byzantine generals problem, allowing trustless store of value. With what I've read about SegWit, it's a practical solution to improve transaction throughput by moving transactions off blockchain, which in turn removes trustlessness from the equation. I'd like to know if my conclusion is correct.

Segwit enables many things, one of them is Lightning Network. While that is an off-chain transaction system, it still is trustless and decentralized.

In fact the transaction cost reduction could make custodial services like exchanges less attractive and improve decentralization.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#16

Post by IntronExon » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:06 AM UTC

sova wrote: post #14

firasd wrote: post #13

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

I’m pretty sure that if you offered one to the person behind the counter, good and coffee would rapidly be exchanged.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#17

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:07 AM UTC

sova wrote: post #14

firasd wrote: post #13

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

[deleted]

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#18

Post by onoffswitch » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:08 AM UTC

sova wrote: post #14

firasd wrote: post #13

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

That was kind of his point.

Crypto sounds less like a revolution if markets treat it as an asset; as opposed to treating it as a currency.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#19

Post by firasd » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:08 AM UTC

sova wrote: post #14

firasd wrote: post #13

I'm glad to see the adoption of such changes. The 'hodl' crowd have changed their talking points to 'Bitcoin is an asset, not a currency' but as far as I'm concerned, if that's how it ends up--if you can't pragmatically buy a $2 cup of coffee with BTC--it would really puncture the immense promise of decentralized financial tech.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

Yeah and that's the problem. Gold bars haven't solved the problem of e.g. banks taking multiple days to clear deposits (not counting holidays and weekends!), or credit card processing fees, and I'm hoping Bitcoin provides competition... but for that, BTC transfers need to be quick and cheap.

Re: Announcing SegWit support

#20

Post by richardw » Sat, Feb 24, 2018, 1:09 AM UTC

IntronExon wrote: post #16

sova wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't buy a cup of coffee with a slice of a gold bar either!

I’m pretty sure that if you offered one to the person behind the counter, good and coffee would rapidly be exchanged.

Not if it's an equivalent amount of gold. Nobody has time to deal with a couple bucks worth of precious metal