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I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

weh.wtf

131–140 of 359 posts

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#131
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the Internet was 10 years old the year was 1987.

Having heard this argument a nauseating number of times, it's fairly clear that people on both sides who say this use "the internet" when they mean "the web." So 1999 is a better "after 10 years'" benchmark here.

But it also probably isn't a great to compare Bitcoin to "the web." I'm not really aware of some prototype Bitcoin that had large scale and 30 years of development.

I'm also not sure why "the technology is in its infancy and doesn't give us great indications at if it is usable in the real world, but right now is full of scammers and fraud" isn't an acceptable position. Why does it have to either be the next great new thing or a grift? People grifting with new technology and taking advantage of the tech illiterate is pretty common.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#132
post #87
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear this a lot. I want details: - Which countries? - What portion of the population are benefiting from crypto? Is it a tiny portion of nerds or has it become more mainstream now? - With the crash in cryptocurrency over the last few months are these people in those countries still glad that they used this, or are they regretting it? I don't doubt that there exist individuals in countries with high inflation who ha…

El Salvador uses it as a government enforced national currency. I struggle to understand how people still make the claim that it's useless or that it's niche - it's a recognized and enforced national currency now, not some neat project.

Is bitcoin an investment or a currency? I don't think it can be both.

If the value of bitcoin as speculative asset is going to rise, then it is best to not spend it, but to hoard it. If everyone is hoarding bitcoin how can you use it to buy things?

If it is a currency then it needs to have a stable value. If the value stabilizes, then no one will want to invest in it. Since it does not have any "real" commodity value it would then death spiral. I don't know how you square this circle.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#133

I keep saying this, but: Bitcoin is well over 10 years old by now. In 10 years, the internet was already clearly adding a ton of value all over the place. Bitcoin is not really a 'young technology' anymore, and the only thing it has enabled so far is risky, unregulated investment strategies, and an staggering amount of crime.

What country do you live in? Because I know plenty of folks in certain countries with massive inflation and projects such as bitcoin are their refuge from 100-1000% inflation a year. When you say “in 10 years” when did that 10 year time frame start and end? Are talking about the 1960s or the 1990s? Because most people I knew didn’t start using the internet regularly until the mid to late 90s or about 30 or so years a…

Bitcoin is flying all over the place. Why wouldn’t they just use US dollars like every unstable economy has used for the past hundred years?

I just don’t buy this at all.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#134
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… and that means that if cryptocurrencies ever see notable adoption, those same currency controls will be expanded to cover it. There's this popular mythology that cryptocurrencies are immune to regulation but in reality it's just that most countries don't spend time regulating things which aren't widely used. If that changes, cryptocurrencies are perfect for those governments to enforce since the public ledgers prov…

That is the whole point of bitcoin. There is no entity that can prevent you from using it. Anyone can say you are not allowed, but enforcing it is impossible in practice.

Why? A bitcoin node is a network service so unless you have your own communication infrastructure it can definitely be controlled.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#135
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… and that means that if cryptocurrencies ever see notable adoption, those same currency controls will be expanded to cover it. There's this popular mythology that cryptocurrencies are immune to regulation but in reality it's just that most countries don't spend time regulating things which aren't widely used. If that changes, cryptocurrencies are perfect for those governments to enforce since the public ledgers prov…

That is the whole point of bitcoin. There is no entity that can prevent you from using it. Anyone can say you are not allowed, but enforcing it is impossible in practice.

They can absolutely prevent you from using it to buy milk at your local grocery store. In practice having bitcoin is no help if you can't convert it into something else. The regulation won't happen at on the blockchain. It will happen at the grocery store, car lot, or any other place you do business. That is plenty enough regulation to make it a nightmare to use in practice.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#136
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… and that means that if cryptocurrencies ever see notable adoption, those same currency controls will be expanded to cover it. There's this popular mythology that cryptocurrencies are immune to regulation but in reality it's just that most countries don't spend time regulating things which aren't widely used. If that changes, cryptocurrencies are perfect for those governments to enforce since the public ledgers prov…

That is the whole point of bitcoin. There is no entity that can prevent you from using it. Anyone can say you are not allowed, but enforcing it is impossible in practice.

So what happens when the government just blocks all Bitcoin nodes so there is no way to connect to the network and broadcast transactions?

What if they just turn off the external internet?

They can prevent it. It doesn’t matter if you can get around it. When no stores take it it’s worthless to you.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#137
post #17

> Money transfer use-cases would fall directly in the category of “crypto-only”. For as long as Bitcoin has existed, this has been touted as a great use-case — but it never really materialised. So Stellar and MoneyGram are not 'Money Transfer Use Cases' ? [0] If not, why did they partner on this in the first place if they didn't think this was a possible or a feasible use case? On NFTs, Blockchain domains like ENS (E…

did you even read the moneygram PR?

"Consumers can now go into a MoneyGram location to either load their digital wallets to access the digital economy, or cash-out their digital currencies to increase the utility of their holdings."

So the real world use-case for Moneygram is to exchange cryptocurrency for cash and vice versa. How exactly does this refute his point?

And having blockchain domains that can only be accessed using a particular dns, a VPN service, certain browsers or having to install an extension is hilarious.

Not to mention ENS is running their "web3" on Cloudflare. The decentralization is truly mind boggling.

Oh and loved this part about handshake renewal fees:

"Renewal fees and ownership It’s important to understand that when you buy a traditional domain, you are hooked to pay the domains registrar a renewal fee each year. This is a fee to maintain ownership of your domain name. The renewal fees are subject to change and often times driven by ICANN and then the registrars. So with traditional domains, you don’t truly own them – you are simply leasing it"

And handshake domains solve this by:

"Handshake domain names provide true ownership. Which means there are yearly renewal fees*"

Gotcha, makes sense.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#138
post #125
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm as skeptical of Bitcoin as anyone, but this is not a very good argument. You'd come to the same conclusion if you evaluated the state of aviation in 1900 or photography in 1820. Even the Internet was useless to the average person in 1982 (13 years in).

Those had immediate, obvious value which were held back by the technology: every military in the world wanted flight (remember those Civil War hot air balloons?), as well as things like postal services, etc. There was zero question that as soon as the technology was functionally available, people would buy it. Similarly, the earliest photographs had unquestionable demand but were held back by the technology — again,…

Bitcoin and crypto has an immediate, obvious value that was previously held back by technology. Similar to the rest of the examples you've listed.

We live in an age where we are forced to own nothing and be happy. Bitcoin, Blockchain and crypto solves this.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#139
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… and that means that if cryptocurrencies ever see notable adoption, those same currency controls will be expanded to cover it. There's this popular mythology that cryptocurrencies are immune to regulation but in reality it's just that most countries don't spend time regulating things which aren't widely used. If that changes, cryptocurrencies are perfect for those governments to enforce since the public ledgers prov…

That is the whole point of bitcoin. There is no entity that can prevent you from using it. Anyone can say you are not allowed, but enforcing it is impossible in practice.

> There is no entity that can prevent you from using it.

As long as you still need fiat currency to buy regular goods -- or pay taxes -- entities can make it difficult for you to use cryptocurrencies. If you have to convert cryptocurrencies into something real-world in order to live, governments can make that difficult for you.

I am just not convinced that we will get to a place where you can live solely (or nearly solely) in a cryptocurrency world, without needing fiat.

Re: I Looked into 34 Top Real-World Blockchain Projects So You Don’t Have To

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You obviously have never suffered in a country with stringent exchange controls.

Are you stating that you actually have, or speculating that bitcoin must help such people?

Both. I do quite a bit of offshoring in Central and South America (and elsewhere). If I make payment to contractors in Colombia for example, the recipients have severe restrictions on spending that money outside their country if it is in USD or pesos. Hence crypto.

This does not even address the huge number of "unbanked" people in the US who have to pay a fortune in fees for their payments to family back "home" - crypto offers them a much cheaper alternative. They don't care what the crypto is worth as it gets spent again back "home" as a currency, not as an investment.

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