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Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

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Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#171

Post by cypress66 »

Gordonjcp wrote: post #144
basisword wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 1) a very serious climate crisis 2) a cost of living crisis where people can't afford energy to cook and heat (in the UK at least) and 3) a war that would likely be brought to a stop sooner if we could phase out Russian gas sooner. All of these things are the result of bad governing, not crypto. Maybe banning crypto would help them (I don’t believe that) but banning lots of other things would also help. What we re…

You don't think that the 1MWh or so of electricity used (estimates vary from 2MWh down to 700kWh, depending on what you read, so I pick a value in the low end of the middle) is pushing up the price of energy? Let's reframe those values slightly - every bitcoin transaction uses about as much electricity as it costs to run my house for nearly six months. Are you sure that's not having an adverse effect on energy prices…

PoW (ie mining) is not something inherent to cryptocurrencies. We should try to get rid of PoW and move all coins to non energy wasting systems (such as PoS).

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#172

Post by shkkmo »

uberswe wrote: post #87
riedel wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most scammers targeting your retired parents know how: play store or other vouchers you can buy in the super market. In Europe a standard free IBAN money transfer probably does not lead to much spying either. The biggest use case for this kind of privacy crypto privides is the 'freedom' to do things not legal in your country. I am actually happy to live in a world with limited freedom at times although there is certa…

I disagree with your statement about cryptos biggest use case. However I also want to point out that legal can vary a lot between countries. There is at least one third world country where a woman can't even get an abortion without risking life in prison. If cryptocurrencies can help people who don't have equal rights with more privacy in such situations then I am all for it.

> I disagree with your statement about cryptos biggest use case.

Then look at the numbers, besides speculation, which isn't really a "use case", that vast majority of cryptocurrency transactions are ransomware, coin washing, illegal purchases and currency control evasion.

> If cryptocurrencies can help people who don't have equal rights with more privacy in such situations then I am all for it.

> There is at least one third world country where a woman can't even get an abortion without risking life in prison. If cryptocurrencies can help people who don't have equal rights with more privacy in such situations then I am all for it.

What an extreme red herring? Even the most private cryptocurrencies are less private than the cash that such people use today for such transactions.

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#173

Post by fartcannon »

PaulHoule wrote: post #160
fartcannon wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are all these crypto bros that everyone seems so upset about?

Not on HN.

I spend a lot of time on the internet but I have never bumped into a cursed crytpo bro without seeking them out. Where are you being accosted by them?

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#174

Post by shkkmo »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #88
quickthrower2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what makes stablecoins not a real cryptocurrency? They are a currency stored on the blockchain

They're not trustless which makes them closer to a privately run fiat currency than a crypto currency.

What is "not trustless" about algorithmic stable coins?

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#175

Post by fartcannon »

noasaservice wrote: post #157
fartcannon wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are all these crypto bros that everyone seems so upset about?

They're the ones buying abandoned oil wells and coal power plants and starting them back up for more shitcoin. Of course, the externality is shoved on ALL of us with worsening environment, climate crisis, higher cost of electronics to do *real* work (no, your 10^15 hashes where -1+10^15 are thrown out IS NOT REAL WORK). I hope EVERY shitcoin peddler loses everything.

Sounds like a good reason to ban oil and coal eh.

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#176

Post by mattwilsonn888 »

bitL wrote: post #162
ephbit wrote: post #149

> WEAVER: Yes. So let’s take the cost of a transaction. The cost of a transaction in cryptocurrency systemically is the amount being used to protect it. I could build a system that would have the same throughput as Bitcoin, three to seven transactions per second, but with a centralized trusted entity. In fact, not even a centralized trusted entity. Ten trusted entities, only six of which need to be honest, because I…

Maybe he's a genius and solved distributed Byzantine generals with a single light bulb and majority voting?

Holy cow you're right he should start a crypto currency based off this model.

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#177

Post by UncleMeat »

mypastself wrote: post #74

Somewhat relatedly, I’ve been wondering for a while now why so many people here are so intensely, emotionally against this tech (and consequently why so many mediocre articles on the topic with emotionally charged titles are upvoted to the front page). Plenty of different arguments are offered by the commentariat, some of which have merit. But whether the stated reasons are environmental issues, political implication…

I certainly think that "man I wish I randomly was a megamillionaire" motivates some people. I definitely wish I bought and held a bunch of BTC back in like 2012 or whatever.

But for me this is comparable to other forms of economic criticism. I believe that the path that cryptocurrency and related systems is walking leads to an extreme hypercapitalism where everything on the planet becomes an item for speculation and no behavior is possible without access to some capitalized token. A lot of people will get rich off that process but the reason why I think that this is bad is not because other people get rich off of it. I think it is a harmful system whether or not I get to buy a yacht.

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#178

Post by stefano »

bitL wrote: post #162
ephbit wrote: post #149

> WEAVER: Yes. So let’s take the cost of a transaction. The cost of a transaction in cryptocurrency systemically is the amount being used to protect it. I could build a system that would have the same throughput as Bitcoin, three to seven transactions per second, but with a centralized trusted entity. In fact, not even a centralized trusted entity. Ten trusted entities, only six of which need to be honest, because I…

Maybe he's a genius and solved distributed Byzantine generals with a single light bulb and majority voting?

> three to seven transactions per second, but with a centralized trusted entity

The byzantine generals problem doesn't apply when you have trusted entities.

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#179

Post by cypress66 »

Hnrobert42 wrote: post #166
Havoc wrote: post #44

>help me make it die in a fire I'm rather mistrustful of people that are this forthy about being against a new technology. If it really is that devoid of merit it'll die on its own. I also think it is a rather fundamental failure to see the big picture. Not efficient? Well neither was the Ford model T. Newer generations are getting better. Similarly somehow existing systems seem to get a free pass for things that are…

As the author notes, crypto is inefficient by design. Crypto systems rely on inefficiency to make scamming the system not worth the cost. The author doesn’t want to wait it out because the cost to society in terms of wasted energy and support of bad actors is too high. He notes that he evolved into this position. At first he th out it was just silly. Then silly and annoying. Now just bad.

PoW is inefficient by design, which SOME cryptocurrencies use. But cryptocurrencies don't need to use PoW. Many already use non PoW systems, and others are going to switch away from PoW (such as ethereum).

Re: Why All Cryptocurrency Should Die in a Fire

#180

Post by CPLX »

ephbit wrote: post #149

> WEAVER: Yes. So let’s take the cost of a transaction. The cost of a transaction in cryptocurrency systemically is the amount being used to protect it. I could build a system that would have the same throughput as Bitcoin, three to seven transactions per second, but with a centralized trusted entity. In fact, not even a centralized trusted entity. Ten trusted entities, only six of which need to be honest, because I…

The reason you need to avoid trusted entities is when you want to operate outside the legal system. Which is why the use case for crypto is, and always will be, contraband and gambling.

Which is a fine use case. Those are very large and enduring sectors of the economy. But let’s not get confused about why things are as they are.

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