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Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

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181–190 of 278 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#181
For me:

I liked the idea in the start. But in 2017 i didn't think it was a viable alternative anymore.

Many people say banks are bad, but they protect many people against fraud, Bitcoin doesn't ( eg. Chargebacks or losing access)

Banks are replaced by unknown platforms in unknown countries in many places. Which results in an insane amount of hacks ( internally or externally). Hence: https://rekt.news

If banks use it as settlement later, they won't adopt any of the existing solutions. Leaving all the current implementations of Blockchain in the dust ( the proponents of crypto don't understand this argument though).

Many non-tech minded people won't keep an offline wallet, since most people are lazy ( that's not a bad thing, it's just a fact). But in this case it can be very dangerous.

The people buying Bitcoin have no idea how it works and can easily get scammed by other people ( eg. One coin wasn't even a Blockchain and I knew people that fell for it and they couldn't be convinced that they were being scammed. They know by now though, the hard way).

Even the original premise of Bitcoin is gone ( decentralization) and is being replaced by workarounds ( eg. Lightning and offchain wallets).

It's the same story over and over again. Now NFT's and later probably something else. The only constant is pump and dump schemes from whales and that it's the preferred destination of criminals.

In the end, it doesn't solve much and perhaps the solution for the rare case "it solved something", is just increasing internet availability to enable banking for poor people in remote areas. So they don't need to drive 3 hours ( eg. The actual problem/ solution of El Salvador and Bitcoin as a solution was a fake dogma)

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#183
Why is there no curiosity here about cryptocurrencies?

Well, let's ask "what makes cryptocurrencies different from startups or programming languages?"

Crypto are financial instruments anyone can buy into. Does that explain the drought of curiosity somehow?

Startups are financial instruments but you can't buy unless you're an accredited investor -- When we talk about the latest startup, like it or hate it, close to zero of us have skin in the game. However, investors benefit from the work of curious conversations.

Articles are not financial instruments -- so when we talk about an article or topic, there's no financial aspect to it.

Driving the point home, I believe cryptocurrencies will bring that financial lens to everything, from whether an article gets read, upvoted, to whether a startup succeeds, individuals will have ownership and that will change the nature of curiosity.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#184
post #175
post #3

I think basically because there is nothing interesting left to discus. One camp (where I am in) basically believes it is an environmental disaster, unsuitable for its stated purpose and most likely as scam by the "whales" manipulating the price, and with a potential 51%-disaster. The other camp believes that it is the future of money, untraceable wealth storage and inflation/"confiscation proof" and that all the envi…

I think Ethereum (as in its contracts) is interesting, there's just too much get rich quick fud, SNR too low, for me to confidently be 'actively interested'. Some kind of novel things could be done with it, like that distributed storage thing is sort of interesting. There's a peer to peer betting thing based on (somewhow the outcomes are available to the program?) it I saw on HN a while ago which is sort of interesti…

A way to decrease the noise would be most appreciated.

I'm confident there's lifetimes worth of signal, even in crypto developments in the last year. But there is an ungodly amount of noise over price, outrage, etc.

I asked in a new thread about where to go for curious conversations about cryptocurrencies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297611

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#185
post #3

I think basically because there is nothing interesting left to discus. One camp (where I am in) basically believes it is an environmental disaster, unsuitable for its stated purpose and most likely as scam by the "whales" manipulating the price, and with a potential 51%-disaster. The other camp believes that it is the future of money, untraceable wealth storage and inflation/"confiscation proof" and that all the envi…

In fairness to the present, the first post on HN about bitcoin[1] had 3 comments: 1) this is amazing and will save humanity 2) this is dumb no one will ever use it 3) this is confusing That ratio doesn’t seem that much different than recent posts. I think you’re right that most people at least on HN have decided what they believe when it comes to bitcoin. Ultimately money is a belief and not just any belief but one s…

Is there a place for the #1 group to go for curious conversation? (Curious conversation requires subtracting out the speculation about price and money)

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#186
post #3

I think basically because there is nothing interesting left to discus. One camp (where I am in) basically believes it is an environmental disaster, unsuitable for its stated purpose and most likely as scam by the "whales" manipulating the price, and with a potential 51%-disaster. The other camp believes that it is the future of money, untraceable wealth storage and inflation/"confiscation proof" and that all the envi…

paper money is also enviromental disaster. How many trees were cut just for it and how many people were paid to keep the paper money innovation going eg. bank employees siting on chairs waiting for customers while doing harm for the enviroment by producing CO2 (opportunity cost)

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proof of stake is already happening. It's on Ethereum (though they haven't switched over to the beacon chain from proof-of-work yet), and it's on many others. If you look at the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, maybe bitcoin and 1 are 2 others are proof of stake. There are a bunch of 'tokens' cryptocurrencies which exist on top of another blockchain, but the remainder of the layer 1 blockchains and…

Last I looked the so-called proof-of-stake was more a system where somebody put up a stake to be witnesses (in lack of a better word). When I say proof of stake, I mean it in the way of "proof of possession"

Just to point out, you're using a common term very differently than others in cryptocurrency who say "Proof of Stake". This will add friction to your conversations.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My real bank won't send a wire transfer on a weekend with settlement time measured in seconds, so no, it's not like a bank.

I’m talking about withdrawal only. But it's not like a bank, I agree - a bank gives some protection to your money, because they have responsibilities.

Worked great in Greece, when people couldn't withdraw more than 60 euro from their bank accounts.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until you cross the borders and move all your wealth with you by memorizing 12 words.

Tell that to the the people of the ex-DDR, the North Korea and REALLY targeted individuals.. Sadly there exists no sure way to secure you belongings if the other party is sufficiently motivated to strip you of them (or your life).. You can also be killed/robbed outside of your country by intelligence officers of your country...

What a weird attitude of helplessness. You might as well argue against encryption because the state can always do the $5 wrench attack.

It is much easier for the government to confiscate your money from your bank account than to go after your Bitcoin. And it is impossible for the government to stop you from accepting payments in Bitcoin and to cut you off from financial system.

Re: Ask HN: Why does cryptocurrency subjects on HN lack curious conversations?

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

56% of energy used for Bitcoin mining is coming from renewable sources of energy.

Is there a source for that? Last time I checked there weren't reliable reports even on total energy usage, much less energy sources.

https://www.hope.com/content/dam/hope-assets/collateral/Mini...
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