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The endless search for a crypto use case

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Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#181

Post by whatisweb3 »

The simplest use case and reason that crypto should continue to be developed is that it allows you to hold an asset with financial value in a decentralized global network.

If you live in the US and notice that bank transfers are significantly cheaper and faster in the UK or EU, you cannot just set up a UK bank account in your town. You are forced into the American “bank protocol.”

In crypto, you can withdraw your funds from one entity auch as MetaMask and deposit it into another such as Argent, Gnosis or zkSync, because all of the tokens and applications are composable with each other and build on the same protocol.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#182

Post by the_gastropod »

sudden_dystopia wrote: post #8

There is only one use case and that is the originally intended use, as a currency completely decoupled from any one country’s monetary meddling and thus liberating the populace from poor central planners and/or authoritarians. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

The paradox of this "don't-tread-on-me"-ism is that it leads to authoritarianism. Economic policies that don't explicitly strive for egalitarianism contribute to widening wealth distributions (a la the game of monopoly). Increasing levels of wealth inequality causes people to abandon democratic principles, and embrace populist autocrats. [1]

The frustrating truth is, the solution to corruption is: justice and accountability. Not just blindly throwing out democratic principles and bypassing the law.

[1] https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/high-weal...

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#183

Post by colordrops »

NikolaNovak wrote: post #154
game-of-throws wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory is that the likelihood someone understands the use cases is inversely correlated to their trust in government. For example: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60912789 These articles all follow a common pattern. 1. The trigger – Inflation/distrust in government/bank withdrawal restrictions/paypal freezes your funds/country is at war/etc 2. The response – People gravitate towards a system that is resilient to…

I'm originally from Bosnia / Ex-Yugoslavia. Experienced hyperinflation, experienced civil war, experienced buying bread with 200,000 dinars one year and 2,000,000 next year etc. Experienced scary people with guns knocking at your door. My family and their ancestors all lost all their money and possessions numerous times over the last 100 years, including in the mid-90's. And yet, I feel it's the people IN position of…

Your story is an anecdote, and an interesting one, but not sure if your conclusions are valid. Crypto is used in China for subverting government oversight, and they are far more advanced than Bosnia at digital control.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#185

Post by silentsea90 »

aNoob7000 wrote: post #70
silentsea90 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest use case for Bitcoin is of it being an escape from arbitrary printing of money by central banks. The richer your home country, the further you are from intuitively grasping how catastrophic printing is in the long run.

The problem with Bitcoin is that it is a pain to transact any business with it.

I agree but please expand on the pain so I can respond.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#186

Post by gaspard234 »

whitepaint wrote: post #69

Ens domains, PoolTogether, Aave and more: https://ethereum.org/en/dapps/ Have these people writing these kind of articles ever downloaded a browser wallet and played around with Defi? The amount of ignorance here is staggering. How is it on HN? HN is supposed to be a place for people who are tech savvy and are able to think about the future and imagine it different from yesterday.

Trololol PoolTogether is literally a lottery scheme. How is that in anyway innovative and new?

Looks like another polished scam to take advantage of ignorant users, or 'degens' in crypto vernacular.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#187

Post by TremendousJudge »

LatteLazy wrote: post #13

The most interesting thing about Crypto is how much zeal it brings out BOTH for those in favour and those against it. If you think it has no use case, don't use it. If you think it does have a use case and you need that, use it.

I would be happy to ignore them, if it wasn't that:

- They are always pushing their ideology into the spaces I frequent, forcing me to engage in some way, and

- They vent their mining CO2 to the same planet where I happen to live.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#188

Post by notahacker »

cuteboy19 wrote: post #96
TheBlight wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling it a scheme seems a bit rough. It's a market mostly unencumbered by regulation (not true of on/offramps), online 24x7 and not directly controlled by governments -- an entirely new asset class with unique properties. It allows for new business/cause funding models. Anyone can participate regardless of "credit rating" or ideology and no one needs a custodian.

The reason you don't need a credit rating is because you need collateral. Want a $5000 loan from crypto? Better have at least $20000 in crypto assets. How anyone is expected to get credit funding from this strange system is unclear. Also the no custodian part is especially strange considering that most people who have crypto keep it on some exchangebank

> Want a $5000 loan from crypto? Better have at least $20000 in crypto assets.

Yup. That's potentially useful for speculators to earn expected gains from one cryptocurrency whilst also trading with another one.

But it's utterly useless for the common cases to borrow money (i.e. you don't have enough of it to buy what you need to buy)

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#189

Post by Aunche »

silentsea90 wrote: post #175
Aunche wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin isn't immune to money printing at all. The value of Bitcoin comes from people using it as a speculatory vehicle rather than a medium of exchange of goods and services. If the price of a commodity like rice hyperinflates, this does nothing to the price of Bitcoin because nobody uses Bitcoin to buy rice. As a result, the price of Bitcoin would inflate at the same rate as the underlying fiat used to exchange Bit…

Price of Bitcoin inflating at the same rate as fiat printing = Bitcoin deflating while fiat inflates. That's good right?

My point is that there is no reason for the price of Bitcoin to inflate alongside actual commodities, which is validated by the fact that BTC fell while inflation rose. Gold similarly has a low correlation with inflation.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#190

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

colordrops wrote: post #183
NikolaNovak wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm originally from Bosnia / Ex-Yugoslavia. Experienced hyperinflation, experienced civil war, experienced buying bread with 200,000 dinars one year and 2,000,000 next year etc. Experienced scary people with guns knocking at your door. My family and their ancestors all lost all their money and possessions numerous times over the last 100 years, including in the mid-90's. And yet, I feel it's the people IN position of…

Your story is an anecdote, and an interesting one, but not sure if your conclusions are valid. Crypto is used in China for subverting government oversight, and they are far more advanced than Bosnia at digital control.

Not always oversight, but for subverting government controls — note that these are very different.
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