The endless search for a crypto use case • Hacker News Board

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#21

Post by staticassertion » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

snapcaster wrote: post #3

I mean it has good use cases they're not just the ones that scheme promoters want to be true. I know TFA pokes some holes in the censorship resistance attribute of bitcoin but i think everyone can agree it does provide value transfer solution that is much harder to block than Visa/Stripe/etc. 1). Silk Road or dark net markets in general. Can't be done with Visa or other existing solutions at any kind of scale 2). Fun…

Agreed, there are use cases, even obvious use cases. Blockchain provides guarantees that other databases do not. They're just guarantees that assume that some portion of people connecting to it are bad actors. Most people don't really care about solving that problem because they just don't give those people access, but that implies a single authority for access ie: centralization.

So blockchain only makes sense when:

a) You have bad actors

b) You need decentralization

The use cases for that are, for the most part, "subvert government authority". There are some cool other things you can do, like web of trust stuff, but the vast majority of the market is in the "subvert government authority" in one way or another, or is an outright scam.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#22

Post by colesantiago » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

all2well wrote: post #16

This article doesn't mention the one article of faith every crypto utopian I've run into really believes: the US dollar and every other currency will collapse soon and be replaced by crypto.

Not to mention that prices will be denominated in satoshis / sats. Incredibly delusional.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#23

Post by pavlov » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:41 PM UTC

bnchrch wrote: post #11

I mean I see two clear use cases. 1. Transferring funds I can transfer crypto faster and a lot cheaper than any money transfer. Hell I can receive and withdraw same day. 2. Earning interest By parking my money in a stable coin and dropping it into an AMM like uniswap I can earn 10x-50x more interest than just parking it in my bank account. No volatility. Only risk is hacker risk.

Re: 1), I can transfer money within the Eurozone at no cost, 24/7, practically instantaneous. It's really hard for any crypto solution to beat that. For non-Euro transfers, I regularly send USD wires and they clear the same day. The fees are a fixed $25 (so 0.25% for a $10k transfer), which IMO is reasonable.

Re: 2), uhh, yeah. I think that's what Celsius users believed too.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#24

Post by ogogmad » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:43 PM UTC

bnchrch wrote: post #11

I mean I see two clear use cases. 1. Transferring funds I can transfer crypto faster and a lot cheaper than any money transfer. Hell I can receive and withdraw same day. 2. Earning interest By parking my money in a stable coin and dropping it into an AMM like uniswap I can earn 10x-50x more interest than just parking it in my bank account. No volatility. Only risk is hacker risk.

> 2. Earning interest

The earning interest is like picking up pennies in front of a bulldozer. You'll be OK 99% of the time but then you'll get flattened. You'll earn maybe 10% interest per annum, but be at risk of losing 100% of your deposit at any moment. Your deposit is completely uninsured. If you have no solid guarantee that you'll get your money out, use the precautionary principle to conclude that you won't.

Also, for 10% of something to be more than pocket change, you need to deposit much more than pocket change. If you're depositing pocket change into these services, you're not really investing. If you're depositing more than pocket change, you're running a big risk.

I recommend you get your money out now.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#25

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:43 PM UTC

scythingshepard wrote: post #4

The only use, which is enough, is to subvert those who claim authority over others. A specific example is committing crimes: buying or selling drugs, money laundering, tax evasion, etc.. but maybe its building a nest egg to help escape an abusive relationship or God knows what. Hiding money from some sort of extortion. Most "crypto" isn't hidden, it isn't crypto. It's gimmicky marketing. Not currency either. Fully fu…

[deleted]

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#26

Post by colesantiago » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:44 PM UTC

snapcaster wrote: post #3

I mean it has good use cases they're not just the ones that scheme promoters want to be true. I know TFA pokes some holes in the censorship resistance attribute of bitcoin but i think everyone can agree it does provide value transfer solution that is much harder to block than Visa/Stripe/etc. 1). Silk Road or dark net markets in general. Can't be done with Visa or other existing solutions at any kind of scale 2). Fun…

Crypto doesn't even pass the grocery test.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#27

Post by rvz » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

all2well wrote: post #16

This article doesn't mention the one article of faith every crypto utopian I've run into really believes: the US dollar and every other currency will collapse soon and be replaced by crypto.

And on the other side of the ring, we have the anti-crypto absolutists who will do anything to: 'ban all crypto, 100%', 'destroy all of it', 'let it all die in a fire', which I'm afraid is as equally delusional as the crypto utopians who believing that Bitcoin will be the world reserve currency.

The truth of the matter is, both of these extreme camps are going to be very disappointed in the future.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#28

Post by timcavel » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #10

snapcaster wrote: post #3

I mean it has good use cases they're not just the ones that scheme promoters want to be true. I know TFA pokes some holes in the censorship resistance attribute of bitcoin but i think everyone can agree it does provide value transfer solution that is much harder to block than Visa/Stripe/etc. 1). Silk Road or dark net markets in general. Can't be done with Visa or other existing solutions at any kind of scale 2). Fun…

So illegal stuff. Ok. While there might be cases you consider moral or ethical even though they’re illegal I’m not sure I’d consider this a net positive or any reason to think crypto will enjoy mass adoption.

No post body was provided.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#29

Post by rpmw » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

librish wrote: post #17

bnchrch wrote: post #11

I mean I see two clear use cases. 1. Transferring funds I can transfer crypto faster and a lot cheaper than any money transfer. Hell I can receive and withdraw same day. 2. Earning interest By parking my money in a stable coin and dropping it into an AMM like uniswap I can earn 10x-50x more interest than just parking it in my bank account. No volatility. Only risk is hacker risk.

When you say cheaper and faster, what are you comparing to? If I want to convert and send USD from the US to EUR in Germany the crypto solution will be expensive (trading fees on both legs) and pretty slow (time it takes for the exchange to send EUR to your German bank account).

Yeah this strikes me as odd too. My bank will instantly deposit transfers while the (free) ACH process takes time to clear. I can transfer up to something like $99,999 a day which is fine for my needs. At worst case a $15 fee to wire funds which I could probably get waived if I asked customer support nicely. There is also plenty of recourse in the unlikely event something goes wrong.

Re: The endless search for a crypto use case

#30

Post by Joker_vD » Tue, Aug 02, 2022, 4:48 PM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #23

bnchrch wrote: post #11

I mean I see two clear use cases. 1. Transferring funds I can transfer crypto faster and a lot cheaper than any money transfer. Hell I can receive and withdraw same day. 2. Earning interest By parking my money in a stable coin and dropping it into an AMM like uniswap I can earn 10x-50x more interest than just parking it in my bank account. No volatility. Only risk is hacker risk.

Re: 1), I can transfer money within the Eurozone at no cost, 24/7, practically instantaneous. It's really hard for any crypto solution to beat that. For non-Euro transfers, I regularly send USD wires and they clear the same day. The fees are a fixed $25 (so 0.25% for a $10k transfer), which IMO is reasonable. Re: 2), uhh, yeah. I think that's what Celsius users believed too.

The 1) part is true for most of the developed countries (except the US, apparently), and even for many underdeveloped countries: IIRC in some African countries people transfer funds between cell phone accounts.