We're a long way off mainstream. Take the Web as an example: When my university lab computer got trumpet winsock and Netscape installed, it wasn't mainstream. When Hotbot was launched and could actually search with some degree of efficiency it wasn't mainstream. When I learned html and javascript from reading Webmonkey posts it wasn't mainstream. When I switched to this new upstart called Google it wasn't mainstream.…
But with Google your Mom can find out when the store is open and where it is. Facebook lets grandparents see photos of grandchildren. Reading a blog replaces reading the gossip column in the daily paper. You could finally buy plane tickets without driving somewhere. And so on. The early web was really fucking useful as it started to mature. It solved a lot of real problems. What is cryptocurrency going to help these…
Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
221–230 of 237 posts
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many shares are outstanding? According to which exchange? Oh, it was recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain? No question, then. What about a deed or title for property? Which of countless organizations and public records sources has the document? If it was entered on the Ethereum blockchain, there's no doubt as to ownership. There's also tracking of goods; outbreak of salmonella? If the trail is available on a blockc…
Re: real estate. I've heard this one many times. Bu everyone now still has to agree to enter the transaction on some specific block chain. Even if you limit things to just the us. The issue isn't that we don't have the tech to have a national database. It's that the records are scattered all over dusty county and town clerks offices in thousands of jurisdictions for all sorts of historical and political reasons.
Yes, there are challenges. That isn't to say now is when everything will happen but there is rapid progress being made toward that point, and pilot programs are moving forward.
Most municipalities have digital records available. It ought to take less time to translate those to blockchain records than the time it took for paper documents to be digitized.
As for the selection of blockchain, that's part of where the current speculative wave in the technology comes in. Competition will persist until there are only a handful of well-defined players, at which point it will be reasonable for governments to tie records to them. All it takes is time.
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…
To add to the list of how many of those problems are already solved in the EU : > Allowing merchants to save 2% in credit card fees (which doubles their profit margin if it was 2% to begin with). In the EU those fees are capped at 0.2% for debit cards, 0.3% for credit cards [1]. It'll be helpful if the crypto currency fees gets even lower than those, but 0.2% starts to get pretty low. [1] http://www.consilium.europa.…
Interesting. In the US average fees are 2%!
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…
> Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. I just looked at TransferWise, and it seems like the rate is about 0.7-2.5% depending on the pair of currencies. I found this post of transferring 1000 USD -> EUR via BTC which claimed to have done so for $14: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/25583/does-it-ma... TransferWise asks $10 for this. So in the same ballpark, but not necessarily a…
"I just looked at TransferWise, and it seems like the rate is about 0.7-2.5% depending on the pair of currencies."
Average remittance fees, worldwide, are ~7%.
"Who is going to sell you Bitcoins for Venezuelan Bolivars? "
No Bolivars involved. Venezuelan bitcoiners typically acquire BTC by selling services or products (sometimes internationally) while receiving payment in BTC.
"Well that would be cool, but Bitcoin has it's own fees, and an unacceptably long delay for any IRL purchases"
Fees are low: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14926127
There is no delay, IRL merchants usually accept 0-conf tx.
"we're all terrible at security,"
Hardware wallets have largely solved this. There has never been a single case of BTC stolen from a hw wallet.
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…
> International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. So cryptocurrency is a niche app for crashing economies in the developing world and those needing to do international payments through unofficial channels?
Except, you know, the other use cases I listed that you conveniently left out :)
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…
> International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. So cryptocurrency is a niche app for crashing economies in the developing world and those needing to do international payments through unofficial channels?
[deleted]
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
" When was the last time you made an international payment? " I love that you asked this question! The very reason it doesn't happen often is because of friction inherent to legacy payment systems. Cryptocurrencies remove this friction in cross-border trade, hence are making such transactions more commonplace. It's like you saying in 1890 "Why buy cars? People don't travel that much." But the invention of cars is pre…
> What about the rest of the world? 6.6B humans? “Banking the unbanked” is much discussed in international development circles. Around 2013, Bitcoin advocates started claiming that Bitcoin could help with this problem. Unfortunately: * The actual problems that leave people unbanked are the bank being too far away, or bureaucratic barriers to setting up an account when you get there. * Unless they use an exchange (whi…
A few things:
Bitcoin, being electronic, precisely helps with people being far away from bank branch offices.
Bitcoin SPV wallets run on $10 Android smartphones. No need for an "expensive computer".
"Bitcoin is way too volatile to be a reliable store of value" Still better than being unbanked/underbanked. Also, volatility has been decreasing: https://mobile.twitter.com/lsukernik/status/8649208737189519...
"How do they convert it into local money they can spend? " As Bitcoin adoption increases, there is less and less need to convert it. Today 160k+ merchants accept it. 8 years ago it was 0.
"* 7 transactions per second worldwide total means Bitcoin couldn’t cope with...*" This limit is obviously not set in stone and will increase one way or another: segwit, block size increase, payment channels, etc.
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
" What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? " International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the u…
>International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Unless bitcoin transactions are clogged this week, and ignoring its extreme volatility and difficulties in conversion at both ends. > Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. The Venezuela case is made-up BS, and the same for slotting in some other country. Worked example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14552819 > Sending remit…
"Unless bitcoin transactions are clogged this week"
You can always choose to have a tx confirmed in 10 minutes if you choose to pay the appropriate fee.
"difficulties in conversion at both ends."
You are really stuck in the mindset that one "must" convert to spend coins. But as Bitcoin adoption increases there is less and less a need to convert it. Example: my brother in France sent me BTC and I spent it instantly in the US at NewEgg, a retailer who accepts BTC.
"The Venezuela case is made-up BS"
It's real. Yes journalists exaggerate on how much Bitcoin is used. But it is growing, and quickly: https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins/VEF
"Instead, they lose it in volatility"
Statistically, volatility (which has been greatly decreasing by the way: https://mobile.twitter.com/lsukernik/status/8649208737189519...) causes users to lose money half the time and win half the time. So, meh, not a real problem. It averages to zero. On the other hand traditional remittance companies screw you over every single time with a fee averaging 7% worldwide (https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/en). Clearly I prefer my brother sending me BTC than using Western Union.
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you suggesting that bitcoin exchanges keep a fractional reserve? Nonsense. Also, there's no requirement that you keep your coins in an exchange unless you're, well, exchanging them. That's kinda the point.
> Are you suggesting that bitcoin exchanges keep a fractional reserve? No, fractional reserve would imply transparency. I'm pointing out that historically, several large bitcoin exchanges have lost or stolen their customers' coins, and lied or tried to hide that fact.
And now we have large bitcoin exchanges which undergo regular, verifiable audits as a result.
Re: Digital coins may be on the verge of going mainstream
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Are you suggesting that bitcoin exchanges keep a fractional reserve? No, fractional reserve would imply transparency. I'm pointing out that historically, several large bitcoin exchanges have lost or stolen their customers' coins, and lied or tried to hide that fact.
And now we have large bitcoin exchanges which undergo regular, verifiable audits as a result.