Is it still too early to estimate new application costs and performance improvements? Has anyone seen any statistics or comparisons yet? it will be interesting to see how this affects the efficiency of the platform and what this means for the adoption of other platforms.
Ethereum 2.0 launches
261–270 of 639 posts
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
In simple terms. The currencies, and related technologies al deal with the problem of transferring of money/services between parties where no centralized trust/power exists. This is, in the words of their proponents to prevent abuse by the trusted party: Credit card companies blocking transfers to legitimate companies on the basis of pressure from the US gov. Banks printing money and devaluing currency of currency ho…
I've heard of Ethereum "distributed apps". Is that different than currency, what is a use case for a distributed app?
Generally it's about eliminating counterparty risk. Compare Coinbase (centralized) with Uniswap (decentralized).
Coinbase users put their trust in a custodian. That custodian has the ability to steal from them or be stolen from. That's how MtGox went down in flames.
Uniswap users don't have to custody their funds with anyone to trade. They can use whichever they want.
Coinbase's platform can change on the whims of the company. Users have to accept this if they want to continue using the platform.
Uniswap is nothing more than a handful of small contracts which are unalterable and public. If you don't like, fork it. Don't like the official frontend? You can fork that too. Some wallets just build uniswap directly into the app. And since you don't have to sign up to use uniswap, the experience is completely seamless.
Now there's a lot more you can do with decentralized applications, but this should help get the point across.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I can do all these things already. While I understand why you are confused you must understand that many people can't do what you can do and it's not guaranteed you will be able to do it in the future either. Just look at the situation in Venezuela for example. Even in SE Asia loads of people are still unbanked with no way of changing that.
Then I don't understand this keen interest in crypto by Americans and Europeans. I think this is not why there is such a hype around cryptocurrencies.
Because they want to get rich quick
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eventually Proof of Work WILL kill Bitcoin - but I have to admit this may be decades out in the future. Right now, most of the mining is financed via inflation. But as this comes to an end, eventually, the cost of mining will be borne by anyone making transactions on the network through tx fees. Somebody has to pay the electricity bill on all these ASICs. EDIT: One could try to argue that high transaction costs are n…
I just don't see it. Bitcoin could be forked to no longer use PoW if it became an existential threat.
Migrating from PoW took about 2-3 years for Ethereum, required massive changes to economic model, and developing all new clients. Ethereum leadership is still somewhat centralized, so this did not lead to multiple competing forks.
Doing the same for Bitcoin would be very hard, and if it simply follows Ethereum's footsteps, then it is unclear why even use Bitcoin.
But -- I hope we see this fork sooner rather than later. Bitcoin miners will have no economic incentive to capture back the CO2 produced.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#265One thing I haven't been able to figure out about proof of stake is this: if one entity somehow manages to control over half to the total ETH tokens, does this enable an attack analogous to bitcoin's 51% problem (which happens when one miner controls over half of the network's raw cpu power)?
Vitaliks recent blog post is probably the best place for a quick overview of Pos/PoW attack costs and why PoS looks to be a more secure approach https://vitalik.ca/general/2020/11/06/pos2020.html
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#266Can anyone give a TLDR of what is significant about Ethereum 2.0 for those of us who don't follow this stuff much? As blockchain tech goes, Ethereum always seemed the most interesting.
It's not the first proof of stake blockchain, but it's the first that allows hundreds of thousands of nodes to fully participate, while also having high security and rapid finality. This is only possible because of math that was developed three years ago.
https://twitter.com/technocrypto/status/1330150362427387910
In proof of stake, mining equipment and electricity consumption is replaced by the cryptocurrency itself. You put up your currency as a bond, get rewarded more for running the network, and lose your bond if you misbehave.
The other big advance for ETH2 will be sharding, so each node doesn't have to process every transaction. But that's not the part that launched today.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#267Can anyone give a TLDR of what is significant about Ethereum 2.0 for those of us who don't follow this stuff much? As blockchain tech goes, Ethereum always seemed the most interesting.
It is powered by proof of stake, which means no asic miners, and possibly quicker blocks. A new virtual machine for smart contracts (EWASM instead of EVM) giving better contract analysis options, and possibly higher sync speeds due to optimisations. Also, sharding - so multiple jndependent blockchains, that should fix the scalability. If I’m not mistaken, this release is not yet a full blown new chain, but just a par…
I think ewasm is a bit up in the air, may come along at some point but i think the developer tools built up on the evm (and dev knowledge of evm) isnt going to be quickly replaced.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#268I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…
I’m really surprised to read this far down without anyone mentioning DeFi.
Decentralized finance is already happening. You can take out loans against your Ethereum or borrowing or lend already without a bank or an intermediary like LendingClub.
The orchestration of money and being able to program money is limitless without the intermediary is huge. True peer to peer financial instruments are now possible.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
> in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions. Hawala has succeeded in performing that role for centuries.
Yes but Hawala it is the anti-thesis of crypto. Crypto is born out of the dream of cyberpunks to have a trustless society.
That's why it's no surprise that crypto has mostly sucked at a role that Hawala has been filling just fine.
Re: Ethereum 2.0 launches
#270I don't understand this. I don't understand any of it. I don't understand cryptocurrencies. I don't understand what problems they really solve. > "Ethereum is open access to digital money and data-friendly services for everyone – no matter your background or location. It's a community-built technology behind the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) and thousands of applications you can use today." I can do all these things alr…
In person, I can exchange information with someone without anyone interfering. In person, I can exchange value (e.g.: chocolate for firewood) without anyone interfering. Online, I can exchange information without anyone interfering (using encryption). Online, I cannot exchange value without anyone interfering. Exchanging value at a distance is complicated, because there’s so many different laws, bank APIs, apps, regu…
This also applies to storing value.
See what happened to Greece in 2010, where many individuals lost large amounts of cash stored in their bank accounts. This would not happen with Ethereum. If you hold 10 ETH, you’ll continue to hold 10 ETH until it’s transferred elsewhere (or you lose your keys).