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A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

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Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#271

Post by woah »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #239
DenisM wrote: post #87

This gets asked often, but in case something changed recently - what are the use cases of cryptocurrencies that are not: - Attempts to side-step the law (however misguided the law is) - Trivial to do using a typical centralized database (e.g. Federal Reserver or VISA) - Tantamount to waiting for a greater fool to buy out the current players I am not looking for answers of the form "well whenever you want to avoid a t…

The original use case for cryptocurrency (eg digital sound money, not world computers and the like) is as a long-term (and hopefully independent and uncorrrelated enough) hedge against mis-management and failure of national currency regimes. That remains a legit use case but will take years or decades to materialize. Given that the tech is still in the early stages of its maturity curve and needs more time to robusti…

That wasn't the original use case for crypto. In the bitcoin white paper he mostly talks about micropayments, which bitcoin has ironically failed at.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#272

Post by SkyMarshal »

HashBasher wrote: post #216

Yet another PoS shitcoin... The validation of a cryptocurrency must burn real world asset!

I wouldn’t call Algorand a shitcoin. There’s Bitcoin, altcoins and shitcoins. Altcoins have credible teams exploring alternative architectures, which is fine. And yes current wisdom is there’s no free lunch and you have to spend some resource to gain decentralized security. But it’s worth having credible altcoins exploring if that rule can, like Neo in the matrix, be bent or broken with some clever crypto or other CS. ;)

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#273

Post by seanyesmunt »

good-idea wrote: post #242

I'm shocked and disheartened by how infrequently environmental concerns are brought up when discussing crypto. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake, security, storage size - these are problems for the network and those that want to see it become a real part of our economy. (I am one of those) But the amount of energy being used to mine bitcoin is a real problem - it's not just a technical challenge (like the problems abov…

> In that sense, the coin would create an economic incentive to pollute

I think if anything it creates an incentive to use renewable energy. If miners are able to pay less for power, they make more money. As the cost of renewables continue to drop, more miners will move to it.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#274

Post by JoeAltmaier »

seanyesmunt wrote: post #273
good-idea wrote: post #242

I'm shocked and disheartened by how infrequently environmental concerns are brought up when discussing crypto. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake, security, storage size - these are problems for the network and those that want to see it become a real part of our economy. (I am one of those) But the amount of energy being used to mine bitcoin is a real problem - it's not just a technical challenge (like the problems abov…

> In that sense, the coin would create an economic incentive to pollute I think if anything it creates an incentive to use renewable energy. If miners are able to pay less for power, they make more money. As the cost of renewables continue to drop, more miners will move to it.

Irrelevant. Renewable energy could be used to replace other sources, instead of peed away on this.

A larger demand for energy likely means more polluting forms of energy will come back into service/stay in service to meet the demand.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#276

Post by ckastner »

sbenitoj wrote: post #181
malloreon wrote: post #16

I have long wondered how cryptocurrency fans would answer the question: ‘Would you be happy if the crypto-utopia you bring up happens in the next 10 years, and all value is stored/transacted through a cryptocurrency, but it was a coin that you do not possess now, nor could you transfer any of you current currencies into it?’ Say tomorrow someone releases the one true coin, but no one notices. All other cryptocurrenci…

Absolutely — I would gladly trade all my gains for a world where governments have no control over the creation and regulation of money.

> I would gladly trade all my gains for a world where governments have no control over the creation and regulation of money.

In that world, there would also be nothing to stop anyone else from just taking your money by force and without any consequences.

The loudest voices against government regulation of finance usually belong to those with the least understanding of it. Most of the regulation is just there to protect market participants.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#277

Post by entity345 »

Geee wrote: post #99
entity345 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A problem, imo is that these cryptocurrencies are pieces of software developped by anybody. This means a new one popping up every month... Which in turn means that they are useless as currency.

Just like clone of Facebook is instantly as valuable as Facebook?

Are cryptocurrencies any use as currencies? No.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#278

Post by fabianfabian »

good-idea wrote: post #242

I'm shocked and disheartened by how infrequently environmental concerns are brought up when discussing crypto. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake, security, storage size - these are problems for the network and those that want to see it become a real part of our economy. (I am one of those) But the amount of energy being used to mine bitcoin is a real problem - it's not just a technical challenge (like the problems abov…

The reports of bitcoin environmental damage are garbage. (https://hackernoon.com/the-reports-of-bitcoin-environmental-...)

Bitcoin mining will accelerate environmental friendly energy production because excess energy can be converted into Bitcoin instead of going to waste. Miners who don't use excess energy will be priced out and there is plenty of excess energy around the world.

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#279

Post by omarchowdhury »

ryan_j_naughton wrote: post #222
sbenitoj wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely — I would gladly trade all my gains for a world where governments have no control over the creation and regulation of money.

A predetermined monetary policy would be great when a financial crisis or credit crunch hit, causing a collapse in the velocity of money /s While I have invested in crypto and believe it has great potential, one of its touted benefits by its supporters is also one of its biggest pitfalls, namely that its money supply is predetermined. The inability to actively manage a money supply given exogenous shocks to the econo…

> The inability to actively manage a money supply given exogenous shocks to the economy is a big problem.

Have we seen this to be a problem within the context of Bitcoin?

Re: A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency

#280

Post by SkyMarshal »

good-idea wrote: post #242

I'm shocked and disheartened by how infrequently environmental concerns are brought up when discussing crypto. Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake, security, storage size - these are problems for the network and those that want to see it become a real part of our economy. (I am one of those) But the amount of energy being used to mine bitcoin is a real problem - it's not just a technical challenge (like the problems abov…

Most* Bitcoin mining is done with renewables. Mostly hydro. Hydro power is often remote from cities and other main electricity consumers, and too weak to transfer over long distances. So they’re a natural place to set up Google data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations on-site, which is pretty much what’s happened with Bitcoin.

*Don’t have a citation but there may be some research on this being published soon, it’s an open secret in the industry.

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