What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#31

Post by H8crilA » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #26

formalsystem wrote: post #24

It's important to remember that the main thing Bitcoin needs to maintain is it's monetary policy and you can find it at any time right here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validatio... Anyone can query at any time the total amount of Bitcoin that have been issued without relying on anyone. After downloading the Bitcoin client just run gettxoutsetinfo You can try to guess how many dollars have been…

> “if you view it as a savings technology then it's the best one that's ever been created” IMO this crown belongs to ETFs. Putting all your eggs in the Bitcoin basket would be an extremely risky strategy. A portfolio of ETFs is a much better place for most people’s savings.

ETFs are simply mutual funds married with high frequency trading.

Read about Authorized Participants if you're confused as to what HFT has to do with ETFs. Overall it's a decent improvement over the very old idea of open-ended funds, given the recent digitalisation of trading and super fast market making with tiny spreads.

PS. I like ETFs, I think they're achieving exactly what are they supposed to achieve.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#32

Post by pavel_lishin » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

MrXOR wrote: post #2

Bitcoin's white paper turns 12! Dear Satoshi! Thanks for Bitcoin. If you read my comment, please reply me your advice.

Get up and stretch several times a day. If you can, spend some time outside walking around, enjoying fresh air and looking at nature.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#33

Post by petertodd » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:38 PM UTC

formalsystem wrote: post #24

It's important to remember that the main thing Bitcoin needs to maintain is it's monetary policy and you can find it at any time right here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validatio... Anyone can query at any time the total amount of Bitcoin that have been issued without relying on anyone. After downloading the Bitcoin client just run gettxoutsetinfo You can try to guess how many dollars have been…

> Avoiding capital controls like in Lebanon

I personally know someone whose Lebanese family had food on the table for awhile in large part because of Bitcoin. They aren't even particularly interested in Bitcoin. It just happened to be the thing that worked best for their situation.

I live in a Canadian neighboorhood with lots of immigrants from poorer countries. There's a Bitcoin ATM near me that seems to get a decent amount of usage, mostly by people who look like they might have family in other countries. It might get even more usage, if not for the fact that buying Bitcoin in Canada is pretty easy via exchanges like Kraken and Bull Bitcoin.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#34

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:39 PM UTC

unnouinceput wrote: post #11

egypturnash wrote: post #6

Has anyone actually found a use for cryptocurrency and/or the blockchain yet that is not "burn a shit-ton of power on arguing over units of cryptocurrency are worth anything"?

https://dailyhodl.com/2020/09/28/big-bitcoin-holder-transfer... Quote from article: "The anonymous whale sent 15,987 Bitcoin worth $166 million, paying a fee of $23.46" Tell me, what bank in the world would charge only $23.46 for transferring $166 M?

> what bank in the world would charge only $23.46 for transferring $166 M?

I have never paid for a wire. I’ve also overseen multibillion-dollar wires for which there were zero transfer fees.

If you send and receive wires, get a bank account that doesn’t charge for them. (This is almost every account at e.g. Fidelity or First Republic.) Consumer accounts usually optimise for a different basket of needs than large instantaneous transfers. If that is something you care about, there are a myriad of options superior to Bitcoin.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#35

Post by kylebenzle » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:39 PM UTC

slickrick216 wrote: post #21

The fact that every time a blockchain/crypto thread hits HN and many of the responses are talking about time stamps is in itself a bit of a meme. Seems very reminisce of people in ages gone by talking about what was the point for any advances from trains to telegram to the internet. The answer for what to use it for is to make things trust less and decentralized if you can’t see the advantage or limitless possibiliti…

HN hates Bitcoin. I have never seen such a smart group of idiots in my life.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#36

Post by kylebenzle » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:40 PM UTC

emptysongglass wrote: post #19

egypturnash wrote: post #6

Has anyone actually found a use for cryptocurrency and/or the blockchain yet that is not "burn a shit-ton of power on arguing over units of cryptocurrency are worth anything"?

There's tons of uses: you can fractionally hold real estate, Estonia uses a blockchain to ensure only citizens can grant access to their data siloes to government entities and that that data remains untampered, you can track lineage of art pieces (who owned when), there are healthcare applications, and encrypted messengers like Jami and Status leveraging. You're a few years late on the let's-hate-blockchain trend. Ti…

Apparently HN still hates Bitcoin, you're comment will be removed in 3, 2, 1...

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#37

Post by kneel » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:40 PM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #26

formalsystem wrote: post #24

It's important to remember that the main thing Bitcoin needs to maintain is it's monetary policy and you can find it at any time right here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validatio... Anyone can query at any time the total amount of Bitcoin that have been issued without relying on anyone. After downloading the Bitcoin client just run gettxoutsetinfo You can try to guess how many dollars have been…

> “if you view it as a savings technology then it's the best one that's ever been created” IMO this crown belongs to ETFs. Putting all your eggs in the Bitcoin basket would be an extremely risky strategy. A portfolio of ETFs is a much better place for most people’s savings.

ETFs are still subject to whatever country's tax laws. Imagine putting your retirement into various funds only to have a Brexit type situation destroy your hard earned money.

Bitcoin is borderless, permissionless storage of value. Game theory built in (anyone powerful enough to attack the network is better incentivized to participate in it.)

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#38

Post by xiphias2 » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:41 PM UTC

formalsystem wrote: post #24

It's important to remember that the main thing Bitcoin needs to maintain is it's monetary policy and you can find it at any time right here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validatio... Anyone can query at any time the total amount of Bitcoin that have been issued without relying on anyone. After downloading the Bitcoin client just run gettxoutsetinfo You can try to guess how many dollars have been…

,,inflation protection and avoiding capital controls are arguably the most impactful innovation since the internet''

I have lived before the internet, and asked myself the question if I would choose that world without internet, or go back to inflating my money, and for me it's obvious: I would rather give back internet than Bitcoin if I had to choose. Of course as Bitcoin sits mostly on top of internet, something like this is technically almost impossible :)

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#39

Post by ChomskyNormal4m » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:41 PM UTC

formalsystem wrote: post #24

It's important to remember that the main thing Bitcoin needs to maintain is it's monetary policy and you can find it at any time right here https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/validatio... Anyone can query at any time the total amount of Bitcoin that have been issued without relying on anyone. After downloading the Bitcoin client just run gettxoutsetinfo You can try to guess how many dollars have been…

> inflation protection and avoiding capital controls are arguably the most impactful innovation since the internet

Inflation protection? Bitcoin lost one third of its value in the past three years. How is that inflation protection? You would have done better to hold most commodities or most currencies in that time period to protect from inflation, other than Bitcoin.

Re: What Bitcoin’s White Paper Got Right, Wrong and What We Still Don’t Know (2018)

#40

Post by JumpCrisscross » Sat, Oct 31, 2020, 3:44 PM UTC

kneel wrote: post #37

pavlov wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “if you view it as a savings technology then it's the best one that's ever been created” IMO this crown belongs to ETFs. Putting all your eggs in the Bitcoin basket would be an extremely risky strategy. A portfolio of ETFs is a much better place for most people’s savings.

ETFs are still subject to whatever country's tax laws. Imagine putting your retirement into various funds only to have a Brexit type situation destroy your hard earned money. Bitcoin is borderless, permissionless storage of value. Game theory built in (anyone powerful enough to attack the network is better incentivized to participate in it.)

> still subject to whatever country's tax laws

So is Bitcoin.