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Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

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Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#351

Post by yieldcrv »

kortilla wrote: post #339
yieldcrv wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's a very high quality question, in comparison to the others. here is what you're missing, and is very easy to miss: the third party, unaffiliated, developer experience is better on an EVM than it is is on a traditional centralized database. Than it is on a shared database with a bunch of signers. Than on any "web 2.0" cloud platform. the developers continue to bring their entire audiences with them, even though…

The developer experience is irrelevant when it comes to handling money in volume. Take the spacex example above. They are using a stablecoin to abstract away a bunch of illiquid and unstable foreign currencies. Getting rid of that huge pain of carrying 100 countries’ currencies via various banks is the value prop. The API could be cobol and it wouldn’t matter.

and yet, when you look at what comprises a stablecoin alongside the frictions unstable foreign countries have, you'll see why they occur on EVMs and not some other architecture

> The API could be cobol and it wouldn’t matter

you can probably get cobol to transpile to bytecode that EVMs can use. I get the point you're trying to make that excludes blockchains, but you don't make that point

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#352

Post by WinstonSmith84 »

serial_dev wrote: post #243
dcposch wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem with all that, is the fact it remains possible to create a protocol with N big institutions [...] This maintains many benefits of the blockchain and lacks many issues (fast, simple, near zero cost) That's more or less exactly what this is. Stripe is launching an EVM L1. The Ethereum Virtual Machine part gives it a mature tech stack with experienced developers and auditors. Plus, well-tested smart contra…

I don’t get it yet. If we skipped the whole blockchain part, wouldn’t it be faster, simpler, cheaper? What value does the whole blockchain, EVM, L1 offer? Don’t they fully control the network? Don’t they decide “everything” anyway? I’d love to understand it, I’m not a hater, just a developer who don’t quite get this announcement.

good questions - and your questions are, or could be, actually rhetorical. Yes, they are the validator and thus they control the transactions. It could be as simple as having a Database at the end ... Well I can think of two things:

1- they start by owning all validators, maybe they expect to open validators to other entities at some point in the future. If these entities don't collude together, we could expect some sort of neutrality

2- Marketing - because crypto is coming at an ATH and why not getting some good marketing for free (or almost)

And people mentioning costs, this is not particularly relevant. L2s are extremely cheap by most standards, let alone by Stripe standards which charge horrendous fees.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#353

Post by k__ »

Aaronstotle wrote: post #187
pc wrote: post #46

There are lots of crypto skeptics on HN (and we ourselves were disappointed with crypto's payments utility for much of the past decade), so it might be interesting to share what changed our mind over the past couple of years: we started to notice a lot of real-world businesses finding utility in stablecoins. For example, Bridge (a stablecoin orchestration platform that Stripe acquired) is used by SpaceX for managing…

Why do you need a blockchain for this? What benefit does it bring here?

Stripe can siphon some of that delicious crypto revenue.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#354

Post by asim »

pc wrote: post #46

There are lots of crypto skeptics on HN (and we ourselves were disappointed with crypto's payments utility for much of the past decade), so it might be interesting to share what changed our mind over the past couple of years: we started to notice a lot of real-world businesses finding utility in stablecoins. For example, Bridge (a stablecoin orchestration platform that Stripe acquired) is used by SpaceX for managing…

> Who will run validator nodes?

"A diverse group of independent entities, including some of Tempo’s design partners, will run validator nodes initially before we transition to a permissionless model."

I think Zuck tried to do this. It was called Libra or Diem or I can't remember what it ended up being. Ultimately trust is what matters. In the end whether it was regulation or governments or anything else that killed it, it's only going to work if people can trust you. They trusted you with fiat payments, maybe they'll trust you with crypto. The thing to note, you'll win over the US centric crowd but it's unclear if it will translate truly across borders to Europe, Russia, China, etc. I'm guessing that doesn't matter but just remember what happened. Make sure to be honest about who's actually going to run the payment rails here.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#355

Post by fschuett »

zeven7 wrote: post #136

The job listing[1] for Rust Engineer at Tempo says > Attributes: High motor What is meant by that? [1] https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tempo-xyz/aab97703-13e2-42e8-9fb9-9...

The requirement "high motor" is a new standard in the software industry, where you are expected to arrive at the interview levitating at least five feet off the ground, propelled by your own internal combustion engine. Your resume should include your horsepower (minimum 250), fuel efficiency per Jira task and preferred brand of motor oil.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#357

Post by ViewTrick1002 »

pc wrote: post #46

There are lots of crypto skeptics on HN (and we ourselves were disappointed with crypto's payments utility for much of the past decade), so it might be interesting to share what changed our mind over the past couple of years: we started to notice a lot of real-world businesses finding utility in stablecoins. For example, Bridge (a stablecoin orchestration platform that Stripe acquired) is used by SpaceX for managing…

> We're currently adding stablecoin functionality to the Stripe dashboard, and the first user is an Argentinian bike importer that finds transacting with their suppliers to be challenging.

Using crypto to dodge currency controls?

Of course I agree that currency controls are bad. But, if the use case for crypto keeps being fostering illegal transactions then it doesn’t solve anything a functioning economy needs.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#358

Post by kji »

yieldcrv wrote: post #191
jchw wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of us are not really deep into the finance space. Maybe there's a good reason it's left unsaid, but the question I came away with after reading that page and this comment is, why are businesses finding crypto easier/faster/better? To me, it's not 100% clear exactly who Tempo is for and not for, and why blockchain is more suitable than traditional centralized database technology here. And it sounds like this sys…

that's a very high quality question, in comparison to the others. here is what you're missing, and is very easy to miss: the third party, unaffiliated, developer experience is better on an EVM than it is is on a traditional centralized database. Than it is on a shared database with a bunch of signers. Than on any "web 2.0" cloud platform. the developers continue to bring their entire audiences with them, even though…

> the third party, unaffiliated, developer experience is better on an EVM than it is is on a traditional centralized database.

This is definitely a take, given how easy it is to write a program with security bugs using Solidity due to specific concerns like reentrancy that only exist due to the unique way smart contracts work. The inability to "undo" a fraudulent or mistaken transaction without requiring all validators to fork the chain also makes this a non-starter for many developers.

> your users pay to update the state of your application

Also a weird thing to call a "feature" for developers when this actively drives away potential users.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#359

Post by bravoetch »

j2kun wrote: post #294
insane_dreamer wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect; it's to bypass the middlemen that create the links of trust between two parties exchanging money. That was the point of Bitcoin from the start. (The many other crypto coins since then are mostly BS freud.)

In this case, Stripe is adding themselves as a middleman. Whether or not it was the point of Bitcoin from the start, "removing the middlemen" is bullshit because you still need exchanges, wallet providers, people running nodes, etc. Cryptocurrency in practice just transfers power from traditional middlemen to new technically-advantaged middlemen.

The middleman that bitcoin is cleaved from is banks (that have control over all balances and transactions), and payment processors (same controls). Previously these were required unless you handed physical cash to someone. Now electronic transactions are free of those controls and the associated risk. Exchanges are not bitcoin, you can transact freely without them. Wallet providers are not bitcoin, they are 100% optional. Nodes don't act as middlemen, they are fabric.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#360

Post by wmf »

jrm4 wrote: post #125

Ah the layers. Okay, so one: Obviously pointless from a tech POV. There is nothing that a Stripe controlled blockchain could offer that a database could not. But then, why? Sadly, as someone who does like the ideals of true cryptocurrency, yet another way to make sure "real" crypto doesn't happen, much like what is happening to BTC. Here's hoping (yeah, it's a long shot) people see through all of this and maybe, MAYB…

If Stripe can kill "real crypto" then it deserves to fail.
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