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Why I’m Cryptophobic

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Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#391

Post by andirk »

javajosh wrote: post #16
janandonly wrote: post #2

I am also cryptophobic. That is why I only use Bitcoin. Bitcoin, not crypto. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31932273

Bitcoin's primary value is access to gray or black markets. Bitcoins secondary value is appreciation, which depends on the primary value, plus a transient state where the public becomes aware of this new value at a pace that outstrips new BC generation. Bitcoin's tertiary value is marketplace/exchange operation, which depends on both primary and secondary values. But all of it rests on forbidden market access. The co…

I use bitcoin to fund my sports gambling, overstock.com purchases, some web domain names purchases, gifts to ppl. Nothing dark about any of it. Wtf are you talking about? Plz show stats on hacker news instead of spewing old tropes. Sorry you didn't get in earlier.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#392

Post by yellowapple »

tsimionescu wrote: post #304
yellowapple wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way in any number of Hells that I'd trust PornHub with my banking info.

Why not? They're a far more reputable business than many online stores, for example.

The fewer databases storing my banking info, the better.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#393

Post by adastra22 »

babypuncher wrote: post #375
dont__panic wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also seems like those "layers on top of BTC" erode one of the only aspects of blockchain that has appeal for me -- the full transparency of the system, such that you can see every exchange of BTC on the network. The minute you offload any of that to other systems, you're essentially creating dark pools and money laundering opportunities because of differential oversight.

And you're trusting some central authority to manage your money along with that of countless others. You're right back in the same situation you presumably wanted to avoid with fiat and banks, only with exponentially greater environmental impact and no regulations in place to protect your money when things go FUBAR.

The L2 systems built on bitcoin have faults, but centralization is not one of them. You don’t go custodial when you put bitcoin into a lightning channel.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#394

Post by adastra22 »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #373
engmgrmgr wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a rather myopic view. You could look at L2s as a sort of credit card system, and from a systems and technology POV there’s nothing inherently “scammy” about it. For web3 applications of any meaningful large scale, L2 solutions are necessary. For better or worse, the L2 developer platforms that I assume you’re referring to are essentially low-code solutions to abstract away the actual systems software engineeri…

I think the person you're responding to was talking about Bitcoin L2 chains, probably more specifically the lightning network. I actually agree with that about Bitcoin. Web3 is generally done on EVM or cosmos chains, some of which are L2s (and some of which are loosely considered L2s). But most of them are still separate chains, so not L2s in the sense that the Lightning network is an L2. If you're looking at EVM cha…

How is lightning “a ploy to enrich its creator”?

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#395

Post by benreesman »

SilasX wrote: post #258
mattnewton wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the person you are responding to, but is there somewhere reputable offering these kinds of contracts to no-name retail investors like myself? I would absolutely load up on something like 12,000 - 15,000 USD bitcoin puts depending on the time decay people are offering and how certain I could be that they would actually let me exercise them, and not freeze trading or even go belly up during the crash. I am somewhat…

In the US, LedgerX[1] (now owned by FTX) is a reputable, regulated exchange. The longest-dated put I see for $15k is EOY 2022 and is trading at a spread of $2000-8000. You can buy puts at the $25k strike dated June 2023 for $4300-4800. [1] https://app.ledgerx.com/btc There was a link that doesn't require login but I forgot it.

I don’t know if SBF and I would ever get along personally, but you have to agree that the M&A strategy has been superb.

As well as it needs to be when you’re up against Yi He, that chick gives Bill Gates nightmares: she’s a fucking force of nature.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#396

Post by LtWorf »

tablespoon wrote: post #243
mjburgess wrote: post #4

There needs to be some basic economics here.. Money has value because of the value of the economic transactions in which its conducted. Government-backed currencies are forced to have value in the sense they force people to use it for their taxes. The US, additionally, forces the world to use it for oil trades. Value is in those economic transactions. A currency is just a "liquifying" of that value, to make it easier…

> The US, additionally, forces the world to use it for oil trades. That is not true. The US isn't forcing anyone to use the dollar, e.g.: https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-considers-acceptin...

The last countries that considered it seriously were bombed and invaded…

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#397

Post by LtWorf »

mattwilsonn888 wrote: post #313
anbende wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, except that gold has inherent value. Historically we thought it was pretty and made jewelry out of it. It’s important for a variety of technology products. It’s a value store because it is consistently valuable first. Bitcoin skips that step.

Gold pays for that step. No one sensible would prefer the gold UX compared to Bitcoin. It beats it in every way other than 'shiny!'

Gold works when the internet is down :)

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#398

Post by NVQXE23I »

This article is claiming that .01% of the BTC owners hold more then 27% of the supply. This is not true. Those .01% are in exchanges and from early adapters who lost their keys. The main consensus is that around 3,000,000 BTC are lost.

Furthermore, the article makes a lot of assumptions. "Crypto presents anarcho-libertarians with an escape hatch that seemingly puts one’s no wealth, data, and resources beyond the reach of the state or a corporation". On paper this sounds plausible, but in reality (by using an exchange for example) bigger whales can be better identified.

To be clear, I own crypto, because I like the technology. Off-course it would be impossible to create a society where I make my (untraceable) money by working and spent this money in buying a house or car. You need some form of control, so you can't go around robbing people and using that stolen money to fund your lifestyle.

But the big problem BTC tackles is that the money I make is not influenced by printing more, thus making it less valuable. Maybe the whole world should go back to the gold standard and keep the amount of money going around the same.

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#399

Post by once_inc »

adastra22 wrote: post #394
pcthrowaway wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the person you're responding to was talking about Bitcoin L2 chains, probably more specifically the lightning network. I actually agree with that about Bitcoin. Web3 is generally done on EVM or cosmos chains, some of which are L2s (and some of which are loosely considered L2s). But most of them are still separate chains, so not L2s in the sense that the Lightning network is an L2. If you're looking at EVM cha…

How is lightning “a ploy to enrich its creator”?

Especially considering that it is being independently developed by three organisations as an open source protocol that offers complete self-hosting and doesn't require an intermediary during operation...

Re: Why I’m Cryptophobic

#400

Post by once_inc »

LtWorf wrote: post #390
olalonde wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Debit/credit card transactions are done through centralized systems. Bitcoin transactions can also be done at scale on those same centralized systems (aka "off-chain transactions").

Then you are back to having a bank… Then what's the point?

You have the option to settle down to a decentralized system. Imagine the US still on a gold standard. If you lose trust in USD because of changes in the government (election of obviously corrupt or incompetent officials), you can settle out of the US Dollar to gold, which is apolitical and allows you to be self-sovereign.

The breaking of the gold standard has allowed the US government to extend its monetary base significantly, which is a price future generations (read: our generations) will be footing the bill for.

I'm a bitcoin maximalist, but I don't mind if all existing banks were to build a second layer that scales vastly, so long as I'm allowed to settle my bitcoin in their ecosystem with bitcoin on chain.

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