> I think that's their point. There's a lot of discussion that 'banks will become obsolete with crypto' that forgets that banks are not the currency, they just manage it. If crypto becomes widespread banks will keep on existing, they'll just move to manage cryptocurrencies.
> You just recreated consumer banking.
While I personally detest the notion of such a model, and things like GME show why that is: I realized that after 10 years we really are going to have to simplify this tech to that level in a way that it's indistinguishable to the old model if we are onboard them at all. Which is why Kraken taking the lead in this is happening [0].
We collectively opposed this system so much that once we on boarded all the nerds we had a massive blindspot and didn't take pause and realize that the immense complexity to work and use Bitcoin on an everyday basis would be near impossible for the average person who struggled with HS math. And that's often who needs this tech the most, as they often the first to fall victim to the pernicious and illegal actions of banks with things like compounding overdraft fees, mortgage scams etc...
I was used to having to use run a full node on QT with no smart phone for the first 4-5 years so it's all simple to me now, but that is all relative to where you start and when I started I couldn't even code enough to do more than a simple 'Hello world' command but with time I became a founder of a fintech start up and then developer and consultant at a multi-national corporation because this tech evolved so fast and demanded I keep up, so it was a massive learning curve but more than anything I was ready and willing to learn; which I KNOW most people don't want to do.
HN is also a very good cross section that makes me keep coming back at ATHs because even amongst tech workers many keep talking about how 'bad' the tech is without taking the time to even look into it beyond the sensationalist headlines the media makes up as fact and they repeat the same tired narrative, and they too are reluctant if not entirely incapable of undertaking what we think is 'simple' but also the best deterrent for the inherit corruption of the fiat World and also the basis of OPSEC and is best inculcated in a simple mantra: not your keys, not your Bitcoin. Out thinking your enemy and creating new way to route around their absurd system is exhausting, and spending time playing factorio and with legos is fun.
You'd think for a place like HN that is so quick to pat itself on the back for learning a new programming language and boasting about it here in some perverse form of virtue signalling as an autodidactic impresario they'd be the first to see the immense novelty Bitcoin holds (and to an extension it's Blockchain and it's verification, and consensus model) and the fun challenge to understand it would be and ultimately why some of the world's best cryptographers (who at their core have to love to solve complex problems and learn new skills along the way) work in this space. This sentiment is a total contradiction to the philosophy the early days of Silicon Valley had, but has given way to this more petty and servile wave of infantile 'technologists' that are beholden to FAANG so this is clearly what happens when even 'smart people' get things wrong: they try to justify their errors with these campaign smears. Which is why I'm glad so many are leaving CA, hopefully it can go back to it's cypherpunk roots it had in the 80s and 90s.
So, rather than commit to endless Pyrrhic victories trying to fight this with ideological fervor and an unfounded hope people will just eventually 'learn on their own' I realize that time is the most pressing issue, COVID was just a reminder how quickly things can change for the worse, and we should just offer these service as an inevitability for those whose mindsets are not apt to a paradigm shift.
It's crazy to see just how many on HN are incredibly jealous and over all envious about Bitcoin's success, you'd think they would be elated that open source tech is what disrupted finance, but then you realize how many are only 'successful' in Life because of their monetary net worth measured in fiat and how they ignored or simply dismissed Bitcoin because it was too complicated. Their work is not their own, and they are beholden to their employers for identity and purpose, and Bitcoin is just a reminder of why it might have been a waste of time when M1 and M2 spikes happen.
For those of us who worked in Bitcoin professionally we can point and extrapolate the value we derived from it, and some of us can even point to landmark legislation, thought to be impossible, that had to be changed in part because of our efforts and that gives us a form of satisfaction they will never have. So even if it wasn't the safe, or even profitable undertaking sometimes it was worth it because money may be important but it isn't everything.
We got two of the biggest names in Fintech (Musk and Dorsey) on our side, one being the richest man on the planet stating crypto will be used on Mar's economy; but we really need the new wave of users so we should also just acquiesce and create the walled gardens and gaurd-railed sandboxes they so desperately pine for, in hope that one day they could remove the training wheels if they so choose.
They thought they had it so good, for so long, so now when something comes along and shows them that their jails are opened they suffer from a sort of anxiety when they're not in one, so I say: lets just build it for them, but give them a key they can keep inside and use if and when they are ever ready, while the rest of us continue to operate as we always intended Bitcoin to be.
