671–680 of 761 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Buying a subscription to gay.com from Syria. Your on the clock..
I'm not particularly anti-crypto but this is probably the worst example ever. By using crypto the person now has written a public record of that payment. An attacker now can use correlation attacks to try to identify the user. It's worse in almost every way for that user.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>encryption has many, many actually useful and productive applications So does crypto but likewise opponents of encryption disregard the positives and focus on the negatives to align with their preformed ideas. The only way out of this trap is to have an open mind and internalize the fact that all technologies can be used for good and evil and thus are relatively neutral overall. Humanity must take the good and bad a…
> So does crypto It doesn't. Everyone who claims otherwise can't come up with a single credible example.
* Paying for VPN anonymously with Monero.
* Sending money for living to relatives that reside in countries that are sanctioned. What's more important? Knowing that your family is not hungry or following your government's doctrine?
* Hide money from abusive relatives.
In summary: Doing transactions without having to ask your principal for permission or having to reveal them. Seems quite empowering to me, but apparently not everyone thinks that being empowered is valuable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ukraine raised $100 million in crypto donations. It's going to be offering an NFT series on Ethereum to raise yet more funds: https://qz.com/2147694/ukraine-is-selling-nfts-like-war-bond... Beyond the state's fundraising efforts, many in Ukraine were only able to take their wealth with them when they fled the country because they had it in the form of crypto. >>* Giving criminals and scammers the ability to exchange…
As always with crypto, this “use case” falls apart on even the tiniest inspection. Ukraine was not cut off from the global financial system and had no issue receiving donations in fiat currency—I myself sent them some fiat. It was quick and it was easy and the Ukrainians lost a hell of a lot less of my donation to transaction fees than they did of the ETH. Donating to Ukraine in ETH is a higher-fee way to do somethin…
It is far easier to donate from your browser, using your MetaMask wallet, than by visiting your bank branch to effect an international wire transfer. It can potentially also be safer, in letting you not have your identity recorded anywhere in association with a donation to a party to a conflict.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The crypto part adds nothing to this process. There are already very efficient systems for exchanging one fiat currency for another without going through crypto.
The crypto part obviates the need for using international wire transfers and the powerful correspondent banks that make it possible.
In any case, your argument presumes some desire to get rid of the correspondent banks. Most people don't have that desire, they just want the money to go from A-B reasonably cheaply, and there are existing great solutions for that except at the fringes — like criminals, avoiding sanctions, avoiding capital controls, etc — which is why crypto stays on those fringes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The crypto part adds nothing to this process. There are already very efficient systems for exchanging one fiat currency for another without going through crypto.
The crypto part obviates the need for using international wire transfers and the powerful correspondent banks that make it possible.
Potentially the involvement of those banks is a feature and provides value?
Things to ponder...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is exactly why crypto is such a disaster. Every week there is yet another scam where people losing their money. The feedback from crypto enthusiasts is well look at those idiots for putting their money into some scheme or you are not smart enough use this thing. Look "nobody" understands what you are talking about. These financial systems are inscrutable and the problem is getting worse. You are building systems…
Almost every criticism above could be applied to the current mainstream financial system too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> It doesn't. Everyone who claims otherwise can't come up with a single credible example. > Buying a subscription to gay.com from Syria. That is not a credible example. Here are some reasons: 1) Paying for porn? Paying for porn when the implication is that it's illegal and could get you in trouble? Who would do that? 2) Cryptocurrency isn't anonymous, and is usually highly traceable. 3) And even if it was anonymous,…
You need to spend more time thinking about this. You’ll end up realising that the value lies in self sovereign, permissionless money. Tech like Monero. The debt ceiling grows every day.
I have. However you illustrate an important point about cryptocurrency: it's an exercise in political ideology without practicality.
> The debt ceiling grows every day.
If you're that worried about inflation, shiny gold seems like a better option.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. Can your "blockchain" be validated with regular hardware? 2. Does it use a secure consensus algorithm? 3. Is there a secure side channel through which low-value transactions can flow? The only blockchain with 3 yes is Bitcoin lol.
Actually it's Chia. Bitcoin requires custom hardware. Chia does not - you can use an ordinary hard drive and run a full node on a Raspberry Pi.
No, it doesn't. We're talking about validating network consensus, that's what validator node do, not the mining nodes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ukraine raised $100 million in crypto donations. It's going to be offering an NFT series on Ethereum to raise yet more funds: https://qz.com/2147694/ukraine-is-selling-nfts-like-war-bond... Beyond the state's fundraising efforts, many in Ukraine were only able to take their wealth with them when they fled the country because they had it in the form of crypto. >>* Giving criminals and scammers the ability to exchange…
As always with crypto, this “use case” falls apart on even the tiniest inspection. Ukraine was not cut off from the global financial system and had no issue receiving donations in fiat currency—I myself sent them some fiat. It was quick and it was easy and the Ukrainians lost a hell of a lot less of my donation to transaction fees than they did of the ETH. Donating to Ukraine in ETH is a higher-fee way to do somethin…
I suppose you can consider the transaction fees marketing budget.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> So does crypto It doesn't. Everyone who claims otherwise can't come up with a single credible example.
* Evacuating money from war or authocratic leadership in a brain wallet, without running into the risk of getting it stolen at checkpoints. Of course that works best for those who already have crypto before that door closes. * Paying for VPN anonymously with Monero. * Sending money for living to relatives that reside in countries that are sanctioned. What's more important? Knowing that your family is not hungry or fo…
We all agreed on the rules as a society, if somebody wants to empower themselves above them than that's not cool imo.
Of course, in authoritarian governments your point stands, but then the trade-off is undermining democracies as collateral damage.