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Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

tempo.xyz

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Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#671
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…

Lazy vibe check, building a stable coin is way easier than running settlement or a clearing house.

So I get it I guess!

Edit: I’m only joking a little bit

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#672
post #412
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you redeem your stable coin without some interaction with and approval from a bank? Where do you think the stable coin issuers hold their dollars? I mean FFS the dang tokens are literally pegged to the dollar.

Stable coin is digital IOU. Where issuer makes the rules. I never got the idea how for that reason there is any guarantees that you can get money out in those less served locations.

Even in ANY jurisdiction you’d presumably need a contractual agreement with the issuer. IIRC only certain entities may redeem tether/USDC for cash. You at a minimum need an account! Not like I can just send those companies my tokens and get straight cash.

The whole thing is just asinine. The killer use case for crypto is dodging laws & regulation. Not even judging because that’s REAL utility!

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#673
post #396

Let me help explain whether blockchains are useful or not: They're not. The US gov let Circle be a less-regulated bank than other banks. This is called "regulatory arbitrage". You can take advantage of it by checking the box that you have a "blockchain". Stripe noticed "wow, things labeled blockchain are nice for some people to use" because of this dumb inconsistent banking regulation situation. Stripe doesn't mentio…

Less regulated? Circle has to keep 100% reserves backing all accounts whereas most US banks operate a low fractional reserve and lend mostly to billionaires funding moderately risky leveraged commercial real estate.

Yep, I mean regulated with respect to who's allowed to offer and hold digital accounts in the currency. Circle itself may not do anything too funky, but big chunks of USD then get stored elsewhere online for banking-like activity in a way that wouldn't be legal with USD — right?

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#674
post #354
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 i…

Libra/Diem was told by regulators to not move forward with the project. They were very early days, and trying to "do it right" in which the administration said "not at all".

Similar also happened with Visa... check when they were publishing in-depth reports from their crypto arm and then suddenly stopped.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#675
post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely at the whim of the US government whether they allow non-KYC foreign people to have USDC accounts. Right now they say USDC:Yes and USD:No. They could easily say yes or no to either one at any time. Blockchain as technology is irrelevant.

Technology is relevant because it is the very reason they have to say yes to USDC and try to at least partially regulate it. If they could, they would say no and even ban it completely, but they can’t.

I don't know what you mean. Circle is a US company that needs to follow US laws. There is no USDC without Circle.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#676

[I'm likely missing something, but] "EVM-compatible, built on Reth" => they're essentially building a private Ethereum fork with a fancy validator selection process. Couldn't they just get these benefits (predictable fees, fast settlement) by ... running a database between these financial institutions? If Stripe controls the validator set (even indirectly), then ... just a distributed database with extra steps, no?

Indeed! After, a distributed database made for financial systems, that could prevent double spending, provide immutability of the data, includes a mechanism of authentication, with some voting power distributed between a quorum of financial of institutions... it's actually exactly what Reth is.

To have deployed some blockchain layer 1 nodes, it's actually quite similar than deploying a distributed database.

Nowadays, it's actually just easier to fork geth/reth or other engine, and just deploy it. There are so many doc and tooling that can then be reused.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#677
post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The frequency with which people involved in cryptocurrency "pull the levers themselves" has far outpaced government manipulation of currency.

Has it? You're not really providing much evidence of that. If it so far outpaces, it should be easy to give several examples.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitget-lawyer-letters-account... https://bitnewsbot.com/us-judge-unfreezes-57-6m-usdc-tied-to... https://ambcrypto.com/avalanche-based-protocol-reportedly-ru... https://cointelegraph.com/news/polymarket-trump-ukraine-bet-... https://x.com/BinanceWallet/status/1904352541615554611 https://x.com/JMilei/status/1890606683291779195

I could pretty much go on forever…

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#678
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…

This is a very bad place to ask. Very anti-bitcoin crowd.

Well, I was just curious to hear it from the horse's mouth since they were answering questions in here. The answers are interesting, though I think they're answering a bit of a different question than I am personally asking.

Like, blockchain technology to power distributed ledgers for peer-to-peer payments is pretty interesting and I think I'd prefer it exists, consequences be damned. Stable coins don't really fit the same use cases though, and generally do have at least some reliance on a central party, so it raises the question whether the desired technical properties can't actually be achieved using traditional technology.

Unfortunately, the answers pretty clearly center around not what kind of technology is used to implement the ledger, but rather the choice to implement one versus using existing payment networks. I don't think this is done in bad faith, but rather is the result of very different perspectives.

I think the blockchain skeptics have a point: even if there is something especially technically advantageous about using the blockchain for this purpose that really couldn't be accomplished some other way, so far the only obvious incentive to do things this way appears to be regulatory differences in how the blockchain is regulated versus traditional ledgers.

Very tangential, but seeing major entities and even governments adopt blockchain technology has made me think a lot about potential consequences in the longer term. I really wonder what happens to the properties of various cryptocurrency networks when and if quantum computers scale big enough to start breaking our cryptographic systems. I guess CryptoNote is just toast.

Re: Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo

#680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The GENIUS act enables tech companies to become reserve holders -- buy US Treasuries with customers' money. Stripe offers a "transactional ecosystem" to the customer in stablecoins, the customer gives USD to Stripe in exchange for stablecoins, Stripe buys short-term Treasuries and makes a shitload of money on interest. Part of the very high level play is the US Govt seeks to diversify away from depending on nation st…

That only makes sense if Stripe issues their own stablecoins? If they let their customers hold USDC on the Tempo chain, then any revenue from holding short-term treasuries goes to Circle. Are you suggesting Stripe would force Circle to share some of their revenue with them or they launch their own stablecoin to compete with USDC?

Stripe already has their own stablecoin: https://www.bridge.xyz/news/usdb
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