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Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

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Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#81

Post by pavlov »

dragonelite wrote: post #28
cryptica wrote: post #14

CDBCs are going to be a goldmine for hackers. If implemented as centralized systems, some hackers and insiders are going to have access to unlimited free money. The fact is that nobody, no group of people on this planet is trustworthy enough to implement such an important system. Such people don't exist. Such centralized system is guaranteed to be corrupted. This is why such important financial systems MUST be decent…

I have been cashless for pretty much a decade, I'm more interested in what smart money that can be programmed can do. Like can i get paid instantly for every KWH i deliver back to the grid via solar panels. Can my salary or hourly contract be streamed to my bank account. These sort of things are all possible in crypto.

They are also possible with the instantaneous bank transfer system that exists in Europe. If an employer wanted to pay you once an hour, they could. I’m not sure what the point is, though.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#82

Post by bratwurst3000 »

tylersmith wrote: post #52
bratwurst3000 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isnt git a merkle tree? And a blockchain a special case of a merkle tree? More like a merkle chain ^.^

That's exactly what a blockchain is. Blockchain being the "secret sauce" has always been a misconception; as noted git is exactly a blockchain. What we call refs in git are blocks in Bitcoin. Nakamoto consensus was the innovation, the major energy consumer, and not necessary for cryptographic data integrity like a CBDC or git repo needs.

Interesting side fact. Proof of work was used before in 2004 to prevent spam but it failed. Nakamoto put that concept in a merkle tree.

https://m-cacm.acm.org/magazines/2019/8/238347-the-history-o...

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#83

Post by djbusby »

rmbyrro wrote: post #78
tadfisher wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The key words here are "central transaction processor". Being able to interact with the financial system without going through intermediaries would eliminate an incredible amount of waste in the form of most of the payments industry.

Would also eliminate an incredible last grain of financial privacy people have. When every transaction goes through FED, the government won't need to call or subpoena anyone to know where your money come and go.

How does the Post remain private, since the Government runs that too?

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#84

Post by pessimizer »

CrazyStat wrote: post #76
tryptophan wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fwiw in hindsight it appears that structural regulation like Glass-Steagal is what stabilizes the banking system. This is not at all clear. > Separating banking, investment banking, and insurance into separate legal entities and preventing the banks from consolidating into mega-banks prevented another a Great Depression for ~70years. Then roughly 8yrs after we repealed all that, we unsurprisingly had another Great…

>How the USD has lost 98% of its value since the 70s? By what metric has the USD lost 98% of its value since the 70s?

It's hyperbole referring to how much US dollars stored in a mattress 50 years ago would be worth now. If, instead, you earned money from wages and/or invested in stocks/bonds/real estate/comic books, nothing of the sort happened.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#85

Post by jonathan-adly »

randomhodler84 wrote: post #72
jonathan-adly wrote: post #2

It’s ironic that they named it project Hamilton. He is probably rolling in his grave now thinking that Jefferson would be finally proven right with CBDC and the insane ever increasing Public debt. "banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies," Thomas Jefferson

21st Century Jefferson would be stacking sats and telling everyone they knew about BTC. The antidote to 21st Century Hamilton CBDCs.

I actually think both will be stacking sats. Hamilton was a practical libertarian, Jefferson was “we must have a revolution every now and then to show the government who is boss” libertarian.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#87

Post by salawat »

djbusby wrote: post #83
rmbyrro wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would also eliminate an incredible last grain of financial privacy people have. When every transaction goes through FED, the government won't need to call or subpoena anyone to know where your money come and go.

How does the Post remain private, since the Government runs that too?

They never open the package, and technically, they are quasi-public.

Public enough that they can't play fast and loose like everyone else, but private where it matters in terms of not having literal Federally administered databases all just eafer for the reaping.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#88

Post by pessimizer »

reese_john wrote: post #80
pessimizer wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We already have all of this. The government can tell your bank to do something, and your bank will do it. What a government digital currency would do is end the subsidy of banks as the only "safe" place to park money. If I have a government account with my money, banks don't get to gamble with it for their own benefit. If I want to do that, I could withdraw the cash from where it is safe and consciously put it at ris…

We already have all of this. The government can tell your bank to do something, and your bank will do it. But can the government do that at scale ? I thought they needed at least a subpoena to get your bank records. It's different from the mass surveillance that a CBDC enables.

That's assuming that your bank cares about keeping your transactions private enough not to voluntarily submit to anything asked of it.

If you hate the idea, you'd still be free to park your cash with some rando that promises to keep it safe, just without subsidy. Hell, the existence of a gov digital currency might ironically stabilize bitcoin or a bitcoin-like.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#89

Post by salawat »

culturestate wrote: post #67
ur-whale wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What does civilians owning firearms have to do with a well-trained military force taking over the seats of power? Such a military force would be facing a very well armed citizen-led guerilla response. Given the amount of private gun ownership in the US, holding on to power after a coup would prove a rather difficult proposition.

> Such a military force would be facing a very well armed citizen-led guerilla response. As well-armed as the citizenry may be, the military is infinitely more so - they have, you know, tanks and planes and smart bombs - and in this fantasy civil war-esque scenario I don’t think the junta would be shy about exploiting that advantage.

...All of which require extensive logistics to employ that have hitherto been predicated in the Armed Forces not being on the wrong side of the American public's ire. I.e. you can handle hostile logistics in Afghanistan because it isn't that hard to get the raw materials stateside, and move them through Allied supply chains.

Remove the part where it's easy to get things Stateside, and I assure you, a U.S. military coup/junta will be fighting a two sided war as well. Both internal from the populace, and external from former Allies who in no way, shape, or form are going to sit idly by and be threatened by a militaristic U.S. Armed Forces that's even remotely controversial enough to even be considered a coup by the populace.

People forget: The Army Sabotage Manual is public domain.

The military knows exactly the hell it will be entrenched in if it ever goes against the public's wishes. They literally wrote the book.

Re: Boston Fed releases report, source code of digital currency prototype study

#90

Post by djbusby »

salawat wrote: post #87
djbusby wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the Post remain private, since the Government runs that too?

They never open the package, and technically, they are quasi-public. Public enough that they can't play fast and loose like everyone else, but private where it matters in terms of not having literal Federally administered databases all just eafer for the reaping.

Right. So, couldn't the central ledger be similar?
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