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But with Google your Mom can find out when the store is open and where it is. Facebook lets grandparents see photos of grandchildren. Reading a blog replaces re

by CPLX 9y ago

But with Google your Mom can find out when the store is open and where it is. Facebook lets grandparents see photos of grandchildren. Reading a blog replaces reading the gossip column in the daily paper. You could finally buy plane tickets without driving somewhere. And so on. The early web was really fucking useful as it started to mature. It solved a lot of real problems. What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today?

Swizec 9y ago
> What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? "I want to play investor and get filthy rich but don't have enough money to be an accredited investor, playing stocks feels too hard, and angel investing seems too risky." It's solving that problem.
- miscreanity 9y ago
  How many shares are outstanding? According to which exchange? Oh, it was recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain? No question, then. What about a deed or title for property? Which of countless organizations and public records sources has the document? If it was entered on the Ethereum blockchain, there's no doubt as to ownership. There's also tracking of goods; outbreak of salmonella? If the trail is available on a blockchain then it's easy to find the source and anything else that might be tainted. The only reason crypto is volatile right now is due to speculation on which blockchain(s) will be most successful, just as TCP/IP was not always the foremost protocol. It is the nature of growth to be uncertain and wild, and be certain that there is no going backward: Bitcoin and blockchains are here to stay. One additional note is that they are incredibly powerful tools for control and tracking - a deep state's wet dream, in the process of being willfully adopted by the masses and soon to be the delineating mark between the haves and have-nots. Make no mistake: blockchains can be manipulated by institutional forces. Huxley and Orwell could not have imagined this in their worst nightmares... beware.
  - CJefferson 9y ago
    Is it on bitcoin cash, or bitcoin core, or bitcoin XL, or bitcoin segwit2 (some options may be incorrect.. :) )
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Re: real estate. I've heard this one many times. Bu everyone now still has to agree to enter the transaction on some specific block chain. Even if you limit things to just the us. The issue isn't that we don't have the tech to have a national database. It's that the records are scattered all over dusty county and town clerks offices in thousands of jurisdictions for all sorts of historical and political reasons.
    - miscreanity 9y ago
      Yes, there are challenges. That isn't to say now is when everything will happen but there is rapid progress being made toward that point, and pilot programs are moving forward. Most municipalities have digital records available. It ought to take less time to translate those to blockchain records than the time it took for paper documents to be digitized. As for the selection of blockchain, that's part of where the current speculative wave in the technology comes in. Competition will persist until there are only a handful of well-defined players, at which point it will be reasonable for governments to tie records to them. All it takes is time.
- brooklyntribe 9y ago
  Playing stocks is hard? !. Open a robinhood account. 2. By AMZN. Come back in a year. Double your cash. The problem is, that's so boring! :-)
mrb 9y ago
"What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today?" International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the unbanked/underbanked. Allowing merchants to save 2% in credit card fees (which doubles their profit margin if it was 2% to begin with). Allowing merchants to sell in industries prone to credit card fraud. Etc. Gosh it's so easy to find many benefits in cryptocurrencies.
- WoodenChair 9y ago
  There are transaction fees with some cryptocurrencies (for example Bitcoin) – for a small purchase they can be much more than 2%.
  - mrb 9y ago
    Fees are always optional. Right now $0.25 will make a tx confirm in under 70 minutes (typical 225-byte tx, 40 sat/B: https://bitcoinfees.21.co https://bitcoinfees.21.co). Solutions are being developed left & right to further reduce this: alts, segwit, block size increases (segwit2x, BCH 8MB blocks), payment channels, etc. (Answer edited. Yes merchants care indirectly about fees.)
    - irishasaurus 9y ago
      How will the average user be able to avoid these fees considering they'll probably be using some 3rd party app? Appealing to the common person is going to involve larger exchanges how will digital coin grow and still keep digital currencies decentralized? I apologize for my ignorance in advance. I'm really just trying to learn more about this, and can't find any consensus, even within blogs/articles authored by the same people.
      - mrb 9y ago
        Most Bitcoin wallets give users some control on how much they want to pay in fees.
jordigh 9y ago
For me the real benefit of bitcoin is how easy it makes it to send money on the internet. If society at large treated bitcoin like a currency (i.e. suitable for settling all debts, whether public or private), the ease with which it can be sent online without intermediaries, anywhere in the world is what's really great about it. Internet money, true international internet money. That's what I like about it. If you just ever care about USD and everything you do in your life is in USD and you live in the US, there's little value in bitcoins. When I got started getting paid for IRC math tutoring, from people I had never met, whose identity I didn't know and didn't care about, but who could send me money if I just gave them a bitcoin address; that's when I really started to like bitcoins. I think bitcoin's utility is a separate question from regulations and taxes. Unlike most other bitcoin proponents, I like regulations and taxes, and I would be happy for whatever laws society thinks we need around bitcoins. I've paid sales tax with bitcoins when I've bought stuff with bitcoins from online retailers who accept them. The problem I have with banks is that I just think that they are awfully inefficient. Their security features are awfully inconvenient and theatrical. I mean stuff like password requirements and website design, not stuff like being able to roll back incorrect or fraudulent transactions (which, btw, didn't work for me; the one time I had my debit card skimmed the bank didn't do me a whit of good in getting my money back). Sending Bitcoins is as easy as sending email. Some banks in parts of the world let you do almost that, but it's just not as easy and convenient, and it's certainly not international.
- rubatuga 9y ago
  Wait? Inefficient? But how about the millions of dollars spent on electricity to mine bitcoins? I’m sure you could reach a level of trust at a fraction of that cost!
  - lapphi 9y ago
    At least it's nonviolent, compared to some fiat currencies.
- _nalply 9y ago
  It's illuminative that you didn't mention the trustlessness of blockchain. After all that was the original idea: Anybody can verify transactions without asking a central authority. But this is mostly not happening. Why? It's too difficult. To really trust blockchain on your own you have to understand game theory, cryptography and networks. You have to read source code and compile your clients yourself. Almost nobody does that. So what's the point? People are mostly in it for gambling or because they don't have a choice, for example illegal transactions. A honest answer whether they trust bitcoin would be a resounding no! And the banks? They see a way to reduce costs. Then the customers will trust the bank telling them to use it (or not). It's quite a perversion. I predict: Blockchain will succeed not because of its trustless nature but because it helps reducing transaction costs. Poor Satoshi Nakamoto would roll over in his grave (if he is dead).
repomies6999 9y ago
Gain purchasing power without the central bank constantly taking it away.
golergka 9y ago
Buying drugs.
geiseric 9y ago
I think you hit it on the head. Usability. I'm an IT guy and run a headless linux distro with GPU's, mining one of the currencies. I have Accounts on on Kraken and Coinbase along with my Jaxx wallet and local wallet, that I have to use CLI to send with. I have difficulty using Kraken and if my Jaxx wallet doesn't have the currencies I want as part of the ShapeShift application I have to shift to the web app ShapeShift. Bottom line, it can be a pain in the ass to use all of the different platforms to buy/sell and transfer. I do like the Jaxx interface and if they can adapt more currency wallets and integrate them with ShapeShift, that would go along way to more widespread adoption.
phasnox 9y ago
A few things https://keepingstock.net/why-ecuador-should-lift-cryptocurrency-ban-5ff240fcbd4c https://keepingstock.net/why-ecuador-should-lift-cryptocurre...

by CPLX 9y ago

Swizec 9y ago

> What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today? "I want to play investor and get filthy rich but don't have enough money to be an accredited investor, playing stocks feels too hard, and angel investing seems too risky." It's solving that problem.

miscreanity 9y ago
How many shares are outstanding? According to which exchange? Oh, it was recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain? No question, then. What about a deed or title for property? Which of countless organizations and public records sources has the document? If it was entered on the Ethereum blockchain, there's no doubt as to ownership. There's also tracking of goods; outbreak of salmonella? If the trail is available on a blockchain then it's easy to find the source and anything else that might be tainted. The only reason crypto is volatile right now is due to speculation on which blockchain(s) will be most successful, just as TCP/IP was not always the foremost protocol. It is the nature of growth to be uncertain and wild, and be certain that there is no going backward: Bitcoin and blockchains are here to stay. One additional note is that they are incredibly powerful tools for control and tracking - a deep state's wet dream, in the process of being willfully adopted by the masses and soon to be the delineating mark between the haves and have-nots. Make no mistake: blockchains can be manipulated by institutional forces. Huxley and Orwell could not have imagined this in their worst nightmares... beware.
- CJefferson 9y ago
  Is it on bitcoin cash, or bitcoin core, or bitcoin XL, or bitcoin segwit2 (some options may be incorrect.. :) )
- ghaff 9y ago
  Re: real estate. I've heard this one many times. Bu everyone now still has to agree to enter the transaction on some specific block chain. Even if you limit things to just the us. The issue isn't that we don't have the tech to have a national database. It's that the records are scattered all over dusty county and town clerks offices in thousands of jurisdictions for all sorts of historical and political reasons.
  - miscreanity 9y ago
    Yes, there are challenges. That isn't to say now is when everything will happen but there is rapid progress being made toward that point, and pilot programs are moving forward. Most municipalities have digital records available. It ought to take less time to translate those to blockchain records than the time it took for paper documents to be digitized. As for the selection of blockchain, that's part of where the current speculative wave in the technology comes in. Competition will persist until there are only a handful of well-defined players, at which point it will be reasonable for governments to tie records to them. All it takes is time.
brooklyntribe 9y ago
Playing stocks is hard? !. Open a robinhood account. 2. By AMZN. Come back in a year. Double your cash. The problem is, that's so boring! :-)

mrb 9y ago

"What is cryptocurrency going to help these people do that they can't do already today?" International payments confirmed and spendable in minutes not days. Escaping inflation in Venezuela/Argentina/whoeverisnext. Sending remittance to family overseas without 10% wasted in fees. Receiving monetary donations for organizations that might be victim of oppressive censorship. Participating in modern e-commerce for the unbanked/underbanked. Allowing merchants to save 2% in credit card fees (which doubles their profit margin if it was 2% to begin with). Allowing merchants to sell in industries prone to credit card fraud. Etc. Gosh it's so easy to find many benefits in cryptocurrencies.

WoodenChair 9y ago
There are transaction fees with some cryptocurrencies (for example Bitcoin) – for a small purchase they can be much more than 2%.
- mrb 9y ago
  Fees are always optional. Right now $0.25 will make a tx confirm in under 70 minutes (typical 225-byte tx, 40 sat/B: https://bitcoinfees.21.co https://bitcoinfees.21.co). Solutions are being developed left & right to further reduce this: alts, segwit, block size increases (segwit2x, BCH 8MB blocks), payment channels, etc. (Answer edited. Yes merchants care indirectly about fees.)
  - irishasaurus 9y ago
    How will the average user be able to avoid these fees considering they'll probably be using some 3rd party app? Appealing to the common person is going to involve larger exchanges how will digital coin grow and still keep digital currencies decentralized? I apologize for my ignorance in advance. I'm really just trying to learn more about this, and can't find any consensus, even within blogs/articles authored by the same people.
    - mrb 9y ago
      Most Bitcoin wallets give users some control on how much they want to pay in fees.

jordigh 9y ago

For me the real benefit of bitcoin is how easy it makes it to send money on the internet. If society at large treated bitcoin like a currency (i.e. suitable for settling all debts, whether public or private), the ease with which it can be sent online without intermediaries, anywhere in the world is what's really great about it. Internet money, true international internet money. That's what I like about it. If you just ever care about USD and everything you do in your life is in USD and you live in the US, there's little value in bitcoins. When I got started getting paid for IRC math tutoring, from people I had never met, whose identity I didn't know and didn't care about, but who could send me money if I just gave them a bitcoin address; that's when I really started to like bitcoins. I think bitcoin's utility is a separate question from regulations and taxes. Unlike most other bitcoin proponents, I like regulations and taxes, and I would be happy for whatever laws society thinks we need around bitcoins. I've paid sales tax with bitcoins when I've bought stuff with bitcoins from online retailers who accept them. The problem I have with banks is that I just think that they are awfully inefficient. Their security features are awfully inconvenient and theatrical. I mean stuff like password requirements and website design, not stuff like being able to roll back incorrect or fraudulent transactions (which, btw, didn't work for me; the one time I had my debit card skimmed the bank didn't do me a whit of good in getting my money back). Sending Bitcoins is as easy as sending email. Some banks in parts of the world let you do almost that, but it's just not as easy and convenient, and it's certainly not international.

rubatuga 9y ago
Wait? Inefficient? But how about the millions of dollars spent on electricity to mine bitcoins? I’m sure you could reach a level of trust at a fraction of that cost!
- lapphi 9y ago
  At least it's nonviolent, compared to some fiat currencies.
_nalply 9y ago
It's illuminative that you didn't mention the trustlessness of blockchain. After all that was the original idea: Anybody can verify transactions without asking a central authority. But this is mostly not happening. Why? It's too difficult. To really trust blockchain on your own you have to understand game theory, cryptography and networks. You have to read source code and compile your clients yourself. Almost nobody does that. So what's the point? People are mostly in it for gambling or because they don't have a choice, for example illegal transactions. A honest answer whether they trust bitcoin would be a resounding no! And the banks? They see a way to reduce costs. Then the customers will trust the bank telling them to use it (or not). It's quite a perversion. I predict: Blockchain will succeed not because of its trustless nature but because it helps reducing transaction costs. Poor Satoshi Nakamoto would roll over in his grave (if he is dead).

repomies6999 9y ago

Gain purchasing power without the central bank constantly taking it away.

golergka 9y ago

Buying drugs.

geiseric 9y ago

I think you hit it on the head. Usability. I'm an IT guy and run a headless linux distro with GPU's, mining one of the currencies. I have Accounts on on Kraken and Coinbase along with my Jaxx wallet and local wallet, that I have to use CLI to send with. I have difficulty using Kraken and if my Jaxx wallet doesn't have the currencies I want as part of the ShapeShift application I have to shift to the web app ShapeShift. Bottom line, it can be a pain in the ass to use all of the different platforms to buy/sell and transfer. I do like the Jaxx interface and if they can adapt more currency wallets and integrate them with ShapeShift, that would go along way to more widespread adoption.

phasnox 9y ago

A few things https://keepingstock.net/why-ecuador-should-lift-cryptocurrency-ban-5ff240fcbd4c https://keepingstock.net/why-ecuador-should-lift-cryptocurre...