4 ms·

It's early days. Think Netscape.

richardknop 9y ago
It's not so early. People have been developing apps on top of Bitcoin Blockchain for years now. Ethereum has been almost 2 and half years ago. I am not expecting any unicorns like Google/Facebook but at least couple of dapps with actual customers (e.g. not couple hundred crypto fanatics that sign up to every dapp just to pump the price) that are growing revenue and customer base and seem like a legitimate business. I've been following crypto space for a long time but can't think of any blockchain app like that. Only money making companies are exchanges which make money from fees because of the mania and all the people trying to flip tokens to make big bucks and quickly sell to other noobs, but exchanges are old fashioned companies with centralised databases and Java/.NET codebase, they are not actual dapps.
- ncallaway 9y ago
  Think back to when people had been building websites for 2 years on the internet. It's still early days. 2 years feels like a long time, but it's not that long.
  - CPLX 9y ago
    I was there, it was great. Suddenly I could access tons of information, save hundreds of dollars by sending emails instead of long distance calling, look up airline schedules, download lists of jokes, find local singles looking to mingle, browse mail order catalogs, read recipes, or order books from a small Seattle company with a huge selection. The personal real-world benefits of the www were real and obvious and constantly improving. What has the blockchain actually done for people on a daily basis?
  - FabHK 9y ago
    The WWW was developed 1989, first software (browser) in 1990, first websites went live in 1991, Mosaic came out in 1993, and things really exploded from 1994 on, with Amazon, Spiegel Online (German weekly newspaper), Pizza Hut, The Economist, etc. all going online. Dotcom bubble was 1997 to 2001. Bitcoin white paper came out in 2008, first software release in 2009. With comparable development, we'd have expected an explosion of usage and applications from 2013 already (that didn't happen), and a bubble about 2016 to 2020 (that arguably did happen). At any rate, the WWW was super useful (and was being extensively used) pre- and during the bubble. You cannot say the same about cryptocurrencies. (And by the way, during the dotcom bubble there were several companies, such as Flooz and Beenz, offering digital currencies. They're all defunct now. If only they had been decentralised on the blockchain...)
- lz400 9y ago
  cryptokitties or whatever is called? :)
samastur 9y ago
Yes, lets. From Crank it up article[1]: "In 1995, from Q1 to Q4, Netscape's revenue went from $5 million to $10 million to $20 million to $40 million." Netscape was formed in April of 1994 so we are talking about 9 months after creation they had revenue of 5mil. First website was launched at the end of December 1990 so less than 4.5 years before. Blockchain is significantly older at this point. [1] https://www.wired.com/2000/08/loudcloud/?pg=4 https://www.wired.com/2000/08/loudcloud/?pg=4
- KasianFranks 9y ago
  And significantly more complex than a 1990's website having a a drastically different and unrefined business model connected to an actual trading vehicle. Try running a startup and let us know how long it takes for the average startup to start bringing in consequential revenue. It's clear there's lots of unfounded disdain for crypto among certain software engineering camps as crypto is a combination of software engineering and financial engineering which is downright repulsive to certain purists. If you step outside of this line of thinking and understand the power of a trading vehicle and it's ability to finance operations or fund research, that might shed some new light on things.
  - samastur 9y ago
    First, please do not pretend that you know me. I have neither a problem with financial engineering in principle (combined with software engineering or not) or cryptography as such and certainly would not describe myself as any sort of purist. Not sure what running startups have to do with it (although have plenty of experience with them too), but comparing average startup with any ICO one is disingenuous. As far as I can tell there is little to show for so far if one ignores companies not aimed at cryptocurrencies ecosystem itself. But more to the point, it has been 9 years since Bitcoin was released building on ideas that were even older. Tech is more complicated than building website mid-90s (although probably not as much as you seem to believe), but again is not that complicated to excuse lack of compelling products. I am not saying those will not come, but "early days" is a piss-poor excuse. I do, however, dislike your use of crypto as for an old fart like me this should be used for cryptography.
simias 9y ago
Name one use case for cryptocurrencies where they work better than existing technologies and that does not involve buying illegal stuff online. Seriously, I must be writing a comment like this one at least two times a week lately on HN. I keep hearing "blockchain technology is here to stay, think of the possibilities!" and I say that it's already showing its limitations and people are scrambling to find real world use cases for them. See the Diamond Coin story the other day, or that Kodak Coin thing. When you look closely you realize that the technical side of things doesn't really hold up or could be achieved using good old non-buzzword technologies. Cryptocurrencies are amazing if you want to create a ponzi scheme or buy drugs online. For everything else there's Mastercard.
- lmm 9y ago
  Be fair. They're also useful for evading capital controls.
- viridian 9y ago
  Honestly the best use case is actually for the very financial services industry that the crypto community thinks they are supplanting. Distributed ledger with trusted confirmations + quicker and cheaper wires is actually pretty big. It's a rock solid use case that a couple of big banks have openly said they are working on. Of course, it's almost certain that any currency they move will probably end up pegged to a fiat, so that idea doesn't give people the warm and fuzzies, to say the least.
  - pavlik_enemy 9y ago
    How the blockchain solution is better than SWIFT?
- rensgspzn 9y ago
  How about five? * private transactions: your identity need not be associated with donating to wikileaks or buying a sex toy * irreversible: no chargebacks or transaction reversals * unseizable: protection against civil forfeiture, IRS account seizures for "structuring", etc * remittance: send any amount of funds anywhere in the world with minimum fees with no 3rd party ever having access to funds * exit from corrupt monetary policies: see Argentina, Venezuela But apparently these don't apply to you personally so it may be best to continue swiping your Mastercard™.

It's not so early. People have been developing apps on top of Bitcoin Blockchain for years now. Ethereum has been almost 2 and half years ago. I am not expecting any unicorns like Google/Facebook but at least couple of dapps with actual customers (e.g. not couple hundred crypto fanatics that sign up to every dapp just to pump the price) that are growing revenue and customer base and seem like a legitimate business. I've been following crypto space for a long time but can't think of any blockchain app like that. Only money making companies are exchanges which make money from fees because of the mania and all the people trying to flip tokens to make big bucks and quickly sell to other noobs, but exchanges are old fashioned companies with centralised databases and Java/.NET codebase, they are not actual dapps.

ncallaway 9y ago
Think back to when people had been building websites for 2 years on the internet. It's still early days. 2 years feels like a long time, but it's not that long.
- CPLX 9y ago
  I was there, it was great. Suddenly I could access tons of information, save hundreds of dollars by sending emails instead of long distance calling, look up airline schedules, download lists of jokes, find local singles looking to mingle, browse mail order catalogs, read recipes, or order books from a small Seattle company with a huge selection. The personal real-world benefits of the www were real and obvious and constantly improving. What has the blockchain actually done for people on a daily basis?
- FabHK 9y ago
  The WWW was developed 1989, first software (browser) in 1990, first websites went live in 1991, Mosaic came out in 1993, and things really exploded from 1994 on, with Amazon, Spiegel Online (German weekly newspaper), Pizza Hut, The Economist, etc. all going online. Dotcom bubble was 1997 to 2001. Bitcoin white paper came out in 2008, first software release in 2009. With comparable development, we'd have expected an explosion of usage and applications from 2013 already (that didn't happen), and a bubble about 2016 to 2020 (that arguably did happen). At any rate, the WWW was super useful (and was being extensively used) pre- and during the bubble. You cannot say the same about cryptocurrencies. (And by the way, during the dotcom bubble there were several companies, such as Flooz and Beenz, offering digital currencies. They're all defunct now. If only they had been decentralised on the blockchain...)
lz400 9y ago
cryptokitties or whatever is called? :)

samastur 9y ago

Yes, lets. From Crank it up article[1]: "In 1995, from Q1 to Q4, Netscape's revenue went from $5 million to $10 million to $20 million to $40 million." Netscape was formed in April of 1994 so we are talking about 9 months after creation they had revenue of 5mil. First website was launched at the end of December 1990 so less than 4.5 years before. Blockchain is significantly older at this point. [1] https://www.wired.com/2000/08/loudcloud/?pg=4 https://www.wired.com/2000/08/loudcloud/?pg=4

KasianFranks 9y ago
And significantly more complex than a 1990's website having a a drastically different and unrefined business model connected to an actual trading vehicle. Try running a startup and let us know how long it takes for the average startup to start bringing in consequential revenue. It's clear there's lots of unfounded disdain for crypto among certain software engineering camps as crypto is a combination of software engineering and financial engineering which is downright repulsive to certain purists. If you step outside of this line of thinking and understand the power of a trading vehicle and it's ability to finance operations or fund research, that might shed some new light on things.
- samastur 9y ago
  First, please do not pretend that you know me. I have neither a problem with financial engineering in principle (combined with software engineering or not) or cryptography as such and certainly would not describe myself as any sort of purist. Not sure what running startups have to do with it (although have plenty of experience with them too), but comparing average startup with any ICO one is disingenuous. As far as I can tell there is little to show for so far if one ignores companies not aimed at cryptocurrencies ecosystem itself. But more to the point, it has been 9 years since Bitcoin was released building on ideas that were even older. Tech is more complicated than building website mid-90s (although probably not as much as you seem to believe), but again is not that complicated to excuse lack of compelling products. I am not saying those will not come, but "early days" is a piss-poor excuse. I do, however, dislike your use of crypto as for an old fart like me this should be used for cryptography.

simias 9y ago

Name one use case for cryptocurrencies where they work better than existing technologies and that does not involve buying illegal stuff online. Seriously, I must be writing a comment like this one at least two times a week lately on HN. I keep hearing "blockchain technology is here to stay, think of the possibilities!" and I say that it's already showing its limitations and people are scrambling to find real world use cases for them. See the Diamond Coin story the other day, or that Kodak Coin thing. When you look closely you realize that the technical side of things doesn't really hold up or could be achieved using good old non-buzzword technologies. Cryptocurrencies are amazing if you want to create a ponzi scheme or buy drugs online. For everything else there's Mastercard.

lmm 9y ago
Be fair. They're also useful for evading capital controls.
viridian 9y ago
Honestly the best use case is actually for the very financial services industry that the crypto community thinks they are supplanting. Distributed ledger with trusted confirmations + quicker and cheaper wires is actually pretty big. It's a rock solid use case that a couple of big banks have openly said they are working on. Of course, it's almost certain that any currency they move will probably end up pegged to a fiat, so that idea doesn't give people the warm and fuzzies, to say the least.
- pavlik_enemy 9y ago
  How the blockchain solution is better than SWIFT?
rensgspzn 9y ago
How about five? * private transactions: your identity need not be associated with donating to wikileaks or buying a sex toy * irreversible: no chargebacks or transaction reversals * unseizable: protection against civil forfeiture, IRS account seizures for "structuring", etc * remittance: send any amount of funds anywhere in the world with minimum fees with no 3rd party ever having access to funds * exit from corrupt monetary policies: see Argentina, Venezuela But apparently these don't apply to you personally so it may be best to continue swiping your Mastercard™.