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One of the author's points seems to be decentralized technologies tend to have large points of centralization, so why does it matter that they're decentralized?
by beaner 8y ago
One of the author's points seems to be decentralized technologies tend to have large points of centralization, so why does it matter that they're decentralized?
For me, the answer is the ability to opt out. When it comes to crypto currency specifically, it doesn't matter to me if 99% of users store their money on coinbase, as long as I individually have the ability to remove myself from the system.
The point isn't to force decentralization on everyone, it's to provide an opt-out ability to those who want it.
- Qworg 8y agoThere's no ability to opt out if Coinbase (for example) dominates all the other exchanges into nonexistence.
- fiatjaf 8y agoWhat if you create your own exchange? Eureka!
- beaner 8y agoThat's not how it works. They could be the only exchange anywhere, but they'd still only be one node in the network. Exchanges greatly help the transition to crypto but they are not necessary for it's existence
- Qworg 8y agoWhat is value? Without an exchange, how do you secure it?
- improv32 8y agoExchanges facilitate liquidity between crypto and other common currencies. This has obvious value. But just like any currency, the value of a crypto is what you can get for it. So in the hypothetical where there are no exchanges, there would still be value in terms of the things you can buy with crypto directly.
- chrisco255 8y agoI mean if I give you X BTC for Y products or services, no exchange need be involved.
- wpietri 8y agoThis is the theory that has been expressed for years, but it is in practice still a fantasy. Somebody tried earlier this year to live on it for 36 hours; even in a major city it's not practical: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/nyregion/new-york-today-living-on-bitcoin.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/nyregion/new-york-today-l...
- beaner 8y agoActually dark net markets work this way.
- mrhappyunhappy 8y agoWe need more developments and time to move away from the hodl mindset to where crypto can be seen as currency not an asset. How much time this will take? I'm not sure, after all we are talking about some very powerful and ingrained institutions involved.
- chrisco255 8y agoUSD has a 225 year head start...not surprised BTC hasn't hit that level of adoption yet. Credit cards took a few decades to hit mainstream too to the point where you could literally use them everywhere.
- wpietri 8y agoThe point is not that you can't use Bitcoin everywhere dollars (or even credit cards) are accepted. The point is that it's useless as a day-to-day currency. As far as I can tell, the number of places that accept it is declining, so it will never catch up with anything.
- JumpCrisscross 8y agoYou can opt out of baking with cash far easier than away from exchanges with crypto.
- beaner 8y agoI don't know what you mean. Baking?
- schrodinger 8y agoI think it was a typo for banking.
- rlpb 8y agoIt's not possible to opt out of banking with cash and still be able to transfer cash over the Internet.
- CyberDildonics 8y agoGetting out of exchanges is trivial. You transfer your money to an address you control. That's it, it isn't tough. Then you can use your money electronically, which is why it has different use cases than cash.
- darawk 8y agoYes, but cash has different properties than crypto. Some of those properties are better, some are worse. Depending on what you want to do, crypto may be more useful than cash.
- skybrian 8y agoThis isn't really about Coinbase as an exchange. It has a bit more to do with 51% attacks by miners. They are either possible or they aren't, and either way is bad because you're screwed if your money gets stolen. Might it be better to accept the risk of centralization and be able to dispute transactions? Preferably without the drama that happened with Etherium when they did that. Another possibility is the Linux/DNS model where you have a central authorities who commit public transactions that are closely watched. Though this is only possible for things done in public.
- beaner 8y ago> This isn't really about Coinbase as an exchange It is though. The author's examples are about end-user consolidation on platforms that are built on the decentralized network, not the consolidation of the network itself.