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I don't think SV missed the window. Coinbase has done very well. I think the reasons a lot of HN people are negative on bitcoin and blockchain are: - For most

I don't think SV missed the window. Coinbase has done very well. I think the reasons a lot of HN people are negative on bitcoin and blockchain are: - For most use cases, blockchains seem like a really inefficient database. While blockchains are are neat data structure and might have some great uses in the future, most of the proposed use cases seem better served by a normal DB. Would love to be proven wrong. - The "power used vs. utility provided" ratio of BTC seems insanely bad. A fairly small financial network (at the global scale) is sucking up a noticeable fraction of energy production. - Crypto brought a wave of very non-technical get-rich hucksters into the tech scene doing pump and dump ICOs and the like. - It seems like a lot of non-sophisticated, non-technical investors are getting duped out of their money. I hear all the time about working class people "getting into crypto" because they think it's a magic money machine and don't really understand the risk. - And the biggest for me: Almost every crypto investor/fan I ask in person has NEVER used crypto to buy anything other than more crypto or to make small purchases. Crypto fans make huge claims like crypto is transforming commerce but it doesn't seem to jive with real life experience.

mrtksn 8y ago
Yes there is Coinbase but it is just an exchange, one of many. A really nice one but still just a marketplace(Kids in Japan were doing it like a decade ago). It used to be the other way around, that is, Silicon Valley is early in something that gets big from nothing and the rest of the world makes it's own version after it's proven to be worthwhile. Other than that I agree that there's lot's of BS going on but on the early days of the Web, there was also a lot of BS happening too.
the_snooze 8y ago
>For most use cases, blockchains seem like a really inefficient database. While blockchains are are neat data structure and might have some great uses in the future, most of the proposed use cases seem better served by a normal DB. Would love to be proven wrong. As a corollary to this, a lot of blockchain "solutions" don't seem to even understand the problems they're purporting to solve. They're shoehorning blockchain into issues where it's absolutely inappropriate and claiming victory. Elections come to mind.
- mrtksn 8y ago
  Just like the programmers trying to solve every problem with an app at some point a few years ago. Not long ago every app idea was getting funded only to decay in irrelevance.

mrtksn 8y ago

Yes there is Coinbase but it is just an exchange, one of many. A really nice one but still just a marketplace(Kids in Japan were doing it like a decade ago). It used to be the other way around, that is, Silicon Valley is early in something that gets big from nothing and the rest of the world makes it's own version after it's proven to be worthwhile. Other than that I agree that there's lot's of BS going on but on the early days of the Web, there was also a lot of BS happening too.

the_snooze 8y ago

>For most use cases, blockchains seem like a really inefficient database. While blockchains are are neat data structure and might have some great uses in the future, most of the proposed use cases seem better served by a normal DB. Would love to be proven wrong. As a corollary to this, a lot of blockchain "solutions" don't seem to even understand the problems they're purporting to solve. They're shoehorning blockchain into issues where it's absolutely inappropriate and claiming victory. Elections come to mind.

mrtksn 8y ago
Just like the programmers trying to solve every problem with an app at some point a few years ago. Not long ago every app idea was getting funded only to decay in irrelevance.