6 ms·

Blockchain already has a usecase: currency That's it, it's that simple

Cthulhu_ 7y ago
Except that that's already failed; it's used as an investment product, a get-rich-quick scheme, dealing in illegal products and services, untraceable exchange of currency (e.g. ransomware) and money laundering. Nobody pays with crypto. Except people that made a lot of money off of crypto and have a vested interest in its success.
- kirsebaer 7y ago
  Illegal products is an enormous market.
- twic 7y ago
  > Except that that's already failed; it's used [...] dealing in illegal products and services This actually is a currency use case. It's an illegal one, but it's a really useful one. It's not clear to me that it's a use case that requires a blockchain, but i don't think there are currently any viable competitors.
  - Frondo 7y ago
    Is it, though? I'm not saying I buy a lot of street drugs, but I know some people who know some people who do, and have literally never seen or heard mention of Bitcoin for this. You know what I have seen being used, that surprised the hell out of me at first? Venmo. Turns out people buy their friends a lot of sushi.
    - twic 7y ago
      Interesting. I know of one person who mail-orders interesting things, and uses bitcoin for that.
      - Frondo 7y ago
        I've heard that anecdotally too, and tbh I would never ingest something a stranger sent me in the mail. I'm sure it's mostly fine, but there's a level of trust that whisper networks provide that is simply absent in an online setting. Heck, bitcoin itself purports to do exchanges in a trustless setting; trustless is the last environment you want to have for things you're putting in your body.
        faissaloo 7y ago
        Actually darknet drug sites do have a review system, it's not like people just order randomly.
        qes 7y ago
        I've been buying drugs on the street and online for many years and online crushes IRL, just like it does for legal commerce. Online reviews have helped me always get top notch quality and exactly the product I expect. The street can't come close.
- Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  If you look at transaction number and volume it has been basically constantly rising, so I'm not really sure what you're on about. "Haven't replaced all other currencies in all use cases" is not the same thing as "has failed".
  - PeterisP 7y ago
    Some 2 years ago quite a few services and shops were trying out bitcoin and offering it as an actual option for real-world payments. This trend has reversed, new offers are very rare and many companies who offered it in 2017 don't support it any more, as for any 'normal' business the amount of Bitcoin transactions they got (wherever I've talked with them) was extremely low after the initial buzz at launch. The current number of transactions is not constantly rising. The current short term trend (https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.html https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.ht...) is downwards. It's now about the same or less than it was in peaks of 2017 and early 2018, and whatever the growth in 2018-early 2019 was made of, it doesn't seem to be in consumer purchases of goods and services (i.e. being used as a currency).
    - faissaloo 7y ago
      Sure, because it's still unstable, as more and more people use it the price will become increasingly stable.
  - dagw 7y ago
    If you look at transaction number and volume it has been basically constantly rising, I wonder what percentage of those transactions are generated by people trading in cryptocurrencies vs them actually being used as a 'currency'.
- faissaloo 7y ago
  It doesn't look like it's failed from where I'm standing.
scotty79 7y ago
I'd say bitcoin usecase is being decrapified gold.
- dangerbird2 7y ago
  Except gold has a real industrial value (electronics), and is an exponentially more stable and liquid asset than bitcoin (albeit not as stable as goldbug scamsters claim)
  - scotty79 7y ago
    > Except gold has a real industrial value Apparently nobody cares because only a small fraction of gold is used for that purpose. Most is used to sit on it. Stable... hard to tell, let's see after a millenium or two. Gold had a pretty good run till now, but hauling one asteroid towards earth or figuring out how to cheaply filter it out of ocean water will drop its value to dirt cheap. More liquid... probably. Market for gold is still larger for now. Let's check that after a decade or two. Trends don't look too optimistic for gold when compared to btc.
    - dehrmann 7y ago
      > Apparently nobody cares because only a small fraction of gold is used for that purpose. It's better for electronics than copper, so there's that. > but hauling one asteroid towards earth Seems impractical, expensive, and the yield isn't clear. > or figuring out how to cheaply filter it out of ocean water will drop its value to dirt cheap. You should check your math on this. 342,600,000 pounds of gold have been mined[1], but the oceans hold 20,000,000 pounds[2]. 1: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 2: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gold-ocean-sea-hoax-science-water-boom-rush-treasure https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gold-ocean-sea-hoax-sc...

Except that that's already failed; it's used as an investment product, a get-rich-quick scheme, dealing in illegal products and services, untraceable exchange of currency (e.g. ransomware) and money laundering. Nobody pays with crypto. Except people that made a lot of money off of crypto and have a vested interest in its success.

kirsebaer 7y ago
Illegal products is an enormous market.
twic 7y ago
> Except that that's already failed; it's used [...] dealing in illegal products and services This actually is a currency use case. It's an illegal one, but it's a really useful one. It's not clear to me that it's a use case that requires a blockchain, but i don't think there are currently any viable competitors.
- Frondo 7y ago
  Is it, though? I'm not saying I buy a lot of street drugs, but I know some people who know some people who do, and have literally never seen or heard mention of Bitcoin for this. You know what I have seen being used, that surprised the hell out of me at first? Venmo. Turns out people buy their friends a lot of sushi.
  - twic 7y ago
    Interesting. I know of one person who mail-orders interesting things, and uses bitcoin for that.
    - Frondo 7y ago
      I've heard that anecdotally too, and tbh I would never ingest something a stranger sent me in the mail. I'm sure it's mostly fine, but there's a level of trust that whisper networks provide that is simply absent in an online setting. Heck, bitcoin itself purports to do exchanges in a trustless setting; trustless is the last environment you want to have for things you're putting in your body.
      - faissaloo 7y ago
        Actually darknet drug sites do have a review system, it's not like people just order randomly.
      - qes 7y ago
        I've been buying drugs on the street and online for many years and online crushes IRL, just like it does for legal commerce. Online reviews have helped me always get top notch quality and exactly the product I expect. The street can't come close.
Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
If you look at transaction number and volume it has been basically constantly rising, so I'm not really sure what you're on about. "Haven't replaced all other currencies in all use cases" is not the same thing as "has failed".
- PeterisP 7y ago
  Some 2 years ago quite a few services and shops were trying out bitcoin and offering it as an actual option for real-world payments. This trend has reversed, new offers are very rare and many companies who offered it in 2017 don't support it any more, as for any 'normal' business the amount of Bitcoin transactions they got (wherever I've talked with them) was extremely low after the initial buzz at launch. The current number of transactions is not constantly rising. The current short term trend (https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.html https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.ht...) is downwards. It's now about the same or less than it was in peaks of 2017 and early 2018, and whatever the growth in 2018-early 2019 was made of, it doesn't seem to be in consumer purchases of goods and services (i.e. being used as a currency).
  - faissaloo 7y ago
    Sure, because it's still unstable, as more and more people use it the price will become increasingly stable.
- dagw 7y ago
  If you look at transaction number and volume it has been basically constantly rising, I wonder what percentage of those transactions are generated by people trading in cryptocurrencies vs them actually being used as a 'currency'.
faissaloo 7y ago
It doesn't look like it's failed from where I'm standing.

scotty79 7y ago

I'd say bitcoin usecase is being decrapified gold.

dangerbird2 7y ago
Except gold has a real industrial value (electronics), and is an exponentially more stable and liquid asset than bitcoin (albeit not as stable as goldbug scamsters claim)
- scotty79 7y ago
  > Except gold has a real industrial value Apparently nobody cares because only a small fraction of gold is used for that purpose. Most is used to sit on it. Stable... hard to tell, let's see after a millenium or two. Gold had a pretty good run till now, but hauling one asteroid towards earth or figuring out how to cheaply filter it out of ocean water will drop its value to dirt cheap. More liquid... probably. Market for gold is still larger for now. Let's check that after a decade or two. Trends don't look too optimistic for gold when compared to btc.
  - dehrmann 7y ago
    > Apparently nobody cares because only a small fraction of gold is used for that purpose. It's better for electronics than copper, so there's that. > but hauling one asteroid towards earth Seems impractical, expensive, and the yield isn't clear. > or figuring out how to cheaply filter it out of ocean water will drop its value to dirt cheap. You should check your math on this. 342,600,000 pounds of gold have been mined[1], but the oceans hold 20,000,000 pounds[2]. 1: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100 2: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gold-ocean-sea-hoax-science-water-boom-rush-treasure https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gold-ocean-sea-hoax-sc...