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I question what these people value about cryptocurrency: with none of the autonomy, anonymity, or resilience present in initial pitches and offerings in the spa

by kick 7y ago

I question what these people value about cryptocurrency: with none of the autonomy, anonymity, or resilience present in initial pitches and offerings in the space, it seems like it's mostly valueless. Surely there's more to it than a cash grab that takes a massive amount of energy for these people, isn't there?

admiral33 7y ago
It's a cash grab for many people. On the other hand it feels like a kodak moment. Digital currency just feels like a natural progression for the world. It doesn't have a military backing it though. This makes me think that the most "revolutionary" crypto currency will be tied to a social media where people pressure elections in it's favor... sort of like reddit karma where there is no buying power but there is a lot of social power.
- puranjay 7y ago
  Maybe this is an American perspective (the American financial system is horribly outdated) but in the developing world, "digital currency" is mostly a solved problem. Your bank account integrates so seamlessly with digital payment systems that creating a separate currency seems entirely superfluous. Here in India, we have a system called UPI. Connect it to your bank account once and you get a username like 'YourName@OkAxis'. Anyone can send money to this username and it goes straight to your bank account. You can pay establishments - online as well as offline - by simply verifying a one time password on your mobile. It's so seamless and cheap (essentially free) that I can't ever imagine needing a digital currency.
  - omosubi 7y ago
    Interesting to hear this perspective as one of the main arguments people used to make was that people in rural India or wherever could now access banking products that traditional banks refused to give due to cost. I'm assuming that's no longer the case?
    - puranjay 7y ago
      The current government had a massive banking drive where it almost forced the rural poor to open bank accounts. This was followed by demonetization of currency notes, which, as harmful as it was to the economy, "normalized" the idea of transacting digitally. A bulk of transactions still happen via cash but digital payments, especially UPI, are seeing increasingly wider adoption. There has been a lot of innovation in this space just to make customer-merchant transactions easier. For example, this product from PayTM basically acts as a confirmation box for UPI transactions. https://business.paytm.com/blog/introducing-paytm-sound-box-turn-your-business-into-a-smart-business/ https://business.paytm.com/blog/introducing-paytm-sound-box-... Something like this reduces the trust deficit in rural areas about digital banking products. It's going to take a long while, but technologically, it's a solved problem. I can't see any utility that crypto brings to the table except for decentralization which most consumers don't care about anyway.
  - apta 7y ago
    The other appeal is that is it not a currency that is controlled at the whim of the government who artificially controls inflation, ensuring that people's hard work goes down the drain just because the government feels like it.
    - puranjay 7y ago
      In the developing world, this is a non existent argument. Most people are dependent on the government in some capacity. In India, the government is the largest employer and the welfare state is firmly entrenched in the system.
Acrobatic_Road 7y ago
>with none of the autonomy, anonymity, or resilience Bitcoin and Ether are autonomous. Monero and ZCash are anonymous. Not sure what you mean by resilience. >Surely there's more to it than a cash grab that takes a massive amount of energy Proof of work is not inherit to cryptocurrencies.
- kick 7y ago
  Bitcoin and Ether are autonomous. Not when you're using Coinbase. Monero [is] anonymous. Sure. ZCash [is] anonymous. lol Proof of work is not inherit to cryptocurrencies. I didn't claim it was. You completely misinterpreted my comment.

by kick 7y ago

admiral33 7y ago

It's a cash grab for many people. On the other hand it feels like a kodak moment. Digital currency just feels like a natural progression for the world. It doesn't have a military backing it though. This makes me think that the most "revolutionary" crypto currency will be tied to a social media where people pressure elections in it's favor... sort of like reddit karma where there is no buying power but there is a lot of social power.

puranjay 7y ago
Maybe this is an American perspective (the American financial system is horribly outdated) but in the developing world, "digital currency" is mostly a solved problem. Your bank account integrates so seamlessly with digital payment systems that creating a separate currency seems entirely superfluous. Here in India, we have a system called UPI. Connect it to your bank account once and you get a username like 'YourName@OkAxis'. Anyone can send money to this username and it goes straight to your bank account. You can pay establishments - online as well as offline - by simply verifying a one time password on your mobile. It's so seamless and cheap (essentially free) that I can't ever imagine needing a digital currency.
- omosubi 7y ago
  Interesting to hear this perspective as one of the main arguments people used to make was that people in rural India or wherever could now access banking products that traditional banks refused to give due to cost. I'm assuming that's no longer the case?
  - puranjay 7y ago
    The current government had a massive banking drive where it almost forced the rural poor to open bank accounts. This was followed by demonetization of currency notes, which, as harmful as it was to the economy, "normalized" the idea of transacting digitally. A bulk of transactions still happen via cash but digital payments, especially UPI, are seeing increasingly wider adoption. There has been a lot of innovation in this space just to make customer-merchant transactions easier. For example, this product from PayTM basically acts as a confirmation box for UPI transactions. https://business.paytm.com/blog/introducing-paytm-sound-box-turn-your-business-into-a-smart-business/ https://business.paytm.com/blog/introducing-paytm-sound-box-... Something like this reduces the trust deficit in rural areas about digital banking products. It's going to take a long while, but technologically, it's a solved problem. I can't see any utility that crypto brings to the table except for decentralization which most consumers don't care about anyway.
- apta 7y ago
  The other appeal is that is it not a currency that is controlled at the whim of the government who artificially controls inflation, ensuring that people's hard work goes down the drain just because the government feels like it.
  - puranjay 7y ago
    In the developing world, this is a non existent argument. Most people are dependent on the government in some capacity. In India, the government is the largest employer and the welfare state is firmly entrenched in the system.

Acrobatic_Road 7y ago

>with none of the autonomy, anonymity, or resilience Bitcoin and Ether are autonomous. Monero and ZCash are anonymous. Not sure what you mean by resilience. >Surely there's more to it than a cash grab that takes a massive amount of energy Proof of work is not inherit to cryptocurrencies.

kick 7y ago
Bitcoin and Ether are autonomous. Not when you're using Coinbase. Monero [is] anonymous. Sure. ZCash [is] anonymous. lol Proof of work is not inherit to cryptocurrencies. I didn't claim it was. You completely misinterpreted my comment.