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Written today it feels like some of these technologies mentioned in the article should actually have demonstrated some real purpose.

by xkjkls 7y ago

X6S1x6Okd1st 7y ago
I've regularly used bitcoin to fund my cash app account because I don't have a functioning debit card right now.
- xkjkls 7y ago
  And for 99.99% of people the normal banking system is a better solution
  - shadowprofile77 7y ago
    Your claim reeks of settled financial and maybe even first world comfort. It's really much more than 0.001% of people that could use something which doesn't require them to have access to an easy credit card, debit card or formal digital banking. There are millions of unbanked even in many highly developed nations and crypto or some middleman-free version of it could be a viable solution for many of them if it's user.friendliness could be improved a bit as well as wider knowledge of its usability.
    - wpietri 7y ago
      Sure, but the same is true of the current banking system: if it were made more usable and accessible, we could broaden the set of people using it. And in fact that has happened in some places. Take a look at M-Pesa, which started at about the same time as Bitcoin, but is actually used on a daily basis by millions of formerly unbanked people. Cryptocurrencies can't get credit for potential anymore. It's time for them to demonstrate actual results or admit that they're niche technical toys.
GTP 7y ago
I think there is at least one: with a blockchain you can register a document's hash and have a proof that that document existed in a precise point in time. This is an application lawyers and notaries are interested about.
- wmf 7y ago
  There was a company doing this long before Bitcoin but nobody really cared. If people claim to be interested now they probably just want to get rich from speculation.
- xkjkls 7y ago
  Why does this need to be decentralized? There are plenty of ways to do this without any of the huge costs of decentralization.
  - tormeh 7y ago
    Well, decentralization has benefits. It's just that we already have a system for keeping track of documents and their histories in a distributed manner and it is called git.
    - GTP 7y ago
      But who guarantees the timestamp of a git commit? Hironically here's a blogpost suggesting that could be a good idea to timestamp those using a blockchain and explains how: https://petertodd.org/2016/opentimestamps-announcement https://petertodd.org/2016/opentimestamps-announcement :D The point here isn't to version documents, which the blockchain does not, but to have an independently verifiable timestamp.
- wpietri 7y ago
  When somebody says "actually have demonstrated some real purpose", I don't think it's helpful to say that some people are perhaps interested in doing something eventually.
  - 7y ago

Written today it feels like some of these technologies mentioned in the article should actually have demonstrated some real purpose.

by xkjkls 7y ago

Written today it feels like some of these technologies mentioned in the article should actually have demonstrated some real purpose.

X6S1x6Okd1st 7y ago

I've regularly used bitcoin to fund my cash app account because I don't have a functioning debit card right now.

xkjkls 7y ago
And for 99.99% of people the normal banking system is a better solution
- shadowprofile77 7y ago
  Your claim reeks of settled financial and maybe even first world comfort. It's really much more than 0.001% of people that could use something which doesn't require them to have access to an easy credit card, debit card or formal digital banking. There are millions of unbanked even in many highly developed nations and crypto or some middleman-free version of it could be a viable solution for many of them if it's user.friendliness could be improved a bit as well as wider knowledge of its usability.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Sure, but the same is true of the current banking system: if it were made more usable and accessible, we could broaden the set of people using it. And in fact that has happened in some places. Take a look at M-Pesa, which started at about the same time as Bitcoin, but is actually used on a daily basis by millions of formerly unbanked people. Cryptocurrencies can't get credit for potential anymore. It's time for them to demonstrate actual results or admit that they're niche technical toys.

GTP 7y ago

I think there is at least one: with a blockchain you can register a document's hash and have a proof that that document existed in a precise point in time. This is an application lawyers and notaries are interested about.

wmf 7y ago
There was a company doing this long before Bitcoin but nobody really cared. If people claim to be interested now they probably just want to get rich from speculation.
xkjkls 7y ago
Why does this need to be decentralized? There are plenty of ways to do this without any of the huge costs of decentralization.
- tormeh 7y ago
  Well, decentralization has benefits. It's just that we already have a system for keeping track of documents and their histories in a distributed manner and it is called git.
  - GTP 7y ago
    But who guarantees the timestamp of a git commit? Hironically here's a blogpost suggesting that could be a good idea to timestamp those using a blockchain and explains how: https://petertodd.org/2016/opentimestamps-announcement https://petertodd.org/2016/opentimestamps-announcement :D The point here isn't to version documents, which the blockchain does not, but to have an independently verifiable timestamp.
wpietri 7y ago
When somebody says "actually have demonstrated some real purpose", I don't think it's helpful to say that some people are perhaps interested in doing something eventually.
- 7y ago