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This is exactly the problem with all cryptocurrency currently. It’s a massive user experience issue, in the sense that users have to experience the technical bu
by dchuk 6y ago
This is exactly the problem with all cryptocurrency currently. It’s a massive user experience issue, in the sense that users have to experience the technical bullshit of how the currencies work, completely missing the brilliant part of real money: it just works. I hand people money, they give me things. I swipe my credit card, I get things.
I can’t remember who aid it originally, but there’s a great test you can give to any statement or idea. Just immediately ask “who cares?” The best product demos I’ve ever seen answer who cares in each part of the pitch. The worst ones just rattle off mumbo jumbo forever.
- easymovet 6y agoUX has been a main focus of Bitcoin ever since Lightning made scaling possible. Checkout out the Strike app for seamless bitcoin (lightning) payments https://strike.zaphq.io/ https://strike.zaphq.io/ Who cares? Anyone who feels like their purchasing power isn't where it should be is either underpaid, or a victim of central banks diluting their dollars with printing.
- empthought 6y ago> victim of central banks diluting their dollars with printing. So, nobody in the EU or North America, then.
- dane-pgp 6y agoPerhaps a better threat scenario would have been "victim of banks confiscating their deposits", which is a much more realistic risk for people in the EU: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cyprus-bank-account-tax-puts-europe-on-edge-1.1316771 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cyprus-bank-account-tax-put... (Also, the grandparent post perhaps should have given some context to the statement "Lightning made scaling possible", such as the fact that Bitcoin originally supported 32 MB blocks of transactions, before being "temporarily" limited to 1 MB. Alternative blockchains have managed without this artificial restriction, and without relying on complicated second-layer "solutions" like Lightning.)
- Daishiman 6y agoThe probability of a bank run is null when compared to the probability of a BTC provider tanking/getting hacked/actually being a fraudulent criminal scheme.
- petre 6y agoBanks in Cyprus got recapitalized with some amount of Russian money during the 2011-2013 Eurozone crisis, or at least that's the commonly known narrative. It was basically a convenience crackdown on a fiscal paradise within the EU. If you read the last line of the article you have linked it says: European leaders wanted to limit the size of the rescue loans — which are backed by European taxpayers — to €10 billion. Leaders were also reluctant to bail out Russian depositors whose funds may be the result of tax evasion, crime or money laundering. Additionally, there are sanctions in place since the 2014 Crimean crisis. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/01/10/cyprus-no-longer-mediterranean-haven-for-russian-businesses-a64097 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/01/10/cyprus-no-longer-m...
- gruez 6y agoIt's true that there hasn't been much inflation in CPI, but there's no doubt that all the printed money has inflated asset prices.
- jcbrand 6y agoIn Germany, house prices have doubled the last 10 years. In the US, stocks are 187.8% market cap to GDP. But please, tell us more about how there's no inflation.
- imtringued 6y agoWell, I think diluting is actually a pretty good word to describe what is happening. It's not really inflation. It's more about rising inequality. Money arrives on the stock market but it doesn't arrive in the job market. The result is an increasingly growing imbalance. Publicly traded companies and their owners greatly benefit meanwhile everyone else is being left behind.
- empthought 6y agoRight, this is surely more disastrous than everyone holding onto their bitcoin because it will be “worth more” in a year by design. /s
- Yizahi 6y agoMeanwhile 3 shady guys in the non-extradition offshore are printing 100 million dollars per months of their toilet paper tokens, inflating price of every other token, the only auditing firm dropped them immediately after looking at their dealings, and that is praised as a modern money way. Revolutionary even.
- chemmail 6y agoSound like someone who drives a gas car and doesn't want to move into the future. I'm not saying bitcoin is the future per se, but the rest of the world i moving on from standard monies.
- ViViDboarder 6y agoI imagine that the pitch for Tesla includes some answer to “who cares?” quite easily. People who want to reduce emissions is a pretty big audience right now.
- abakker 6y agoWhat are they moving to? Where is the data or transaction volume to support that the rest of the world except the US and EU are moving to alternative money?
- sagichmal 6y agoThere is no universe, neither real nor imagined, where the statement "the rest of the world is moving on from standard [fiat] money" does now or will forseeably parse as true.
- nicbou 6y agoIt has been a few years, and despite a few attempts, I still don't really understand bitcoin. Yes yes ledgers and proof of work and yada yada, but I still don't know what I would need to do to buy something with bitcoin right now. As I understand I need to do something that's pretty much exactly like opening a bank account, but transactions take forever, they cost money, and the currency is not accepted by any business I use, unlike my free credit card. I have 55€ in my wallet and everyone on this continent knows what to do with it.
- sanderjd 6y agoIt's simple: it is an abject failure as a currency. It is fairly successful as a security for the purpose of speculation. If you aren't a financial speculator, you really don't need to pay attention to it.
- int_19h 6y agoIt's also fairly successful as a way to transfer money.
- hkt 6y agoAnd until recently, a highly successful way to _launder_ it.
- meowface 6y agoSome other cryptocurrencies designed around anonymity are still very effective for that purpose. The only weaknesses are at the spots where the funds enter and exit the "laundry". (Converting to/from fiat or a less anonymous cryptocurrency.)
- buzzdenver 6y agoWhy did it stop being that?
- 6y ago
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y agoAs far as I'm aware many crypto exchanges also act as wallets and have smartphone apps that feature QR scanning for transfers / payments. The largely obviates the need for any domain knowledge.
- dividuum 6y agoSo at this point you're really no longer using the core feature of any blockchain based currency but make changes in some SQL row in a central database that maybe later results in changes made to some blockchain on your behalf. Why even bother at this point? Might as well trade gift cards or airline miles.
- 3np 6y agoTBH, I don't think that's a bad thing at the current moment - the tools and base layers (most notably ETH scalability) are not in a position to handle a huge influx of mainstream users with expectations that things Just Work. There's great progress being made, but we'll not get there during 2020.
- bobbleheads 6y agoInterestingly, Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent (v1) is currently working on a cryptocurrency called Chia that is trying to solve all of these problems. Obviously exercise scepticism with all things cryptocurrency, but I'm pretty optimistic about it.
- pibechorro 6y agoIts bottom up, those in a "first world" bubble dont notice its effects. Its already a revolution, banking the unbanked and those at the bottom of the dollar\euro tottem pole. Africa for example: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-africa-insight/how-bitcoin-met-the-real-world-in-africa-idUSKBN25Z0Q8 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-africa-... Adoption will establish itself in Africa, S.America, Asia first.. and then it will compete head on with traditional western banking services.
- wing-_-nuts 6y agoThe biggest problem that I have with crypto is it's insane power usage. As soon as we have a commonly available crypto currency that's secure, doesn't use 'proof of work', is efficient and stable, I'm in. Until then I can't take it seriously. Crypto is the digital equivalent of driving a hummer.