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> What problem / which problems are being solved here? I guess all crypto-currency is an attempt at digital cash. I.e. the ability to send "money" between peop

> What problem / which problems are being solved here? I guess all crypto-currency is an attempt at digital cash. I.e. the ability to send "money" between people who do not trust each other digitally; with secrecy/privacy in manner which cannot be taken away by states/governments/banks etc. Why people want to solve this problem through a scheme of chained hash-values and mining (which I guess is just padding the data you compute hash-values from until it hits a certain number of 0's at the end), is still unclear for me.

louwrentius 6y ago
> I.e. the ability to send "money" between people who do not trust each other digitally; How does a cryptocurrency actually solve the lack of trust? From the few things I do understand, I think it doesn't at all. I think this article by Bruce Schneier is interesting: https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_good_reaso.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_g... > with secrecy/privacy in manner which cannot be taken away by states/governments/banks etc. I don't have a need for that kind of secrecy. I understand the Silk Roads of the world would like it though. But that doesn't sell cryptocurrencies to me. If you need to hide stuff from the government, there are bigger problems that cryptocurrencies can't solve, as I can tell.
- bjarneh 6y ago
  > How does a cryptocurrency actually solve the lack of trust? I said it was an attempt, I'm not sure it solves it.. > If you need to hide stuff from the government All governments are not good. The US government for instance "froze" (basically took) all the money WikiLeaks had, and made it impossible to send them money through traditional banking systems. So crypto-currencies have already been important in funding an organization that uncovered war-crimes; which is a good thing. Not all secrecy/privacy is criminal behavior, sometimes it is actual journalism. I guess we have seen so little journalism in the last few years we barely remember what it looks like.
101008 6y ago
> the ability to send "money" between people who do not trust each other digitally How is this solved with crypto? I bought a few things with crypto that they were never delivered, so I got scammed. Yes, crypto helps the part receiving money, not the part sending money. This is not a solution, it's just moving the problem to the other side.
Uehreka 6y ago
Although I do harbor an iota of skepticism of states and banks, enough to entertain the idea that cryptocurrencies could possibly maybe a-little-bit a point, the general public does not at all. I feel like the biggest thing standing in the way of cryptocurrencies is that the general public (not just me) needs a reason to use them other than “You don’t really trust banks to store your money, do you?”
vbezhenar 6y ago
There were many attempts at solving that problem. Bitcoin was the first successful one. If you would develop better scheme, world will thank you.
- bjarneh 6y ago
  > If you would develop better scheme, world will thank you. OK, I will let you know if I come up with one :-)

louwrentius 6y ago

> I.e. the ability to send "money" between people who do not trust each other digitally; How does a cryptocurrency actually solve the lack of trust? From the few things I do understand, I think it doesn't at all. I think this article by Bruce Schneier is interesting: https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_good_reaso.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_g... > with secrecy/privacy in manner which cannot be taken away by states/governments/banks etc. I don't have a need for that kind of secrecy. I understand the Silk Roads of the world would like it though. But that doesn't sell cryptocurrencies to me. If you need to hide stuff from the government, there are bigger problems that cryptocurrencies can't solve, as I can tell.

bjarneh 6y ago
> How does a cryptocurrency actually solve the lack of trust? I said it was an attempt, I'm not sure it solves it.. > If you need to hide stuff from the government All governments are not good. The US government for instance "froze" (basically took) all the money WikiLeaks had, and made it impossible to send them money through traditional banking systems. So crypto-currencies have already been important in funding an organization that uncovered war-crimes; which is a good thing. Not all secrecy/privacy is criminal behavior, sometimes it is actual journalism. I guess we have seen so little journalism in the last few years we barely remember what it looks like.

101008 6y ago

> the ability to send "money" between people who do not trust each other digitally How is this solved with crypto? I bought a few things with crypto that they were never delivered, so I got scammed. Yes, crypto helps the part receiving money, not the part sending money. This is not a solution, it's just moving the problem to the other side.

Uehreka 6y ago

Although I do harbor an iota of skepticism of states and banks, enough to entertain the idea that cryptocurrencies could possibly maybe a-little-bit a point, the general public does not at all. I feel like the biggest thing standing in the way of cryptocurrencies is that the general public (not just me) needs a reason to use them other than “You don’t really trust banks to store your money, do you?”

vbezhenar 6y ago

There were many attempts at solving that problem. Bitcoin was the first successful one. If you would develop better scheme, world will thank you.

bjarneh 6y ago
> If you would develop better scheme, world will thank you. OK, I will let you know if I come up with one :-)