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Why is using computing power for bitcoin not beneficial to humanity?
by yrral 6y ago
Why is using computing power for bitcoin not beneficial to humanity?
- jedberg 6y agoWhat benefit does it supply to humanity? I can think of plenty of uses for a distributed ledger, but what is the use of Bitcoin that can't be done some other way?
- xur17 6y agoIs there another way to send money over the internet that doesn't involve a third party?
- jedberg 6y agoI would argue that bitcoin isn't money. It's an asset that has to be converted to/from money on each end to be useful. There's not a lot you can buy directly with bitcoin. Sure there is more every day, but even then the vendor is really just providing a hidden bitcoin conversation service, because I don't think there exists an entire supply chain that can be done with Bitcoin (as opposed to say USD or EUR). Furthermore, all bitcoin transactions involve many 3rd parties. The key feature is that you don't have to trust the third parties, not that they don't exist.
- rocho 6y agoThe blockchain IS a third party. It's maintained by other entities.
- xur17 6y agoSort of, but not really in the same way that a banking ledger is maintained by a bank. You don't need to trust the other 3rd parties to maintain it properly, and you are also "maintaining" the ledger yourself.
- asdff 6y agobecause computing power is valuable and bitcoin is valuable only to speculators