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Another armchair cryptographer on HN who has no idea what they're talking about... somehow this is acceptable when it comes to Bitcoin. I feel like I'm being ch

Another armchair cryptographer on HN who has no idea what they're talking about... somehow this is acceptable when it comes to Bitcoin. I feel like I'm being charitable here but what exists are other cryptocurrencies which trade-off security and/or decentralization in favor of some other properties. Regarding proof-of-stake for example, I'll defer to this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25007874 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25007874

toomim 6y ago
This attitude that people who disagree with you are stupid or don't know cryptography about is part of the problem, and why people still buy into BTC when there are technologically far-superior coins out there. So you just demonstrated the problem that the OP was talking about.
- olalonde 6y ago
  My point was that OP's point and yours, "there are technologically far-superior coins out there", is not true by any stretch of the imagination. Pardon my attitude but this is getting out of hand on HN lately. It seems the idea that you shouldn't authoritatively comment on subjects you are barely familiar with goes out of the window when it comes to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. If you disagree, I'd invite you to cite some respected cryptographers and researchers who have made such claim.
- trident5000 6y ago
  Theres a lot of people on here who have no idea what they're talking about but make claims there is a better coin. Theres always a tradeoff they dont fully comprehend.
runeks 6y ago
In addition to technical difference between cryptocurrencies, there’s also a difference in financial properties of the token itself, e.g. liquidity. Liquidity refers to how much the price moves when buying from or selling into the market. For example, you can sell roughly 5 million USD worth of litecoin on the Bitfinex exchange until you push down the price by 0.5%, but for Bitcoin this figure is roughly 500 million USD (~100 times greater). The greater the liquidity of a currency the less value is lost when exchanging back and forth between it and e.g. USD. [1] https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=BTCUSD https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=BTCUSD [2] https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=LTCUSD https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=LTCUSD
jetpackjoe 6y ago
I'm not even an amateur cryptographer, let alone an armchair one. I'm just someone who sees the failed promises made by Bitcoin (fast, cheap transactions) against the horrendous damage it is causing the environment. There has to be a better way.
- olalonde 6y ago
  I appreciate your honesty. Fast and cheap transactions have been around since long before Bitcoin. Bitcoin's innovation was to make those possible without a trusted centralized intermediary. Therefore, decentralization and security are arguably the most important properties when evaluating cryptocurrencies. And Bitcoin is king on that front. Cryptocurrencies that promise faster, cheaper or "more energy efficient" transactions pretty much always have to compromise on that. But as an end user, you probably wouldn't know that. That's why I'm frustrated with people who authoritatively claim things like "there are so many better crypto-currencies" while not disclosing that they're merely commenting from a "user experience" point of view.
  - jetpackjoe 6y ago
    Is Bitcoin king on security and decentralization because of anything in the protocol, or because it has the most miners?

toomim 6y ago

This attitude that people who disagree with you are stupid or don't know cryptography about is part of the problem, and why people still buy into BTC when there are technologically far-superior coins out there. So you just demonstrated the problem that the OP was talking about.

olalonde 6y ago
My point was that OP's point and yours, "there are technologically far-superior coins out there", is not true by any stretch of the imagination. Pardon my attitude but this is getting out of hand on HN lately. It seems the idea that you shouldn't authoritatively comment on subjects you are barely familiar with goes out of the window when it comes to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. If you disagree, I'd invite you to cite some respected cryptographers and researchers who have made such claim.
trident5000 6y ago
Theres a lot of people on here who have no idea what they're talking about but make claims there is a better coin. Theres always a tradeoff they dont fully comprehend.

runeks 6y ago

In addition to technical difference between cryptocurrencies, there’s also a difference in financial properties of the token itself, e.g. liquidity. Liquidity refers to how much the price moves when buying from or selling into the market. For example, you can sell roughly 5 million USD worth of litecoin on the Bitfinex exchange until you push down the price by 0.5%, but for Bitcoin this figure is roughly 500 million USD (~100 times greater). The greater the liquidity of a currency the less value is lost when exchanging back and forth between it and e.g. USD. [1] https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=BTCUSD https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=BTCUSD [2] https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=LTCUSD https://www.bitfinex.com/order-book/?pair=LTCUSD

jetpackjoe 6y ago

I'm not even an amateur cryptographer, let alone an armchair one. I'm just someone who sees the failed promises made by Bitcoin (fast, cheap transactions) against the horrendous damage it is causing the environment. There has to be a better way.

olalonde 6y ago
I appreciate your honesty. Fast and cheap transactions have been around since long before Bitcoin. Bitcoin's innovation was to make those possible without a trusted centralized intermediary. Therefore, decentralization and security are arguably the most important properties when evaluating cryptocurrencies. And Bitcoin is king on that front. Cryptocurrencies that promise faster, cheaper or "more energy efficient" transactions pretty much always have to compromise on that. But as an end user, you probably wouldn't know that. That's why I'm frustrated with people who authoritatively claim things like "there are so many better crypto-currencies" while not disclosing that they're merely commenting from a "user experience" point of view.
- jetpackjoe 6y ago
  Is Bitcoin king on security and decentralization because of anything in the protocol, or because it has the most miners?