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Maybe I'm wrong but I see this perspective so often on HN. And I can't help but feel that this is because so many people on HN are already privileged - living i

Maybe I'm wrong but I see this perspective so often on HN. And I can't help but feel that this is because so many people on HN are already privileged - living in the first world, making software salaries, and generally have a world of opportunities available to them, especially when it comes to their money. But coming from a third world country, the promise of a decentralized, permissionless market seems extremely promising. Particularly if it doesn't restrict me because of my location or capital or identity. If the internet broke geographical barriers, this tech can break barriers of capital and identity and credentialsm. While I won't talk about the idealized vision of blockchains, smart contracts can automate away a large number of fairly complex interactions. There is already a pretty thriving decentralized financial market that anyone can access from any part of the world with any amount of capital - no KYC or questions asked. A very basic usage: using Curve.fi to swap between tokenized USD (USDC) and tokenized EURO (EURS) with minimal slippage and fees, all permissionless, all freely accessible. If I was an American and wanted to have Euro to spend on my vacation, would this not be a better way to go about it instead of going to the bank, dealing with someone, and paying their exorbitant fees? The only missing part is the ability to easily spend this tokenized EURO, but that - I'm hoping - will come later. The core tech - smart contracts, blockchains - work. A more advanced use case: deploy tokenized USD into a vault that lends it out according to a set strategy, earning the lender interest passively. The individual who created the strategy, in term, earns a fee based on their returns generated. Again, this individual can be from anywhere and doesn't have to have a fancy office and degrees to get investment "clients". Nor does the lender have to deal with anyone to lend out their money. If this tech allows Raj from India to build a "hedge fund", and for Joe from America to invest with as little as $1, and the two never have to know each other, and can interact entirely with a smart contract available 24x7, what's there not to be excited about? In the serious crypto world, there is a maxim: Code is Law. I would reckon that alone should make HN bullish on crypto. When was the last time you worked at a tech company where Code was truly the Law? ===== Some links if anyone wants to explore this further: 1. Uniswap.org - anyone can set up trading between any two tokenized assets. Want to trade between the price of gold and Venezuelan Bolivar? Sure, go ahead and use the price oracles from Chainlink to create these two tokens, set up a trading pair, and allow anyone to speculate on these two assets. Or you can just be a market maker (something only big funds can do in TradFi) and earn fees on the trades. 2. Curve.fi - swap between tokenized stable coins, such as EURO > USD, without ever having to visit the bank or paying their fees or doing their KYC. 3. AAVE.com - Lend or borrow between tokenized assets

Judgmentality 5y ago
> But coming from a third world country, the promise of a decentralized, permissionless market seems extremely promising. Particularly if it doesn't restrict me because of my location or capital or identity. Your entire argument is about the promise of blockchain and not the actual current applications people are using. Your argument is theoretical when OP is asking for practical use cases. You mention many hypotheticals but not a single "I use blockchain for X" or "my mother uses blockchain for X" which is what actually matters. > While I won't talk about the idealized vision of blockchains As far as I'm concerned that's all you talked about, and you don't even realize it.
- puranjay 5y ago
  I literally gave a real world example: Curve.fi that's used to swap between stablecoins. You can literally go right now to swap between tokenized USD and EURO. Or you can go to the bank and pay their exchange rate. Maybe they'll ask you for your ID too. Another example of the second kind: www.Ape.tax, where anyone can deploy an investment strategy and beta users can try them out, and if they are successful, they can be integrated - voted on by a DAO - into Yearn.finance, the primary project with several billion $ in investment. There are existing projects already using the situations I talked about. It's not theory. It's not idealized vision. It's happening right now. Blockchain is moving so fast that Yearn.finance, the platform with billions in investment, wasn't even a thing a year ago.
  - Judgmentality 5y ago
    You gave a hypothetical example, not something you use. And to answer your question in your original post - no, blockchain would not be more convenient than using my traditional bank. I can do it entirely on my phone inside an app. And every time I've compared it's significantly cheaper not to use blockchain to send someone actual money. You're giving me possible applications, not talking about you being an actual user. There are products for lots of things, that doesn't mean they have enough people using them that they're going to last. > Blockchain is moving so fast that Yearn.finance, the platform with billions in investment, wasn't even a thing a year ago. You're talking about something I've never heard of before as proof of blockchain having made it. We are on different planes here and I don't see us getting through to each other. Anyway, agree to disagree. Cheers.

Judgmentality 5y ago

> But coming from a third world country, the promise of a decentralized, permissionless market seems extremely promising. Particularly if it doesn't restrict me because of my location or capital or identity. Your entire argument is about the promise of blockchain and not the actual current applications people are using. Your argument is theoretical when OP is asking for practical use cases. You mention many hypotheticals but not a single "I use blockchain for X" or "my mother uses blockchain for X" which is what actually matters. > While I won't talk about the idealized vision of blockchains As far as I'm concerned that's all you talked about, and you don't even realize it.

puranjay 5y ago
I literally gave a real world example: Curve.fi that's used to swap between stablecoins. You can literally go right now to swap between tokenized USD and EURO. Or you can go to the bank and pay their exchange rate. Maybe they'll ask you for your ID too. Another example of the second kind: www.Ape.tax, where anyone can deploy an investment strategy and beta users can try them out, and if they are successful, they can be integrated - voted on by a DAO - into Yearn.finance, the primary project with several billion $ in investment. There are existing projects already using the situations I talked about. It's not theory. It's not idealized vision. It's happening right now. Blockchain is moving so fast that Yearn.finance, the platform with billions in investment, wasn't even a thing a year ago.
- Judgmentality 5y ago
  You gave a hypothetical example, not something you use. And to answer your question in your original post - no, blockchain would not be more convenient than using my traditional bank. I can do it entirely on my phone inside an app. And every time I've compared it's significantly cheaper not to use blockchain to send someone actual money. You're giving me possible applications, not talking about you being an actual user. There are products for lots of things, that doesn't mean they have enough people using them that they're going to last. > Blockchain is moving so fast that Yearn.finance, the platform with billions in investment, wasn't even a thing a year ago. You're talking about something I've never heard of before as proof of blockchain having made it. We are on different planes here and I don't see us getting through to each other. Anyway, agree to disagree. Cheers.