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People tried ransomware before cryptocurrencies. Payouts were minuscule compared to what cryptocurrencies are now enabling. And no, it is not at all similar to
by user-the-name 5y ago
People tried ransomware before cryptocurrencies. Payouts were minuscule compared to what cryptocurrencies are now enabling.
And no, it is not at all similar to free speech. Cryptocurrencies do massive harm - to the environment, to innocent people losing their money to scammers and frauds, and to the entire economy through enabling ransomware - and tiny, tiny amounts of good, which dwindle in comparison to the harm.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoDo you have some numbers to back these claims about massive harm? Without estimates this sounds like a typical fear-mongering. If you provide numbers, we can compare this massive harm with some other types of massive harms. As for tiny amount of good - reclaiming control over storage of value from The Man is such a tremendous achievement that will help us fight tyranny everywhere. Bitcoin donations was the only type of funding russian government failed to stop when it started to clamp down the opposition. For me, this capability trumps your concerns about environment and crime any day.
- user-the-name 5y ago0.1% of all the power generated on the entire planet is being destroyed by bitcoin mining. If that is not massive harm I do not know what is.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoPffff, several orders of magnitude more energy is "destroyed" by dumb heating, because there is a lot of places where humans can't survive without warmth. It is only a matter of time when byproduct heat generated by mining will be used to heat water and homes.
- user-the-name 5y agoThere is a whole world of difference between heating homes across the planet, and running a network that can do 7 transactions a second. A single home PC from 2004 could run the bitcoin network, but instead, it uses 0.1% of all the energy in the world. It is by a wide margin the most ridiculously inefficient thing ever created. And it won't improve, because it is built that way by design.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoYou are clearly missing the point of why it uses so much energy. It is the price of security, decentralisation and permissionlessness. As for "7 transactions per second", sure, 7 on-chain transactions with the current block size. You don't need them for things like buying a cup of coffee. So this FUD is somewhat outdated.
- user-the-name 5y agoYeah, it's the price of that. And that price is ridiculously, stupendously high. Much, much, much too high. It is in no way worth that price.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y agoMaybe, for you. Probably you're lucky to live in a country that doesn't abuse its financial system. But others pay this price gladly, because bitcoin provides clear and undisputable value for them.
- user-the-name 5y agoNot for me. For the entire world. It is the entire planet that is paying the price. And the price is utterly overwhelmingly large, and you are forcing them to pay this price while getting nothing in return.
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
- panarky 5y ago> Payouts were minuscule compared to what cryptocurrencies are now enabling I see arguments of this form everywhere: Law-abiding, tax-paying, responsible citizens use Tool X for legitimate purposes. Criminals also use Tool X for crimes. Therefore, we should ban Tool X. Tool X = {cryptocurrency, encryption, firearms, drugs, etc.} Tools that have legitimate uses should not be prohibited to law-abiding citizens. Absolutely prosecute people who use the tool to hurt other people, but don't prohibit the tools that both bad people and good people use.
- user-the-name 5y agoBitcoin hurts many, many people who never use it. Everyone who uses Bitcoin is contributing to this harm.