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This is pretty self indulgent. It really doesn’t take a genius to wrap their head around a distributed append only ledger. And anyone older than 25 or so rememb

This is pretty self indulgent. It really doesn’t take a genius to wrap their head around a distributed append only ledger. And anyone older than 25 or so remembers what speculative asset inflation is. The big, looming crypto question remains: if this stuff is so revolutionary, why doesn’t someone go and do something revolutionary with it?

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago
He isn’t talking about the protocol itself, yes a ledger is understandable. What you are ignoring is the effect it is having on the world as people discover for once in the history of humanity we can have a completely auditable open money that has a finite supply, not forever increased and diluted when a rich person decides it is in their best interest to do so. This effect is quite wild and effects far-reaching. Elon, Square, Jack, El Salvador, the Chinese mining exodus, Tom Brady laser eyes, the Fed, my bank account. How many wars could have been prevented if governments couldn’t have printed way more money than they had GDP for and then needed to start a war to try and “fix” it? This is the hyperobject we could be on the cusp of here.
- cycrutchfield 5y ago
  “Auditable”. Just don’t look behind the Tether curtain.
  - doggosphere 5y ago
    Tether isn't Bitcoin, nor is it a decentralized crypto asset.
    - senectus1 5y ago
      yes but as I understand it, an exceedingly large amount of BTC has been bought via Tether. enough that when the tether ponzi (and i do mean ponzi) pops then BTC is going to crash in a big way.
- piyh 5y ago
  I don't know how much keeping the monetary supply honest is good for humanity. Being able to print your own money can create a lot of problems, but it also gives you an escape hatch out of many others.
- jfengel 5y ago
  How many wars could have been prevented if governments couldn’t have printed way more money than they had GDP for and then needed to start a war to try and “fix” it? Probably none. Countries have had hyperinflation and then had wars, but I've never heard of a case where the hyperinflation caused the war. They're always linked by the same common cause: some shock (government collapse, market collapse, another war) that caused a supply shortage. That messed with the whole economy until it eventually resulted in violence. Hyperinflation is a response to economic collapse, not the cause of it. Or you could see it as a measure of economic collapse; again, the metric reflects the problem, but isn't the problem itself.

JohnJamesRambo 5y ago

He isn’t talking about the protocol itself, yes a ledger is understandable. What you are ignoring is the effect it is having on the world as people discover for once in the history of humanity we can have a completely auditable open money that has a finite supply, not forever increased and diluted when a rich person decides it is in their best interest to do so. This effect is quite wild and effects far-reaching. Elon, Square, Jack, El Salvador, the Chinese mining exodus, Tom Brady laser eyes, the Fed, my bank account. How many wars could have been prevented if governments couldn’t have printed way more money than they had GDP for and then needed to start a war to try and “fix” it? This is the hyperobject we could be on the cusp of here.

cycrutchfield 5y ago
“Auditable”. Just don’t look behind the Tether curtain.
- doggosphere 5y ago
  Tether isn't Bitcoin, nor is it a decentralized crypto asset.
  - senectus1 5y ago
    yes but as I understand it, an exceedingly large amount of BTC has been bought via Tether. enough that when the tether ponzi (and i do mean ponzi) pops then BTC is going to crash in a big way.
piyh 5y ago
I don't know how much keeping the monetary supply honest is good for humanity. Being able to print your own money can create a lot of problems, but it also gives you an escape hatch out of many others.
jfengel 5y ago
How many wars could have been prevented if governments couldn’t have printed way more money than they had GDP for and then needed to start a war to try and “fix” it? Probably none. Countries have had hyperinflation and then had wars, but I've never heard of a case where the hyperinflation caused the war. They're always linked by the same common cause: some shock (government collapse, market collapse, another war) that caused a supply shortage. That messed with the whole economy until it eventually resulted in violence. Hyperinflation is a response to economic collapse, not the cause of it. Or you could see it as a measure of economic collapse; again, the metric reflects the problem, but isn't the problem itself.