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I really, really want to believe this but I don't think I can. Over the past several years there has been an unquantifiable but subjectively enormous shift in t
by voldacar 5y ago
I really, really want to believe this but I don't think I can. Over the past several years there has been an unquantifiable but subjectively enormous shift in the atmosphere of the cryptocurrency world. At one point it shifted from being about paranoid hackers and techies trying to create a way of doing transactions that was free from trusted third parties to being essentially a space for grifters to shill shitcoins and idiots to buy them. Bitcoin went from being a thing with a radical, revolutionary purpose in the world to being "look, price graph goes up," and this fills me with a deep sense of foreboding.
It increasingly feels like we are in a time when anything with any potential to harm the Regime (such as web, bitcoin, etc) just gets defanged and absorbed into the system. In a few years, your web browser will probably transmit the details of your mandatory TPM chip to facebook, netflix, etc so they can uniquely identify all devices with complete precision and deny access to unapproved (user-controlled) computers. Microsoft already only allows users to install other OSes/bootloaders on new computers by their good grace. The keys are theirs, not yours.
With bitcoin we already have KYC/AML ruthlessly enforced at every onramp/offramp. It is already very hard to transact between fiat and crypto without presenting some form of government-issued identification, and it will only get harder as time goes on, I don't see how you could reverse this process. And that culture shift is important because the people whose voices are most dominant within the "crypto sphere" today don't seem to give a shit, really. The crypto people we have now seem to lack the deep, fundamental commitment to human freedom, privacy, and security that was the animating force behind the creation of bitcoin. I desperately want to believe that it still survives and I'm just not seeing it somehow. But I simply can't.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 5y ago> The crypto people we have now seem to lack the deep, fundamental commitment to human freedom, privacy, and security that was the animating force behind the creation of bitcoin. It's probably because the few remaining crypto people, in the space dominated mostly by scammers, realized that crypto anarchy is something that's fun to read about in a sci-fi novel, not something you actually want to live in.
- 3np 5y agoWhat do you base this on? I know a fair number of crypto OGs and I don't think anyone would agree with that. Sure, we're all tired of the scams and greedy schemes but this too shall pass.
- selfhoster11 5y ago> realized that crypto anarchy is something that's fun to read about in a sci-fi novel, not something you actually want to live in. I'm a crypto OG, and I also mourn what this space has become. You are entirely incorrect in the last part of your sentence.
- sharperguy 5y agoAlthough this appears the be the case with the broader community, in the development space of bitcoin itself the community there appears very serious about tackling privacy, scalability and censorship resistance of bitcoin. Over time, most of the people shilling "coin go up" memes have lost interest in bitcoin and have moved to other coins, leaving space for this kind of thing to develop in bitcoin.
- csomar 5y agoOne: Decentralized exchanges (aka no KYC, limits or restrictions of any kind). Two: Crpyto-backed smart-contract stable coins (similar to DAI). (aka USD tokens without the need for the US financial on-off ramps). Then watch this space skyrocket into the stratosphere.
- voldacar 5y agoI think decentralized exchanges are cool but they are only useful for people who already have significant crypto holdings. ~nobody gets paid in bitcoin. The initial transfer of fiat for crypto is the most difficult part since that's where the kyc, regulation, etc comes into effect. I'm not sure what stablecoins have to do with anything i said.