3 ms·
> Can you give example of a cryptocurrency startup which innovated anything useful? This is a trap I've seen many technical folks on HN fall into - they define
by astoor 5y ago
> Can you give example of a cryptocurrency startup which innovated anything useful?
This is a trap I've seen many technical folks on HN fall into - they define "useful" along the lines of "beneficial", or "productive", or "worthwhile", rather than simply "is used". Think of casino tokens. They have no intrinsic value, and can only be used within very limited set of environments, so you could think of them as useless in the strict sense. But that doesn't stop large numbers of people using large numbers of them on a regular basis, and the operators make hundreds of billions a year from the people using them, so they are "useful" in the sense of "being used" to serve a strong human desire (just not to make the world a better place).
- trasz 5y agoAs opposed to defining “useful” along the lines of “generating profit”. So, sure, cryptocurrency startups can innovate a new way of making money. But it doesn’t make them useful. One could argue it doesn’t even make them not harmful.
- astoor 5y agoI would also prefer "useful", as in "capable of being put to use", to apply to uses with net positive outcomes for society - I was just trying to make the point that, unfortunately, many others don't.
- CPLX 5y agoYes you are correct. Cryptocurrency at the moment is used for speculation, drug sales, scams, and evading financial regulation. Those are huge valuable use cases. However it doesn’t follow that we should necessarily facilitate those uses.
- noduerme 5y agoIt also doesn't follow that we should impose onerous restrictions on everything related to a technology just because some people misuse it. eg we don't require documentation of the source of footage from websites who show videos made by hobbyists who fly drones, even though 99% of global drone sales by the dollar are used by governments or terrorist groups to kill people. And we don't punish the hobbyist or the website that shows their videos, or the website that links to that. Down that road lies total information control and state terror.
- trasz 5y agoBut we do: if your business is weaponry, you’ll be pretty tightly controlled.
- hkt 5y agoI hate to break this to you, but state terror is already perpetrated by western states against their own people and the world. Those drones are a good example. Then there is Guantanamo bay, the militarisation of police, disproportionate prison sentences.. the list goes on.