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Everything in the article leads me to believe this only threatens the “cryptocurrency” industry, but I don’t have the actual text to the amendment. Is anything

Everything in the article leads me to believe this only threatens the “cryptocurrency” industry, but I don’t have the actual text to the amendment. Is anything threatening “crypto” itself?

meepmorp 5y ago
No, and I hate that people shorten cryptocurrency to crypto.
- dcolkitt 5y ago
  The term “derivatives” is widely used for financial derivatives like options and swaps. It’s gained such widespread adoption that it by far dwarfs the original meaning of the instantaneous rate of change in calculus. I think the simpler answer is that when a word has two meanings, one a widely used category of financial instruments and the other a narrowly defined branch of advanced mathematics, the former will almost always dominate everyday discussion.
  - Retric 5y ago
    Possibility, I have heard “derivatives” most commonly used as a math term not a financial one. But it’s got plenty of other meanings: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative
    - tantalor 5y ago
      As in "something that originates from something else"
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - gruez 5y ago
    >that it by far dwarfs the original meaning of the instantaneous rate of change in calculus. That's not even the original meaning. According to etymology section on wiktionary, it dates back to middle french and latin, before issac newton was even born. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derivative#Etymology https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derivative#Etymology
  - lukeschlather 5y ago
    Cryptography is more widely used than cryptocurrency. That people don't understand they're using it doesn't change the fact that "threatens the cryptography industry" is more scary than "threatens the cryptocurrency industry" especially since cryptocurrency relies on cryptography so it would be directly threatened as a consequence.
  - talideon 5y ago
    The term 'derivative' is rarely ambiguous, where as 'crypto' often is. That's a key difference here.
  - nomoreplease 5y ago
    Derivatives industry means one thing though, and doesn’t mean the mathematics industry. It’s not ambiguous either
- darksaints 5y ago
  Do you also hate that cryptography is shortened to crypto?
  - meepmorp 5y ago
    No.
- zarzavat 5y ago
  The prefix "crypto" means hidden or disguised in English. Neither cryptocurrency nor cryptography have a monopoly on it. The way people get exercised about this issue you'd think that "cryptography" is the only word in the English language to use the prefix "crypto-".
  - lukeschlather 5y ago
    The thing is that cryptocurrency is really a niche application of cryptography, where cryptography is very broadly used. So it's a little like if people started using "petroleum" to mean petroleum jelly. Sure, nobody is aware of cryptography's effect on their life. But it is a key ingredient in everything including cryptocurrency.
- tromp 5y ago
  Seconded. I also hate that they shorten proof-of-work algorithm to "algo" (often just referring to the hash function used in the widely used Hashcash PoW).
atonse 5y ago
Yes thank you. I was alarmed in light of the Apple stuff that this is yet another attack on security.
gruez 5y ago
comment from a previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28075226 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28075226 >the following categories do not count as brokers: >(A) validating distributed ledger transactions >(B) selling hardware or software for which the sole function is to permit a person to control private keys which are used for accessing digital assets on a distributed ledger, or >(C) developing digital assets or their cor- responding protocols for use by other persons, provided that such other persons are not cus- tomers of the person developing such assets or protocols.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jcranmer 5y ago
  That's Wyden's amendment to this amendment. The amendment in question here is saying that a "broker" now includes anyone > responsible for and regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets (incidentally, I don't see how category (B) or even category (C) from Wyden's amendment could be reasonable construed as being included in the original text--those are products not services. I will concede that I can see how category (A) can be construed, although I doubt it would be so construed). [Also note that "digital assets" is defined elsewhere in the amendment, although the news media didn't report on the precise text for digital asset, so I don't have it handy. But it's basically a reasonable definition.]

Everything in the article leads me to believe this only threatens the “cryptocurrency” industry, but I don’t have the actual text to the amendment. Is anything threatening “crypto” itself?

meepmorp 5y ago

No, and I hate that people shorten cryptocurrency to crypto.

dcolkitt 5y ago
The term “derivatives” is widely used for financial derivatives like options and swaps. It’s gained such widespread adoption that it by far dwarfs the original meaning of the instantaneous rate of change in calculus. I think the simpler answer is that when a word has two meanings, one a widely used category of financial instruments and the other a narrowly defined branch of advanced mathematics, the former will almost always dominate everyday discussion.
- Retric 5y ago
  Possibility, I have heard “derivatives” most commonly used as a math term not a financial one. But it’s got plenty of other meanings: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/derivative
  - tantalor 5y ago
    As in "something that originates from something else"
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- gruez 5y ago
  >that it by far dwarfs the original meaning of the instantaneous rate of change in calculus. That's not even the original meaning. According to etymology section on wiktionary, it dates back to middle french and latin, before issac newton was even born. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derivative#Etymology https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derivative#Etymology
- lukeschlather 5y ago
  Cryptography is more widely used than cryptocurrency. That people don't understand they're using it doesn't change the fact that "threatens the cryptography industry" is more scary than "threatens the cryptocurrency industry" especially since cryptocurrency relies on cryptography so it would be directly threatened as a consequence.
- talideon 5y ago
  The term 'derivative' is rarely ambiguous, where as 'crypto' often is. That's a key difference here.
- nomoreplease 5y ago
  Derivatives industry means one thing though, and doesn’t mean the mathematics industry. It’s not ambiguous either
darksaints 5y ago
Do you also hate that cryptography is shortened to crypto?
- meepmorp 5y ago
  No.
zarzavat 5y ago
The prefix "crypto" means hidden or disguised in English. Neither cryptocurrency nor cryptography have a monopoly on it. The way people get exercised about this issue you'd think that "cryptography" is the only word in the English language to use the prefix "crypto-".
- lukeschlather 5y ago
  The thing is that cryptocurrency is really a niche application of cryptography, where cryptography is very broadly used. So it's a little like if people started using "petroleum" to mean petroleum jelly. Sure, nobody is aware of cryptography's effect on their life. But it is a key ingredient in everything including cryptocurrency.
tromp 5y ago
Seconded. I also hate that they shorten proof-of-work algorithm to "algo" (often just referring to the hash function used in the widely used Hashcash PoW).

atonse 5y ago

Yes thank you. I was alarmed in light of the Apple stuff that this is yet another attack on security.

gruez 5y ago

comment from a previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28075226 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28075226 >the following categories do not count as brokers: >(A) validating distributed ledger transactions >(B) selling hardware or software for which the sole function is to permit a person to control private keys which are used for accessing digital assets on a distributed ledger, or >(C) developing digital assets or their cor- responding protocols for use by other persons, provided that such other persons are not cus- tomers of the person developing such assets or protocols.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jcranmer 5y ago
That's Wyden's amendment to this amendment. The amendment in question here is saying that a "broker" now includes anyone > responsible for and regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets (incidentally, I don't see how category (B) or even category (C) from Wyden's amendment could be reasonable construed as being included in the original text--those are products not services. I will concede that I can see how category (A) can be construed, although I doubt it would be so construed). [Also note that "digital assets" is defined elsewhere in the amendment, although the news media didn't report on the precise text for digital asset, so I don't have it handy. But it's basically a reasonable definition.]