4 ms·

> are struggling to find productive real world applications You can lend and borrow on compound.finance, aave. You can play no-loss lotteries like PoolTogether

> are struggling to find productive real world applications You can lend and borrow on compound.finance, aave. You can play no-loss lotteries like PoolTogether. You can bet on your beliefs and hedge your investments on markets platforms like Polymarket. You can gamble. More on: https://ethereum.org/en/dapps/ https://ethereum.org/en/dapps/ Remember, anyone can use all of this without any arbitrary restrictions imposed by governments or companies.

Ensorceled 5y ago
Financial shenanigans and gambling aren't really productive.
- whitepaint 5y ago
  > Financial shenanigans I am curious, what's your job? Are you involved in finance in any way?
  - Ensorceled 5y ago
    No. I'm also curious, do people in Finance think various forms of gambling (and hedging of speculations) are productive for society.
    - fisf 5y ago
      At least the latter (hedging) is useful, and not only in terms of speculation but also for international trade / market events in general. Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. Tbh, finance in general seems to be a major blind spot when it comes to discussions on HN.
      - Ensorceled 5y ago
        > Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. That's my original point, I don't believe speculation (and tools to reduce the risk of speculation) is productive. At best, it's a hovering up of the value delta between two actors with differential information. They CERTAINLY have value, for the financial actors using them. Just it isn't a productivity gain for society as a whole. Certainly gambling isn't.
        fisf 5y ago
        Yes. And what I tried to point out, albeit not very clearly in retrospect, was that hedging is not only applicable and useful in cases that are plainly speculative in nature. E.g. I would like to hedge against the case of Forex fluctuations when doing a large international deal, or delivery delays, or bad harvests, etc.

Ensorceled 5y ago

Financial shenanigans and gambling aren't really productive.

whitepaint 5y ago
> Financial shenanigans I am curious, what's your job? Are you involved in finance in any way?
- Ensorceled 5y ago
  No. I'm also curious, do people in Finance think various forms of gambling (and hedging of speculations) are productive for society.
  - fisf 5y ago
    At least the latter (hedging) is useful, and not only in terms of speculation but also for international trade / market events in general. Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. Tbh, finance in general seems to be a major blind spot when it comes to discussions on HN.
    - Ensorceled 5y ago
      > Wether risk reduction as financial instrument is productive for society can remain open to interpretation. However, it, without a doubt, has value. That's my original point, I don't believe speculation (and tools to reduce the risk of speculation) is productive. At best, it's a hovering up of the value delta between two actors with differential information. They CERTAINLY have value, for the financial actors using them. Just it isn't a productivity gain for society as a whole. Certainly gambling isn't.
      - fisf 5y ago
        Yes. And what I tried to point out, albeit not very clearly in retrospect, was that hedging is not only applicable and useful in cases that are plainly speculative in nature. E.g. I would like to hedge against the case of Forex fluctuations when doing a large international deal, or delivery delays, or bad harvests, etc.