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The magic of torrents is that you download music or movies or whatever. And they did that the first year the Bittorrent protocol was released. Note that at the

The magic of torrents is that you download music or movies or whatever. And they did that the first year the Bittorrent protocol was released. Note that at the time, all peer coordination was centralized through trackers, the DHT wouldn't arrive for another five years after. By comparison, Bitcoin has existed for ten years and hasn't let anybody do anything yet, because a slow time stamping algorithm (proof of work) turns out not to be that practical for many important applications.

0x008 5y ago
bittorrent was not the first protocol and neither will bitcoin be the last blockchain. only because the first is not viable does not mean that blockchains as a whole is a stupid idea.
- alephr 5y ago
  what were the first protocols? are these really comparable situations in your mind or are you grasping at straws here? genuinely curious if you can make an argument that they're similar
lowkey 5y ago
> Bitcoin has existed for ten years and hasn't let anybody do anything yet .. Bitcoin created a scarce digital good, modeled after gold in many ways, that promised a sound money for the internet, digital cash, a reserve currency powered by proof of work. A currency that unlike fiat, could never be debased no matter how tempting it might be for a politician. I could see how one might not value these things as an individual but I think it's a bit much to boldly claim that "it hasn't let anybody do anything yet." After all, it's made many people rich, particularly those curious souls who went down the rabbit hole to investigate it early and were therefore rewarded. Growing wealth, providing a savings vehicle that beats inflation over time, or making the owner rich - are all valuable outcomes for a new technology designed to offer a new type of monetary asset. Bitcoin is incorruptible money with a fixed and predictable inflation rate and monetary policy that cannot be manipulated by any politician or central bank - no matter how tempting it may be. There is value in that, even if not everyone can see it.

0x008 5y ago

bittorrent was not the first protocol and neither will bitcoin be the last blockchain. only because the first is not viable does not mean that blockchains as a whole is a stupid idea.

alephr 5y ago
what were the first protocols? are these really comparable situations in your mind or are you grasping at straws here? genuinely curious if you can make an argument that they're similar

lowkey 5y ago

> Bitcoin has existed for ten years and hasn't let anybody do anything yet .. Bitcoin created a scarce digital good, modeled after gold in many ways, that promised a sound money for the internet, digital cash, a reserve currency powered by proof of work. A currency that unlike fiat, could never be debased no matter how tempting it might be for a politician. I could see how one might not value these things as an individual but I think it's a bit much to boldly claim that "it hasn't let anybody do anything yet." After all, it's made many people rich, particularly those curious souls who went down the rabbit hole to investigate it early and were therefore rewarded. Growing wealth, providing a savings vehicle that beats inflation over time, or making the owner rich - are all valuable outcomes for a new technology designed to offer a new type of monetary asset. Bitcoin is incorruptible money with a fixed and predictable inflation rate and monetary policy that cannot be manipulated by any politician or central bank - no matter how tempting it may be. There is value in that, even if not everyone can see it.