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There isn't a single redeeming quality about Cryptocurrency. The sooner it dies, the better. "Using" chips for useless heat generation has no benefit at all.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jsutton 5y ago
I guess you'd say the same thing about open source cloud computing? Crypto is an evolution of that, after all.
- lpcvoid 5y ago
  I seriously fail to see the relationship here. Please explain?
  - leesalminen 5y ago
    Using Ethereum as an example, the code is open source. The Ethereum Virtual Machine is a cloud computer. As in, when you execute code on the EVM it is executing on someone else's computer for a per-use price. Hence, "open source cloud computing". At least that's what I think the parent is getting at. I would agree it's a bit of an obtuse analogy and doesn't necessarily apply to all of crypto as a whole.
    - WalterSear 5y ago
      Due to the massive redundancy and waste involved, the entire EVM performs less useful computation than one of AWS's smallest EC2 instance types; less than a current Raspberry Pi attached to a 100 gig SSD. In practical terms, the machine I'm writing this on is closer to cloud computing than the EVM is.
      - leesalminen 5y ago
        > Due to the massive redundancy and waste involved, the entire EVM performs less useful computation than one of AWS's smallest EC2 instance types; less than a current Raspberry Pi attached to a 100 gig SSD. Ok, yes, that's fair. That doesn't totally negate the analogy, though. It just shows that it's a potentially inferior solution. > In practical terms, the machine I'm writing this on is closer to cloud computing than the EVM is. I think what the parent was getting at is the whole "cloud == someone else's computer" trope. Without knowing more details about the computer you're using to post on HN it's impossible to know but I think it's pretty likely you own the computer you're currently using. You wouldn't be using your employer's computer for non-work purposes, right? ;)
- __alexs 5y ago
  I don't think causality really works like that, even the Bible for this one right. "The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son."
- zucker42 5y ago
  It's like cloud computing if any code I wanted to run ran redundantly and simultaneously on all of AWS's computers and I had to share those computers with the rest of world in a competitive bidding process.
artursapek 5y ago
Have
FDSGSG 5y ago
Cryptocurrency makes it much easier to buy and sell drugs online, this is a huge redeeming quality. Even if we assume that we are ideologically opposed to drug trade, we'd be liars to claim that cryptocurrency is useless. It de facto isn't.
- dannyw 5y ago
  Also donating to WikiLeaks, snowdens...
  - artursapek 5y ago
    You guys are stuck in 2014 lmfao
capableweb 5y ago
I agree that people tend to over-hype cryptocurrencies, but there are examples of good being done in the ecosystem. Pineapple Fund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Fund) is probably the first that come into my mind, distributing $86 million worth of bitcoins to various organizations. That would not have happened if it wasn't for cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin specifically)
- zucker42 5y ago
  Likewise Amway is a great company because its CEO sometimes donates to charity. I mean seriously, is this a real argument. Bitcoin is good because one person who got rich from it happened to be philanthropic? Where do you think that money came from? The answer is other "investors" who were told Bitcoin would make them rich. If the best justification for Bitcoin's existence is the Pineapple fund, Bitcoin must be the stupidest charity fundraising effort of all time, which is saying something. The intrinsic value which Bitcoin provides is that it is as a currency, i.e. a way to transfer and store value. But as the Bitcoin detractors in this thread point out, it's value in this role is far outweighed by its costs.
  - capableweb 5y ago
    > I mean seriously, is this a real argument. Yes, it's a real argument against "There isn't a single redeeming quality about Cryptocurrency". I agree that not everything with cryptocurrency is good. In fact, I'd argue most uses today are bad, and only a few are good. But I haven't argued for that everything about cryptocurrencies are good. Remember; "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
    - zucker42 5y ago
      A rich Bitcoin owner donating money to others isn't a redeeming quality of cryptocurrency, it's a redeeming quality of a person who owns cryptocurrency. It has nothing to do with intrinsic qualities of Bitcoin, and so I don't think it redeems Bitcoin in the slightest.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

jsutton 5y ago

I guess you'd say the same thing about open source cloud computing? Crypto is an evolution of that, after all.

lpcvoid 5y ago
I seriously fail to see the relationship here. Please explain?
- leesalminen 5y ago
  Using Ethereum as an example, the code is open source. The Ethereum Virtual Machine is a cloud computer. As in, when you execute code on the EVM it is executing on someone else's computer for a per-use price. Hence, "open source cloud computing". At least that's what I think the parent is getting at. I would agree it's a bit of an obtuse analogy and doesn't necessarily apply to all of crypto as a whole.
  - WalterSear 5y ago
    Due to the massive redundancy and waste involved, the entire EVM performs less useful computation than one of AWS's smallest EC2 instance types; less than a current Raspberry Pi attached to a 100 gig SSD. In practical terms, the machine I'm writing this on is closer to cloud computing than the EVM is.
    - leesalminen 5y ago
      > Due to the massive redundancy and waste involved, the entire EVM performs less useful computation than one of AWS's smallest EC2 instance types; less than a current Raspberry Pi attached to a 100 gig SSD. Ok, yes, that's fair. That doesn't totally negate the analogy, though. It just shows that it's a potentially inferior solution. > In practical terms, the machine I'm writing this on is closer to cloud computing than the EVM is. I think what the parent was getting at is the whole "cloud == someone else's computer" trope. Without knowing more details about the computer you're using to post on HN it's impossible to know but I think it's pretty likely you own the computer you're currently using. You wouldn't be using your employer's computer for non-work purposes, right? ;)
__alexs 5y ago
I don't think causality really works like that, even the Bible for this one right. "The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son."
zucker42 5y ago
It's like cloud computing if any code I wanted to run ran redundantly and simultaneously on all of AWS's computers and I had to share those computers with the rest of world in a competitive bidding process.

artursapek 5y ago

Have

FDSGSG 5y ago

Cryptocurrency makes it much easier to buy and sell drugs online, this is a huge redeeming quality. Even if we assume that we are ideologically opposed to drug trade, we'd be liars to claim that cryptocurrency is useless. It de facto isn't.

dannyw 5y ago
Also donating to WikiLeaks, snowdens...
- artursapek 5y ago
  You guys are stuck in 2014 lmfao

capableweb 5y ago

I agree that people tend to over-hype cryptocurrencies, but there are examples of good being done in the ecosystem. Pineapple Fund (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Fund) is probably the first that come into my mind, distributing $86 million worth of bitcoins to various organizations. That would not have happened if it wasn't for cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin specifically)

zucker42 5y ago
Likewise Amway is a great company because its CEO sometimes donates to charity. I mean seriously, is this a real argument. Bitcoin is good because one person who got rich from it happened to be philanthropic? Where do you think that money came from? The answer is other "investors" who were told Bitcoin would make them rich. If the best justification for Bitcoin's existence is the Pineapple fund, Bitcoin must be the stupidest charity fundraising effort of all time, which is saying something. The intrinsic value which Bitcoin provides is that it is as a currency, i.e. a way to transfer and store value. But as the Bitcoin detractors in this thread point out, it's value in this role is far outweighed by its costs.
- capableweb 5y ago
  > I mean seriously, is this a real argument. Yes, it's a real argument against "There isn't a single redeeming quality about Cryptocurrency". I agree that not everything with cryptocurrency is good. In fact, I'd argue most uses today are bad, and only a few are good. But I haven't argued for that everything about cryptocurrencies are good. Remember; "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
  - zucker42 5y ago
    A rich Bitcoin owner donating money to others isn't a redeeming quality of cryptocurrency, it's a redeeming quality of a person who owns cryptocurrency. It has nothing to do with intrinsic qualities of Bitcoin, and so I don't think it redeems Bitcoin in the slightest.