4 ms·

> There absolutely are good uses for crypto, and even for things like NFTs What do you think are the good uses for crypto and NFTs? (This is a genuine questio

> There absolutely are good uses for crypto, and even for things like NFTs What do you think are the good uses for crypto and NFTs? (This is a genuine question; I've never been sure what to think about crypto.)

onion2k 5y ago
Crypto solves a problem around distributed trust. If you have a bunch of people who need to trust something is correct, but don't trust each other, putting that data on a verifiable blockchain that you pay people to cryptographically sign is a good solution. The thing is though, that's a really unusual problem that few people actually have. If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable supply chain though.. yeah.. it fits. NFTs could enable people to transfer digital assets between platforms without needing the platforms to talk to one another. I could buy an NFT of a 3D model of some Yeezy sneakers, and then bring that NFT to Fortnite for my avatar to wear there, and to the Metaverse to show off there, and to a sneakers forum to verify my ownership in the community there as well. That could be quite useful. 3D cosmetic assets for games and stuff is a massive market, and using NFTs would enable people to transfer goods between those markets. It'd only really work if the asset itself is stored in some sort of distributed architecture though (IPFS for example.)
- aardvark179 5y ago
  I’ve never been convinced by claims of using blockchains for probably supply chains. While it’s true a blockchain can’t provide a shared ledger that both parties can trust has not been tampered with after the fact, it doesn’t say anything about the world outside the blockchain, so does not remove the trust problem.
- gjulianm 5y ago
  > NFTs could enable people to transfer digital assets between platforms without needing the platforms to talk to one another. I could buy an NFT of a 3D model of some Yeezy sneakers, and then bring that NFT to Fortnite for my avatar to wear there, and to the Metaverse to show off there, and to a sneakers forum to verify my ownership in the community there as well. That could be quite useful. 3D cosmetic assets for games and stuff is a massive market, and using NFTs would enable people to transfer goods between those markets. It'd only really work if the asset itself is stored in some sort of distributed architecture though (IPFS for example.) This ignores the actual implementation. You still need the platforms to talk to one another in the design stage at least (the most difficult one) in order to be able to create an asset that can actually be used in different applications. If right now you cannot upload a 3D model to Fortnite straight away, why do you think it would be easy to do with NFTs?
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    Implementations are really really messy. I'm not expert but I would argue that likely most engines have slightly different ways of doing things like sneakers on character model. So you can't really transfer from one engine to other. Might work between Unreal-engine games, but even there there might be issues. And already seen with NFTs, that are much simpler thing. Where does the data live? If it is not on blockchain how do you ensure it stays alive and is accessible. Is it somehow streamed when you load the game and object? Let's say there is dozen character each with multiple pieces of unique one of the kind objects. Maybe from dozens different servers? That will likely cause issues. Or maybe everyone must include in download every other products stuff too? Seems unfeasible really. And in the end why? Wouldn't it be better to try to sell a same kind of object in your own product and then make more money from that? Instead allowing use of objects from other places...
    - onion2k 5y ago
      Wouldn't it be better to try to sell a same kind of object in your own product and then make more money from that? Instead allowing use of objects from other places... Every business loves a walled garden because they can pretend that all the customers will spend all their money inside it, but it's anti-consumer, anti-choice, and if the business fails then everyone loses all the things they own there. Plus, if people could bring their own assets to a game then the number and variety of things in the game grows significantly. It's no longer limited by what the producers can build themselves. For a lot of games, especially ones made by smaller companies, that could be a considerable boon.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    If right now you cannot upload a 3D model to Fortnite straight away, why do you think it would be easy to do with NFTs? I didn't say it would be. NFTs are about access control and ownership, not 3D models. That was only the example I've used. The (huge, but largely unrelated) issue there is about standardizing assets which would also need to be solved (gltf does go some way to doing that though ... it is "the gif of 3D models" according to Kronos). If it's easier to think about, try applying the same solution to unique avatars or something, where the display mechanism is solved.
- MadeThisToReply 5y ago
  > If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable supply chain though.. yeah.. it fits. I've heard about this supposed use for blockchain before and I genuinely don't get it. So what if you have a tamper-proof blockchain containing information about a supply chain? How does this prove anything about the particular diamond you're selling me? Again, this is a genuine question. Can someone please walk me through this? What information do I need to verify about the supply chain and how does blockchain help? How were people solving this problem before blockchain?

onion2k 5y ago

Crypto solves a problem around distributed trust. If you have a bunch of people who need to trust something is correct, but don't trust each other, putting that data on a verifiable blockchain that you pay people to cryptographically sign is a good solution. The thing is though, that's a really unusual problem that few people actually have. If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable supply chain though.. yeah.. it fits. NFTs could enable people to transfer digital assets between platforms without needing the platforms to talk to one another. I could buy an NFT of a 3D model of some Yeezy sneakers, and then bring that NFT to Fortnite for my avatar to wear there, and to the Metaverse to show off there, and to a sneakers forum to verify my ownership in the community there as well. That could be quite useful. 3D cosmetic assets for games and stuff is a massive market, and using NFTs would enable people to transfer goods between those markets. It'd only really work if the asset itself is stored in some sort of distributed architecture though (IPFS for example.)

aardvark179 5y ago
I’ve never been convinced by claims of using blockchains for probably supply chains. While it’s true a blockchain can’t provide a shared ledger that both parties can trust has not been tampered with after the fact, it doesn’t say anything about the world outside the blockchain, so does not remove the trust problem.
gjulianm 5y ago
> NFTs could enable people to transfer digital assets between platforms without needing the platforms to talk to one another. I could buy an NFT of a 3D model of some Yeezy sneakers, and then bring that NFT to Fortnite for my avatar to wear there, and to the Metaverse to show off there, and to a sneakers forum to verify my ownership in the community there as well. That could be quite useful. 3D cosmetic assets for games and stuff is a massive market, and using NFTs would enable people to transfer goods between those markets. It'd only really work if the asset itself is stored in some sort of distributed architecture though (IPFS for example.) This ignores the actual implementation. You still need the platforms to talk to one another in the design stage at least (the most difficult one) in order to be able to create an asset that can actually be used in different applications. If right now you cannot upload a 3D model to Fortnite straight away, why do you think it would be easy to do with NFTs?
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Implementations are really really messy. I'm not expert but I would argue that likely most engines have slightly different ways of doing things like sneakers on character model. So you can't really transfer from one engine to other. Might work between Unreal-engine games, but even there there might be issues. And already seen with NFTs, that are much simpler thing. Where does the data live? If it is not on blockchain how do you ensure it stays alive and is accessible. Is it somehow streamed when you load the game and object? Let's say there is dozen character each with multiple pieces of unique one of the kind objects. Maybe from dozens different servers? That will likely cause issues. Or maybe everyone must include in download every other products stuff too? Seems unfeasible really. And in the end why? Wouldn't it be better to try to sell a same kind of object in your own product and then make more money from that? Instead allowing use of objects from other places...
  - onion2k 5y ago
    Wouldn't it be better to try to sell a same kind of object in your own product and then make more money from that? Instead allowing use of objects from other places... Every business loves a walled garden because they can pretend that all the customers will spend all their money inside it, but it's anti-consumer, anti-choice, and if the business fails then everyone loses all the things they own there. Plus, if people could bring their own assets to a game then the number and variety of things in the game grows significantly. It's no longer limited by what the producers can build themselves. For a lot of games, especially ones made by smaller companies, that could be a considerable boon.
- onion2k 5y ago
  If right now you cannot upload a 3D model to Fortnite straight away, why do you think it would be easy to do with NFTs? I didn't say it would be. NFTs are about access control and ownership, not 3D models. That was only the example I've used. The (huge, but largely unrelated) issue there is about standardizing assets which would also need to be solved (gltf does go some way to doing that though ... it is "the gif of 3D models" according to Kronos). If it's easier to think about, try applying the same solution to unique avatars or something, where the display mechanism is solved.
MadeThisToReply 5y ago
> If you're buying diamonds or bananas or cobalt, and you need a provable supply chain though.. yeah.. it fits. I've heard about this supposed use for blockchain before and I genuinely don't get it. So what if you have a tamper-proof blockchain containing information about a supply chain? How does this prove anything about the particular diamond you're selling me? Again, this is a genuine question. Can someone please walk me through this? What information do I need to verify about the supply chain and how does blockchain help? How were people solving this problem before blockchain?