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And that's an improvement how? At least with Google there's a chance you'll be able to get your account back. If it's "decentralized" (which in crypto land is a

by necubi 5y ago

And that's an improvement how? At least with Google there's a chance you'll be able to get your account back. If it's "decentralized" (which in crypto land is apparently synonymous with "run by a cabal of miners in China") and you lose your private key, you're completely out of luck.

xmly 5y ago
When will Trump get his chance?
drdeca 5y ago
If it isn't relying on a blockchain thing, and it's based on you setting up a private key, there's no "run by a cabal of miners in China" issue. And how is "google accidentally bans your account" and "you lose your private key" comparable anyway? In the first case, it isn't under your control, but under the control of some large organization, and in the second case it is because you messed up. In addition, there are mechanisms being worked on (often in the context of on-blockchain stuff, but I don't see this as fundamentally necessary to it) for facilitating like, "I trust these people to authenticate whether someone is me, in the case that I lose my private key", in order to establish that a new key still corresponds to the same person. Like, I'm less enthusiastic about this kind of thing than I have been in the past (and I've never spent money on it), but your criticism doesn't seem to be engaging in the ideas really.
aaronax 5y ago
If you lose some cash you are also out of luck, yet cash is still useful and even had some valuable properties.
- onion2k 5y ago
  You may have a different experience, but most people tend to only keep small amounts of cash that they're able to accept the loss of around. They put the rest of their assets in banks and securities because then they're protected from loss by several mechanisms like bank security, legal security, and insurance. The way people handle money is literally the opposite of keeping your identity on a blockchain.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- notafraudster 5y ago
  I'm actually not sure this is true. I lived in the US 2014-early 2021 and don't think I used cash after about 2017; I've lived in Europe since and just got touched cash for the first time today because my Christmas tree delivery guy doesn't take Revolut. A few months ago I had lunch at a restaurant whose terminal went down and I asked what they wanted me to do and they said "sure, don't worry about it, come back later today and pay, or whenever you can" (so I did, obviously.) No doubt there are people for whom cash has valuable properties, but I'm just saying I don't think I'm one of them and my use case seems pretty normal as far as people go.

by necubi 5y ago

xmly 5y ago

When will Trump get his chance?

drdeca 5y ago

If it isn't relying on a blockchain thing, and it's based on you setting up a private key, there's no "run by a cabal of miners in China" issue. And how is "google accidentally bans your account" and "you lose your private key" comparable anyway? In the first case, it isn't under your control, but under the control of some large organization, and in the second case it is because you messed up. In addition, there are mechanisms being worked on (often in the context of on-blockchain stuff, but I don't see this as fundamentally necessary to it) for facilitating like, "I trust these people to authenticate whether someone is me, in the case that I lose my private key", in order to establish that a new key still corresponds to the same person. Like, I'm less enthusiastic about this kind of thing than I have been in the past (and I've never spent money on it), but your criticism doesn't seem to be engaging in the ideas really.

aaronax 5y ago

If you lose some cash you are also out of luck, yet cash is still useful and even had some valuable properties.

onion2k 5y ago
You may have a different experience, but most people tend to only keep small amounts of cash that they're able to accept the loss of around. They put the rest of their assets in banks and securities because then they're protected from loss by several mechanisms like bank security, legal security, and insurance. The way people handle money is literally the opposite of keeping your identity on a blockchain.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
notafraudster 5y ago
I'm actually not sure this is true. I lived in the US 2014-early 2021 and don't think I used cash after about 2017; I've lived in Europe since and just got touched cash for the first time today because my Christmas tree delivery guy doesn't take Revolut. A few months ago I had lunch at a restaurant whose terminal went down and I asked what they wanted me to do and they said "sure, don't worry about it, come back later today and pay, or whenever you can" (so I did, obviously.) No doubt there are people for whom cash has valuable properties, but I'm just saying I don't think I'm one of them and my use case seems pretty normal as far as people go.