3 ms·

> That said digital cash and tokens and NFTs do have value and I expect them to get even more popular. Literally all my cash is already digital.

bhouston 5y ago
You are referring to Google Pay/Apple Pay/VISA. This is correct and it is mostly what people use these days. But it isn't on a block chain and it isn't extensible. With our current digital cash I can not create NFTs and trade then around. It also doesn't allow for arbitrarily large transfers. It doesn't replace ACH or Interac. There are no public ledgers. I think that digital cash with the features I described above will come into existence, as parallel structures to the existing ones, but probably will see significantly more adoption. Right now we are seeing fracturing of the cash system with PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, etc. I think there could easily be a consolidation period around block chain official state currencies at some point.
- __alexs 5y ago
  > But it isn't on a block chain and it isn't extensible. It is very extensible. My bank has an API. > With our current digital cash I can not create NFTs and trade then around. I'd call that a feature rather than a bug. I am absolutely able to buy and sell items traceably with other people though. For example I recently bought a house. The transfer was facilitated by my solicitor and recorded in a central government registry. > It also doesn't allow for arbitrarily large transfers. Transactions of many millions of dollars are routinely made using existing digital banking technology. My personal account has a 10k/day cap due to money laundering rules but that seems fairly sensible. I can call them up and have it raised for one offs.
- yashg 5y ago
  Why does digital cash need to be on a blockchain?
koonsolo 5y ago
That is impossible: the numbers on your bankaccount are multiplied, thanks to fractional reserve. The cash in your hand is not. Maybe not a big deal now, but at some point it might be. And then it's "surprise! The numbers on your account != cash in your hand"
- __alexs 5y ago
  How do I put bitcoins in my hand? Sounds painful.
  - koonsolo 5y ago
    You can put them in your head. Painful when you try it with cash or coins :D
- bhouston 5y ago
  But we have insurance on deposits in the US/Canada. Also DAO are trying to replicate fraction reserve lending. So basically we have protections against this problem in the traditional system and the crypto system is trying to replicate fractional reserves. Tether also is engaging in massive fractional reserve lending. Apparently only 3% of Tethers are backed by cash holdings: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27151370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27151370
  - koonsolo 5y ago
    > the crypto system is trying to replicate fractional reserves. That is not a fair statement and you know it. Only a fraction of cryptos maybe. Most do not.

bhouston 5y ago

You are referring to Google Pay/Apple Pay/VISA. This is correct and it is mostly what people use these days. But it isn't on a block chain and it isn't extensible. With our current digital cash I can not create NFTs and trade then around. It also doesn't allow for arbitrarily large transfers. It doesn't replace ACH or Interac. There are no public ledgers. I think that digital cash with the features I described above will come into existence, as parallel structures to the existing ones, but probably will see significantly more adoption. Right now we are seeing fracturing of the cash system with PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, etc. I think there could easily be a consolidation period around block chain official state currencies at some point.

__alexs 5y ago
> But it isn't on a block chain and it isn't extensible. It is very extensible. My bank has an API. > With our current digital cash I can not create NFTs and trade then around. I'd call that a feature rather than a bug. I am absolutely able to buy and sell items traceably with other people though. For example I recently bought a house. The transfer was facilitated by my solicitor and recorded in a central government registry. > It also doesn't allow for arbitrarily large transfers. Transactions of many millions of dollars are routinely made using existing digital banking technology. My personal account has a 10k/day cap due to money laundering rules but that seems fairly sensible. I can call them up and have it raised for one offs.
yashg 5y ago
Why does digital cash need to be on a blockchain?

koonsolo 5y ago

That is impossible: the numbers on your bankaccount are multiplied, thanks to fractional reserve. The cash in your hand is not. Maybe not a big deal now, but at some point it might be. And then it's "surprise! The numbers on your account != cash in your hand"

__alexs 5y ago
How do I put bitcoins in my hand? Sounds painful.
- koonsolo 5y ago
  You can put them in your head. Painful when you try it with cash or coins :D
bhouston 5y ago
But we have insurance on deposits in the US/Canada. Also DAO are trying to replicate fraction reserve lending. So basically we have protections against this problem in the traditional system and the crypto system is trying to replicate fractional reserves. Tether also is engaging in massive fractional reserve lending. Apparently only 3% of Tethers are backed by cash holdings: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27151370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27151370
- koonsolo 5y ago
  > the crypto system is trying to replicate fractional reserves. That is not a fair statement and you know it. Only a fraction of cryptos maybe. Most do not.