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It's fine for the author to not be interested in crypto, but his focus on financial examples indicates that he's probably not really thinking about the most int

It's fine for the author to not be interested in crypto, but his focus on financial examples indicates that he's probably not really thinking about the most interesting problems that could be solved with Crypto. Digital Money is a huge deal, but it's just the first phase of Crypto's potential. Crypto isn't just about an easy way to send cash from the US to Brazil. Think about smart contracts. Think about Oracles. Think about distributed apps and computation and API access. Crypto might enable radical new things we have barely conceived of yet.

woodruffw 5y ago
I tried to mention the kind of things I'd expect smart contracts to help me with, like creating a debit pool for me and my friends when we go to a bar. The parts that I'm missing are (1) a practical cryptocurrency thingy that actually does that without charging me more than the drinks, and (2) a reason why it shouldn't just be a service that connects to ACH or another settlement layer.
- logicalmonster 5y ago
  > (1) a practical cryptocurrency thingy that actually does that without charging me more than the drinks, and I don't understand why some people are so cash-averse, but the problem you mention seems best suited to cash at the moment, or perhaps one person having a tab and the rest throwing him some cash at the end of the night. Once Crypto becomes more efficient for this kind of thing (different tech like Algorand, or second layers like Matic) maybe there's a better use case for this kind of smaller problem. > (2) a reason why it shouldn't just be a service that connects to ACH or another settlement layer. Privacy seems like an important enough reason. I don't want the government to know if I choose to go to a gay bar. I don't want my bank who controls whether or not I get a mortgage to know how much I chose to drink one evening.
  - woodruffw 5y ago
    I use cash a lot. The example was me attempting to come up with a use case that I might conceivably actually use. The privacy point is a good one, but it’s also orthogonal: your privacy isn’t particularly well preserved by a global immutable ledger.
twic 5y ago
> Think about smart contracts. Think about Oracles. Think about distributed apps and computation and API access. No. None of these are uses. > Crypto might enable radical new things we have barely conceived of yet. Well, if it does, make a post about it. Until then, crypto still looks useless.

woodruffw 5y ago

I tried to mention the kind of things I'd expect smart contracts to help me with, like creating a debit pool for me and my friends when we go to a bar. The parts that I'm missing are (1) a practical cryptocurrency thingy that actually does that without charging me more than the drinks, and (2) a reason why it shouldn't just be a service that connects to ACH or another settlement layer.

logicalmonster 5y ago
> (1) a practical cryptocurrency thingy that actually does that without charging me more than the drinks, and I don't understand why some people are so cash-averse, but the problem you mention seems best suited to cash at the moment, or perhaps one person having a tab and the rest throwing him some cash at the end of the night. Once Crypto becomes more efficient for this kind of thing (different tech like Algorand, or second layers like Matic) maybe there's a better use case for this kind of smaller problem. > (2) a reason why it shouldn't just be a service that connects to ACH or another settlement layer. Privacy seems like an important enough reason. I don't want the government to know if I choose to go to a gay bar. I don't want my bank who controls whether or not I get a mortgage to know how much I chose to drink one evening.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  I use cash a lot. The example was me attempting to come up with a use case that I might conceivably actually use. The privacy point is a good one, but it’s also orthogonal: your privacy isn’t particularly well preserved by a global immutable ledger.

twic 5y ago

> Think about smart contracts. Think about Oracles. Think about distributed apps and computation and API access. No. None of these are uses. > Crypto might enable radical new things we have barely conceived of yet. Well, if it does, make a post about it. Until then, crypto still looks useless.