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Nope, because cryptocurrencies also removed all other protections. - The scams are online, so I cannot knock on the scammer's door with an angry mob and ask fo

Nope, because cryptocurrencies also removed all other protections. - The scams are online, so I cannot knock on the scammer's door with an angry mob and ask for our money back. - Pseudonymous identities means scammers have strong protections against being sued or prosecuted. - Digital wallets, as opposed to cash in bank vaults, means that you can lose all your savings in one mistake. - Complete lack of trusted third parties means there's no one to appeal to, or to raise alarms in suspicious cases. The old protections were already pretty bad (scams and thievery very much did exist), and cryptocurrencies are lacking even those basic protections.

idiotsecant 5y ago
>- The scams are online, so I cannot knock on the scammer's door with an angry mob and ask for our money back. >- Pseudonymous identities means scammers have strong protections against being sued or prosecuted. >- Complete lack of trusted third parties means there's no one to appeal to, or to raise alarms in suspicious cases. I think that all these things are not fundamental aspects of crypto, but rather how the user chooses to use crypto. If I wanted to I could use crypto only for buying eggs from the local market, or paying a plumber to do some work for me, etc. Scams have existed for decades that involve essentially mailing cash to people that fit the criteria you listed - it's not an issue with cash, but an issue with how people are transacting (with remote unidentified people). >- Digital wallets, as opposed to cash in bank vaults, means that you can lose all your savings in one mistake. This is no longer strictly true, at least for loss of wallet keys. There are all sorts of solutions out there (Argent, for example) that allow you to have 'fallback' key methods for if your main key is lost. Yes, if you mistakenly send all your money to the wrong address in crypto you lose it, but that was true of cash as well. Once you spend it it's gone.
rauljordan2020 5y ago
One could, for example, create a smart contract that has protection mechanisms in place. At the end of the day, smart contracts are programmable, so you could code your own which has appeal mechanisms as consumers are used to. For example, one could create a highly insecure website for payments on the Internet. The problem is not the Internet, it is the insecure website.

idiotsecant 5y ago

>- The scams are online, so I cannot knock on the scammer's door with an angry mob and ask for our money back. >- Pseudonymous identities means scammers have strong protections against being sued or prosecuted. >- Complete lack of trusted third parties means there's no one to appeal to, or to raise alarms in suspicious cases. I think that all these things are not fundamental aspects of crypto, but rather how the user chooses to use crypto. If I wanted to I could use crypto only for buying eggs from the local market, or paying a plumber to do some work for me, etc. Scams have existed for decades that involve essentially mailing cash to people that fit the criteria you listed - it's not an issue with cash, but an issue with how people are transacting (with remote unidentified people). >- Digital wallets, as opposed to cash in bank vaults, means that you can lose all your savings in one mistake. This is no longer strictly true, at least for loss of wallet keys. There are all sorts of solutions out there (Argent, for example) that allow you to have 'fallback' key methods for if your main key is lost. Yes, if you mistakenly send all your money to the wrong address in crypto you lose it, but that was true of cash as well. Once you spend it it's gone.

rauljordan2020 5y ago

One could, for example, create a smart contract that has protection mechanisms in place. At the end of the day, smart contracts are programmable, so you could code your own which has appeal mechanisms as consumers are used to. For example, one could create a highly insecure website for payments on the Internet. The problem is not the Internet, it is the insecure website.