4 ms·

What are the most promising use-cases in your experience?

by truculent 5y ago

henvic 5y ago
Probably being an early adopter and cashing out before it's too late lol
- wedn3sday 5y ago
  this is not the kind of comment that makes hackernews a good place to have a conversation.
  - cbozeman 5y ago
    Given the amount of rampant fraud that's occurring in the crypto spaces, I don't see how you can't at least entertain this as a serious notion.
  - davidgerard 5y ago
    It is an accurate and concise summary of the situation, and thus provides value in the discussion.
sktrdie 5y ago
I mean conceptually the idea is "money without intermediaries" which is quite fascinating. But when you stop and think about it for a sec you realize that we need intermediaries or else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated.
- mockingbirdy 5y ago
  > But when you stop and think about it for a sec you realize that we need intermediaries or else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated. I agree. This is something that I'm not sure people who go into crypto fully understand with the resulting consequences. The FED is basically printing money and I can understand people who don't agree with the inflationary mechanism that is built into fiat currencies - this is one of the main criticisms of the fiat system because it's debt-based. On the other hand, having no means to get taxes (because of anonymous currencies like Monero and anonymous wallets) and having no control over the currency is a safe way to a plutocracy. Some would argue that we're already living in a plutocracy, but currently we have democratic ways to intercept (although we're currently not good at exercising that power). But if it's technologically impossible to intervene, there's not a lot of ways to fix this. Good article about this [1]. [1]: https://medium.com/@dionyziz/blockchains-are-inherently-plutocratic-45469ced0c0f https://medium.com/@dionyziz/blockchains-are-inherently-plut...
  - seibelj 5y ago
    Why is there no way to get taxes? Taxes were collected throughout history, beginning with the earliest recorded history, when nothing was electronic. Cash still enables tax collecting.
    - mockingbirdy 5y ago
      Because you can't know how much the person really has (edit: and receives) with crypto. Historically, you could simply walk to their properties and look at their wealth and tax accordingly (like serfs getting taxed on their agricultural output based on the land size they worked with). Or you could look at their bank accounts or (like the Panama papers) find their off-shore accounts. But now, they can hide enormous wealth in an untraceable way on many wallets. It's not entirely new - tax evasion is as old as taxes - but it's easier and accessible now for large wealth that was more difficult to hide in the past. If crypto stays legal, you can't control this aspect.
      - tibbar 5y ago
        In practice crypto isn’t used much as a medium of exchange, though, and when you try to cash in your coins you will get nailed for any evasion or criminal behavior. It’s possible that buying things directly with crypto will become more widespread, but expect this to trigger more laws and reporting requirements so that your transactions can be taxed.
        mockingbirdy 5y ago
        It's still very young. If crypto gets relevant adoption, it'll be impossible to discern legitimate transactions from illegitimate ones. If it's technologically impossible, you can have all the laws you want - you're not able to enforce them. People will have their official wallets for tax collection and their anonymous ones for everything else (and will do their main transactions with them). > buying things directly with crypto will become more widespread I'm expecting this to be the case if adoption happens.
- hagbard_c 5y ago
  > ...else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated. The runners-up can just launch their own $hitcoins and be kings in their own domains.
- Proven 5y ago
- ehnto 5y ago
  > I mean conceptually the idea is "money without intermediaries" Then what is Web3? Cryptocurrency has been a thing for a little while now, surely Web3 isn't just that but with a new name. I think the idea is that applications can in some way utilize the blockchain to form a new type of application for the web, but I've yet to see any useful application ideas that truly benefit from a blockchain.
RestlessMind 5y ago
An asset class similar to Gold - provably limited in supply and valued because everyone else values it. Also, much easier to transfer around the world unlike Gold.

What are the most promising use-cases in your experience?

henvic 5y ago

Probably being an early adopter and cashing out before it's too late lol

wedn3sday 5y ago
this is not the kind of comment that makes hackernews a good place to have a conversation.
- cbozeman 5y ago
  Given the amount of rampant fraud that's occurring in the crypto spaces, I don't see how you can't at least entertain this as a serious notion.
- davidgerard 5y ago
  It is an accurate and concise summary of the situation, and thus provides value in the discussion.

sktrdie 5y ago

I mean conceptually the idea is "money without intermediaries" which is quite fascinating. But when you stop and think about it for a sec you realize that we need intermediaries or else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated.

mockingbirdy 5y ago
> But when you stop and think about it for a sec you realize that we need intermediaries or else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated. I agree. This is something that I'm not sure people who go into crypto fully understand with the resulting consequences. The FED is basically printing money and I can understand people who don't agree with the inflationary mechanism that is built into fiat currencies - this is one of the main criticisms of the fiat system because it's debt-based. On the other hand, having no means to get taxes (because of anonymous currencies like Monero and anonymous wallets) and having no control over the currency is a safe way to a plutocracy. Some would argue that we're already living in a plutocracy, but currently we have democratic ways to intercept (although we're currently not good at exercising that power). But if it's technologically impossible to intervene, there's not a lot of ways to fix this. Good article about this [1]. [1]: https://medium.com/@dionyziz/blockchains-are-inherently-plutocratic-45469ced0c0f https://medium.com/@dionyziz/blockchains-are-inherently-plut...
- seibelj 5y ago
  Why is there no way to get taxes? Taxes were collected throughout history, beginning with the earliest recorded history, when nothing was electronic. Cash still enables tax collecting.
  - mockingbirdy 5y ago
    Because you can't know how much the person really has (edit: and receives) with crypto. Historically, you could simply walk to their properties and look at their wealth and tax accordingly (like serfs getting taxed on their agricultural output based on the land size they worked with). Or you could look at their bank accounts or (like the Panama papers) find their off-shore accounts. But now, they can hide enormous wealth in an untraceable way on many wallets. It's not entirely new - tax evasion is as old as taxes - but it's easier and accessible now for large wealth that was more difficult to hide in the past. If crypto stays legal, you can't control this aspect.
    - tibbar 5y ago
      In practice crypto isn’t used much as a medium of exchange, though, and when you try to cash in your coins you will get nailed for any evasion or criminal behavior. It’s possible that buying things directly with crypto will become more widespread, but expect this to trigger more laws and reporting requirements so that your transactions can be taxed.
      - mockingbirdy 5y ago
        It's still very young. If crypto gets relevant adoption, it'll be impossible to discern legitimate transactions from illegitimate ones. If it's technologically impossible, you can have all the laws you want - you're not able to enforce them. People will have their official wallets for tax collection and their anonymous ones for everything else (and will do their main transactions with them). > buying things directly with crypto will become more widespread I'm expecting this to be the case if adoption happens.
hagbard_c 5y ago
> ...else the richer will become unstoppable kings with control that cannot be deflated. The runners-up can just launch their own $hitcoins and be kings in their own domains.
Proven 5y ago
ehnto 5y ago
> I mean conceptually the idea is "money without intermediaries" Then what is Web3? Cryptocurrency has been a thing for a little while now, surely Web3 isn't just that but with a new name. I think the idea is that applications can in some way utilize the blockchain to form a new type of application for the web, but I've yet to see any useful application ideas that truly benefit from a blockchain.

RestlessMind 5y ago

An asset class similar to Gold - provably limited in supply and valued because everyone else values it. Also, much easier to transfer around the world unlike Gold.