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which argument do you find to be an "edge case"? My main argument in favor of crypto is the democratization of finance and leveling the playing field, which as

by toolz 4y ago

which argument do you find to be an "edge case"? My main argument in favor of crypto is the democratization of finance and leveling the playing field, which as we can already see crypto generally only has real benefits to the poor - for rich it's just a speculative play, but for the poor it can mean the difference between getting paid across borders without corruption stealing your money or being able to save wealth when banks won't help you out of lock you out.

kelseyfrog 4y ago
The general form is that crypto can't do X. The response is that an obscure implementation Y does do X. The problem is that Y, while existing, largely doesn't address X in practice because Y's trading volume and/or market cap is insignificant. I guess to your point. How much corruption is avoided, and how much wealth is being saved that would otherwise be locked out? Without the means to quantify it, it feels like another, "this is theoretically possible"-type argument in the same way. The answer I expect to get is, "No one knows, but it is possible." I guess I'll keep waiting to be convinced. There are a lot of great things that are theoretically possible. Still waiting on them.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > The general form is that crypto can't do X. The response is that an obscure implementation Y does do X. The problem is that Y, while existing, largely doesn't address X in practice because Y's trading volume and/or market cap is insignificant. Sure, but this presupposes that Y's trading volume and/or market cap are indeed actually insignificant. A lot of people make that presupposition, but it's often about as accurate as a drunk chimpanzee playing darts. Proof-of-stake is the case-in-point: "but but Ethereum hasn't switched yet so therefore PoS is obscure", quoth the "skeptic", entirely ignoring that multiple of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap and/or transaction volume are already proof-of-stake and have been for some time now. Even taking that presupposition at face value, what's experimental today is less so tomorrow. That experimental solutions do exist bodes well for the state of things even months (let alone years, let alone decades) from now. If you want to wait until then, then you do you; meanwhile, those of us willing to experiment will do so.
  - kelseyfrog 4y ago
    Cool. What percent of market cap and trading volume do they sum to?

by toolz 4y ago

kelseyfrog 4y ago

The general form is that crypto can't do X. The response is that an obscure implementation Y does do X. The problem is that Y, while existing, largely doesn't address X in practice because Y's trading volume and/or market cap is insignificant. I guess to your point. How much corruption is avoided, and how much wealth is being saved that would otherwise be locked out? Without the means to quantify it, it feels like another, "this is theoretically possible"-type argument in the same way. The answer I expect to get is, "No one knows, but it is possible." I guess I'll keep waiting to be convinced. There are a lot of great things that are theoretically possible. Still waiting on them.

yellowapple 4y ago
> The general form is that crypto can't do X. The response is that an obscure implementation Y does do X. The problem is that Y, while existing, largely doesn't address X in practice because Y's trading volume and/or market cap is insignificant. Sure, but this presupposes that Y's trading volume and/or market cap are indeed actually insignificant. A lot of people make that presupposition, but it's often about as accurate as a drunk chimpanzee playing darts. Proof-of-stake is the case-in-point: "but but Ethereum hasn't switched yet so therefore PoS is obscure", quoth the "skeptic", entirely ignoring that multiple of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap and/or transaction volume are already proof-of-stake and have been for some time now. Even taking that presupposition at face value, what's experimental today is less so tomorrow. That experimental solutions do exist bodes well for the state of things even months (let alone years, let alone decades) from now. If you want to wait until then, then you do you; meanwhile, those of us willing to experiment will do so.
- kelseyfrog 4y ago
  Cool. What percent of market cap and trading volume do they sum to?