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Ask HN: Ethereum and “the merge”: what could go wrong?

• zeroclip 4y ago
  The main risks are around liquid staking derivatives and centralization to a specific centralized staking service or pool. See here: https://notes.ethereum.org/@djrtwo/risks-of-lsd https://notes.ethereum.org/@djrtwo/risks-of-lsd https://research.paradigm.xyz/staking https://research.paradigm.xyz/staking Another area that is new and can be biased is RANDAO: https://eth2book.info/altair/part2/building_blocks/randomness/#biasability-analyses https://eth2book.info/altair/part2/building_blocks/randomnes... There are probably going to be several issues that will arise during and after merge, and might require engineering solutions.
• _the_inflator 4y ago
  Seriously: is there any use case yet for Blockchain? So far the answer is no. So how could a change of blockchain technology change that? Have a look here: https://twitter.com/web3isgreat https://twitter.com/web3isgreat
  • usgroup 4y ago
    I'm asking a more specific question. Ethereum exists, many people value it, what I want to know is how this new technical implementation changes the situation.
    • rvz 4y ago
      Unlike the other reply attempting to derail your question to the same anti-crypto arguments, I will directly answer your question on 'what could possibly go wrong' with a single word: Centralization. This has always been a problem with Ethereum and 'the merge' doesn't solve that and it will just continue to go down that route and will increasingly be that way. As for a use-case, the only one which makes sense on the blockchain is something like what ENS does [0] which even some products have been built on top of that like Skiff [1]. But on this site to be honest you are not going to get a clearer, balanced and direct response that isn't on either extreme or screaming absolutist claims in both for or against crypto. [0] https://ens.domains https://ens.domains [1] https://skiff.org https://skiff.org
  • MildlySerious 4y ago
    You can't exactly Venmo people money and keep your privacy.
  • eimrine 4y ago
    > is there any use case yet for Blockchain? World wide sending cash without identity verification is not enough good use of Blockchain? Or you will try to sell me an idea that verification of everybody and all kinds of third parties is crutial to my wellbeing?
  • is_true 4y ago
    There are a few. Tickets for events seem to be a nice one
    • mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
      I think any use cases where a digital receipt for something that is digital are good examples, like tickets. A distributed, verifiable database of transactions can have valid use cases but the amount of hate towards it is odd in hacker/engineering circles on HN and elsewhere. Yes there are many, many ways to solve that problem (tickets) without blockchain. As a software community, we invent how many JS frameworks that end up with the same exact outcome of dynamic web pages? A quick search says 83 with a top result of some article about "Top 40 JavaScript Frameworks". We jokingly hate on stuff like that but the vitriol about blockchain is odd. The argument that its not needed to solve X is fine, in software nothing is really necessary and there are a plethora of options with known solutions. Hackers/engineers are known to over-engineer things and do things just because they can.