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I know there are inherent issues like high energy consumption in the technology. But I believe that blockchain and the decentralization has some value to it. Fo

by rukshn 4y ago

I know there are inherent issues like high energy consumption in the technology. But I believe that blockchain and the decentralization has some value to it. For example where I'm coming from, I can't accept payments via PayPal, it's nothing to do with PayPal but our government is not pushing to meet the requirements to get PayPal to our country. Also we can't hold USD due to government regulations, if we get the transfers via a bank, so every USD is converted to local currency which is getting devalued faster than USD. Therefore for people like us the easiest way to get money is via the blockchain. I think the problem is not with the technology but with people who used it to get rich quick by running these Ponzi schemes and used the technology to create things that doesn't improve the way we transfer wealth but instead used to invent NFTs which is again a get rich quick scheme. I hope this does not mean the end of blockchain and crypto as a technology, but just as the bursting of the dot-com bubble, we will see some good companies and ideas emerging out of this crisis.

jiggawatts 4y ago
> people who used it to get rich quick by running these Ponzi schemes The problem with any new currency is that unless an entire government forces it on people, there's no real reason for anyone to use it. Think about it: what use is a currency that no bank will store, no business will accept as payment, and nobody else has ever heard of? There needs to be some incentive to "get the ball rolling". Bitcoin relied on using an artificially imposed cap on the total coins to force the currency to be deflationary, rewarding early adopters. The earlier you get it, and the more you commit, the more you are rewarded. This gets things moving, hopefully to the point where it becomes a real currency. The hiccup with this is that it turns any currency utilising this mechanism into a giant Ponzi scheme. It's a inherent trait of deflationary currencies, and no amount of arguing will ever make that not be true. Rewarding the early adopters with the cash deposited by later adopters is the point! It's not some accidental side-effect that can be swept under the rug. It's also the literal textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme. Other people saw that there was $$$ to be made, so this concept has been copied into virtually all cryptocurrencies. What would be the point of some SV startup of 10 pimply kids making a currency that didn't reward early adopters? Nobody would give a shit, not even their own friends and relatives. But if there's that sweet early-adopter profits to be made? Suddenly billionaires will dump a few million in and profit. This is just the nature of the entire ecosystem now, and arguments against are either hopeless naive, or a waste of everyone's time. The only way crypto can ever be legitimised is not "organically", like it is now, but by the actions of large organisations. If a bunch of banks got together to make "Terran Credits" based on a blockchain, without the deflationary aspect, that would work, perhaps used for centuries... but nobody could "get rich quick" off it, so it wouldn't be an exciting web 3.0 opportunity. It would just be... money. Oh, and of course, the corollary is that if big banks or some governments got together to make "Earth Bux" or whatever, you can bet it would have all the same rules and restrictions around it that there are now around holding gold, USD, or whatever. Wherever you are, the government will continue to impose their will upon you, one way or another.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rukshn 4y ago
  > what use is a currency that no bank will store, no business will accept as payment, and nobody else has ever heard of Apart from not stored at a traditional "bank" I think most popular cryptocurrencies have the other 2 aspects. I know it's not accepted by amazon but there are some stores that accept payments. I think the exchanges act as the "banks" and, I maybe wrong, therefore should be regulated like banks and not the blockchain and the associated technologies because you don't need an exchange to store the currency, you can use your personal wallet or cold storage to store the money. But on the other hand you can always convert them to standard currency when you need it, so that is not an issue. I just want to have a way to send money across borders without censorship (and not for any criminal activities) because my government and PayPal and banks are not allowing it.
- imtringued 4y ago
  RAI is basically a cryptocurrency where the central bank has been replaced with a smart contract. It doesn't take off like other cryptocurrencies into a billion dollar market cap, it is sitting below 50 million. It has extremely low volatility. You can't make much money off something that doesn't go up or down constantly.
TomSwirly 4y ago
> For example where I'm coming from, I can't accept payments via PayPal, Your argument is this: "Some government regulations from some governments are wrong, so we need a tool that will let us bypass all government regulations from all governments." > Therefore for people like us the easiest way to get money is via the blockchain. I am truly sorry that you live under an incompetent government, but instead of breaking the rest of the world's financial laws, it would be better for absolutely everyone if you simply fixed YOUR country. Literally trillions of dollars are stolen from we the people by money laundering and tax evasion already.

by rukshn 4y ago

jiggawatts 4y ago

> people who used it to get rich quick by running these Ponzi schemes The problem with any new currency is that unless an entire government forces it on people, there's no real reason for anyone to use it. Think about it: what use is a currency that no bank will store, no business will accept as payment, and nobody else has ever heard of? There needs to be some incentive to "get the ball rolling". Bitcoin relied on using an artificially imposed cap on the total coins to force the currency to be deflationary, rewarding early adopters. The earlier you get it, and the more you commit, the more you are rewarded. This gets things moving, hopefully to the point where it becomes a real currency. The hiccup with this is that it turns any currency utilising this mechanism into a giant Ponzi scheme. It's a inherent trait of deflationary currencies, and no amount of arguing will ever make that not be true. Rewarding the early adopters with the cash deposited by later adopters is the point! It's not some accidental side-effect that can be swept under the rug. It's also the literal textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme. Other people saw that there was $$$ to be made, so this concept has been copied into virtually all cryptocurrencies. What would be the point of some SV startup of 10 pimply kids making a currency that didn't reward early adopters? Nobody would give a shit, not even their own friends and relatives. But if there's that sweet early-adopter profits to be made? Suddenly billionaires will dump a few million in and profit. This is just the nature of the entire ecosystem now, and arguments against are either hopeless naive, or a waste of everyone's time. The only way crypto can ever be legitimised is not "organically", like it is now, but by the actions of large organisations. If a bunch of banks got together to make "Terran Credits" based on a blockchain, without the deflationary aspect, that would work, perhaps used for centuries... but nobody could "get rich quick" off it, so it wouldn't be an exciting web 3.0 opportunity. It would just be... money. Oh, and of course, the corollary is that if big banks or some governments got together to make "Earth Bux" or whatever, you can bet it would have all the same rules and restrictions around it that there are now around holding gold, USD, or whatever. Wherever you are, the government will continue to impose their will upon you, one way or another.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rukshn 4y ago
> what use is a currency that no bank will store, no business will accept as payment, and nobody else has ever heard of Apart from not stored at a traditional "bank" I think most popular cryptocurrencies have the other 2 aspects. I know it's not accepted by amazon but there are some stores that accept payments. I think the exchanges act as the "banks" and, I maybe wrong, therefore should be regulated like banks and not the blockchain and the associated technologies because you don't need an exchange to store the currency, you can use your personal wallet or cold storage to store the money. But on the other hand you can always convert them to standard currency when you need it, so that is not an issue. I just want to have a way to send money across borders without censorship (and not for any criminal activities) because my government and PayPal and banks are not allowing it.
imtringued 4y ago
RAI is basically a cryptocurrency where the central bank has been replaced with a smart contract. It doesn't take off like other cryptocurrencies into a billion dollar market cap, it is sitting below 50 million. It has extremely low volatility. You can't make much money off something that doesn't go up or down constantly.

TomSwirly 4y ago

> For example where I'm coming from, I can't accept payments via PayPal, Your argument is this: "Some government regulations from some governments are wrong, so we need a tool that will let us bypass all government regulations from all governments." > Therefore for people like us the easiest way to get money is via the blockchain. I am truly sorry that you live under an incompetent government, but instead of breaking the rest of the world's financial laws, it would be better for absolutely everyone if you simply fixed YOUR country. Literally trillions of dollars are stolen from we the people by money laundering and tax evasion already.