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Everyone loves the chance to take a shot at blockchain, but it keeps growing. It must be providing someone value, even if it’s not you.

asadlionpk 4y ago
Scams have such traits.
dang 4y ago
"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
atleastoptimal 4y ago
Even the ideal world where blockchain is maximally implemented is only marginally better than our current world.
flangola7 4y ago
In blunt words I do not understand what value it provides. I have used it, I have even written my own (toy, definitely not security hardened) wallet and PoW miner for fun. The foundational technology itself was creative, Satoshi made something no one had ever made before. But I have never seen a problem it solves that traditional solutions don't already solve in a better and less expensive manner. Blockchain's primary advertised use is cryptocurrency, but every crypto is too unstable to actually be used as a USD replacement. In the real world it behaves like a stock, but unlike regular stocks it is zero sum. For every person that made money on crypto other people had to lose money; there's no fundamentals that actually produce a product or service and adds wealth to the world. If anything it is net negative to global wealth by enabling a previously impossible levels of fraud, and of tax and sanctions dodging. There are non-currency applications such as smart contracts, but these don't demand the same attention as "currency" uses, and again don't solve anything that regular contracts don't already provide. Again, these come with downsides not possible in regular contracts such as software bugs that enable funds to be remotely stolen (with no recourse), or for funds to simply vanish and become permanently locked in an inaccessible state. Other than semi-anonymously buying bulk acid (one of the few legitimate usecases), what usecase is it actually objectively a superior tool for?

asadlionpk 4y ago

Scams have such traits.

dang 4y ago

"Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead." "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

atleastoptimal 4y ago

Even the ideal world where blockchain is maximally implemented is only marginally better than our current world.

flangola7 4y ago

In blunt words I do not understand what value it provides. I have used it, I have even written my own (toy, definitely not security hardened) wallet and PoW miner for fun. The foundational technology itself was creative, Satoshi made something no one had ever made before. But I have never seen a problem it solves that traditional solutions don't already solve in a better and less expensive manner. Blockchain's primary advertised use is cryptocurrency, but every crypto is too unstable to actually be used as a USD replacement. In the real world it behaves like a stock, but unlike regular stocks it is zero sum. For every person that made money on crypto other people had to lose money; there's no fundamentals that actually produce a product or service and adds wealth to the world. If anything it is net negative to global wealth by enabling a previously impossible levels of fraud, and of tax and sanctions dodging. There are non-currency applications such as smart contracts, but these don't demand the same attention as "currency" uses, and again don't solve anything that regular contracts don't already provide. Again, these come with downsides not possible in regular contracts such as software bugs that enable funds to be remotely stolen (with no recourse), or for funds to simply vanish and become permanently locked in an inaccessible state. Other than semi-anonymously buying bulk acid (one of the few legitimate usecases), what usecase is it actually objectively a superior tool for?