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I think crypto is great for anonymous digital markets. It would be great to disrupt the financial industry, but that's a really big thing. For the markets, I th

by _glass 4y ago

I think crypto is great for anonymous digital markets. It would be great to disrupt the financial industry, but that's a really big thing. For the markets, I think NFTs is a really good use case. That's a way for artists to have digital galleries, receiving international payments, work can get traded, all independent of the marketplace itself. No company behind that. Books, audio content, ..., and so on are also easily the target of a next generation. I don't believe in this tokenization of physical goods, because then you have a company behind creating the link between token and good. But for purely virtual goods, I think it is great.

tomcam 4y ago
In a Blockchain world, how was there anonymity with crypto? I’m guessing the answer is that not all crypto is on blockchain, but I actually have no clue.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Monera supposedly is untraceable somehow. And you can do things with passing private keys and mixers even on bitcoin.
  - astrange 3y ago
    You have to analyze the entire system including what they use the untraceable currency for. Someone's sent you a billion dollars in Monero the IRS doesn't know you have - okay. But now when you use it to buy a mansion, won't that be obvious?
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Thats basic money laundering and HSBC is ready to help you.
    - PretzelPirate 3y ago
      The desire to have untraceable money isn't always because you're trying to do something illegal or immoral. Privacy is important to people, and that even extends to privacy from your government. You never know when your government might change from a responsible, fair entity, to a oppressive regime. If you do buy a mansion with unreported billions and you're buying from a reputable buyer, then you'd expect the government to know about that sale, but if you're stock piling assets in case you need to flee from your government to survive, having anonymous money that's easy to transport is valuable.
      - tomcam 3y ago
        Has nothing to do with my question but I agree with everything you said. > You never know when your government might change from a responsible, fair entity, to a oppressive regime. Truer words were never spoken. It is hard to get this across to people with the completely understandable "I didn't do anything wrong so nothing can happen to me" attitude. As Beria said, "Show me the man and I'll find you the crime"...
        yellowapple 3y ago
        Yeah, it's weird that people can perceive anonymous transactions to be only valuable to ne-er-do-wells at the same time that large swaths of the US are criminalizing access to abortifacients.
JohnFen 4y ago
> It would be great to disrupt the financial industry Only if there was something at least as good to replace it. Cryptocurrency isn't that. Disruption just for disruption's sake is a Bad Thing. > NFTs is a really good use case. Honestly, I still don't see how. None of the explanations make any real sense to me.
- rnk 3y ago
  NTFs seem silly. You own a digital asset on a block chain. But anyone could use a jpeg, it just has no real value to have so-called ownership.
  - PretzelPirate 3y ago
    Small correction: NFTs that point to images is one example of how to use the NFT standard, not what an NFT is. The NFT discussion always ends up at "its just a link to a jpeg", when there are NFTs that have nothing to do with images.
    - rnk 3y ago
      Can you give me some examples of these other kinds of NFTs that are useful then?
      - yellowapple 3y ago
        California's DMV investigating them for licenses/registrations is an example that hit HN's front page earlier this week.
        rnk 3y ago
        This is interesting because I haven't heard of this. Would it be something like your license is controlled by you? Somehow you have to keep it private though. Having someone control a position on the blockchain wouldn't seem to be that different than name and password. You can use that to prove who you are, and you can lose that just like you can lose control of your crypto wallet if you forget your password or someone guesses it or hacks your machine.
thrashh 3y ago
What’s the point of disruption without a solution? Like let’s say my sink keeps leaking so you suggest smashing it. Great, you fixed the leak, but I have no sink now. Now if you came along and said you’d smash my sink and then replace it with a better sink, I’ll allow it. People are not hung up on the disruption part. People are hung up on having no sink.

by _glass 4y ago

tomcam 4y ago

In a Blockchain world, how was there anonymity with crypto? I’m guessing the answer is that not all crypto is on blockchain, but I actually have no clue.

bombcar 4y ago
Monera supposedly is untraceable somehow. And you can do things with passing private keys and mixers even on bitcoin.
- astrange 3y ago
  You have to analyze the entire system including what they use the untraceable currency for. Someone's sent you a billion dollars in Monero the IRS doesn't know you have - okay. But now when you use it to buy a mansion, won't that be obvious?
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Thats basic money laundering and HSBC is ready to help you.
  - PretzelPirate 3y ago
    The desire to have untraceable money isn't always because you're trying to do something illegal or immoral. Privacy is important to people, and that even extends to privacy from your government. You never know when your government might change from a responsible, fair entity, to a oppressive regime. If you do buy a mansion with unreported billions and you're buying from a reputable buyer, then you'd expect the government to know about that sale, but if you're stock piling assets in case you need to flee from your government to survive, having anonymous money that's easy to transport is valuable.
    - tomcam 3y ago
      Has nothing to do with my question but I agree with everything you said. > You never know when your government might change from a responsible, fair entity, to a oppressive regime. Truer words were never spoken. It is hard to get this across to people with the completely understandable "I didn't do anything wrong so nothing can happen to me" attitude. As Beria said, "Show me the man and I'll find you the crime"...
      - yellowapple 3y ago
        Yeah, it's weird that people can perceive anonymous transactions to be only valuable to ne-er-do-wells at the same time that large swaths of the US are criminalizing access to abortifacients.

JohnFen 4y ago

> It would be great to disrupt the financial industry Only if there was something at least as good to replace it. Cryptocurrency isn't that. Disruption just for disruption's sake is a Bad Thing. > NFTs is a really good use case. Honestly, I still don't see how. None of the explanations make any real sense to me.

rnk 3y ago
NTFs seem silly. You own a digital asset on a block chain. But anyone could use a jpeg, it just has no real value to have so-called ownership.
- PretzelPirate 3y ago
  Small correction: NFTs that point to images is one example of how to use the NFT standard, not what an NFT is. The NFT discussion always ends up at "its just a link to a jpeg", when there are NFTs that have nothing to do with images.
  - rnk 3y ago
    Can you give me some examples of these other kinds of NFTs that are useful then?
    - yellowapple 3y ago
      California's DMV investigating them for licenses/registrations is an example that hit HN's front page earlier this week.
      - rnk 3y ago
        This is interesting because I haven't heard of this. Would it be something like your license is controlled by you? Somehow you have to keep it private though. Having someone control a position on the blockchain wouldn't seem to be that different than name and password. You can use that to prove who you are, and you can lose that just like you can lose control of your crypto wallet if you forget your password or someone guesses it or hacks your machine.

thrashh 3y ago

What’s the point of disruption without a solution? Like let’s say my sink keeps leaking so you suggest smashing it. Great, you fixed the leak, but I have no sink now. Now if you came along and said you’d smash my sink and then replace it with a better sink, I’ll allow it. People are not hung up on the disruption part. People are hung up on having no sink.