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Meh, I'm no bull but I also don't think "cryptos are mostly useless" is accurate. I believe there are solid use cases for distributed global ledger and digital

by dcow 3y ago

Meh, I'm no bull but I also don't think "cryptos are mostly useless" is accurate. I believe there are solid use cases for distributed global ledger and digital replacement for cash. Is Bitcoin the winning/best manifestation? I doubt it, we likely need something much more energy efficient (like Chia is trying to be). But I don't think the idea is bust. It just isn't as overwhelmingly applicable as people dreamed it might be. We're trying out use cases, vetting the good ones and sometimes painfully learning the which ones were stupid or bad ideas. And once all the speculation settles, I do think true currency is still a viable one. Logistics and markets are another, etc.

thisgoesnowhere 3y ago
I don't think anyone here is arguing that digital cash or a global ledger is bad they are arguing that the specific structures and incentives of crypto are bad. Bring on the digital cash IMO but bearer instruments underpinning any large scale finance is a recipe for disaster.
acjohnson55 3y ago
I think that it's still unproven that a distributed global ledger is actually a fundamentally useful thing, outside of speculation. We're 15 years out from the invention of Bitcoin, and if all of blockchain technology snapped out of existence today, there are very few people, other than speculators, who would be impacted. It has comprehensively failed to be adopted into any value chains.
- Breza 3y ago
  I agree. For comparison, here's how the Web was going as the WWW white paper approached its fifteenth birthday. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/03/06/part-2-the-role-of-the-internet-in-2004/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/03/06/part-2-the-r...
- dcow 3y ago
  Which is why I'm extremely long on crypto and patient. It takes more than 15 years to fundamentally change the type of things crypto might really be useful for. And as a currency it's already shown traction, just not ubiquitous adoption. The currency use case requires people to stop creating volatility by hyper speculating with it, so I welcomed the crypto winter. I remember when people bought pizza with bitcoin. It wasn't that long ago, as you point out.

by dcow 3y ago

thisgoesnowhere 3y ago

I don't think anyone here is arguing that digital cash or a global ledger is bad they are arguing that the specific structures and incentives of crypto are bad. Bring on the digital cash IMO but bearer instruments underpinning any large scale finance is a recipe for disaster.

acjohnson55 3y ago

I think that it's still unproven that a distributed global ledger is actually a fundamentally useful thing, outside of speculation. We're 15 years out from the invention of Bitcoin, and if all of blockchain technology snapped out of existence today, there are very few people, other than speculators, who would be impacted. It has comprehensively failed to be adopted into any value chains.

Breza 3y ago
I agree. For comparison, here's how the Web was going as the WWW white paper approached its fifteenth birthday. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/03/06/part-2-the-role-of-the-internet-in-2004/ https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/03/06/part-2-the-r...
dcow 3y ago
Which is why I'm extremely long on crypto and patient. It takes more than 15 years to fundamentally change the type of things crypto might really be useful for. And as a currency it's already shown traction, just not ubiquitous adoption. The currency use case requires people to stop creating volatility by hyper speculating with it, so I welcomed the crypto winter. I remember when people bought pizza with bitcoin. It wasn't that long ago, as you point out.