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> “Ether as digital oil to power the blockchain” This has made you less skeptical of what he’s peddling? That slogan is a series of red flags in only eight wor

by pavlov 3y ago

> “Ether as digital oil to power the blockchain” This has made you less skeptical of what he’s peddling? That slogan is a series of red flags in only eight words. He could be selling actual snake oil.

pazimzadeh 3y ago
Actual snake oil has actual benefits. It's fake snake oil you want to avoid. Effect of Erabu Sea Snake (Laticauda semifasciata) Lipids on the Swimming Endurance of Mice https://karger.com/anm/article-abstract/51/3/281/41756/Effect-of-Erabu-Sea-Snake-Laticauda-semifasciata?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://karger.com/anm/article-abstract/51/3/281/41756/Effec...
- bloppe 3y ago
  This is an all-time HN comment
- arcticbull 3y ago
  The origin story of the snake oil trope is kinda cool. Apparently the concept was brought over to the US by Chinese railroad workers. It was made from the oil of the Chinese water snake which is high in omega-3's that actually do reduce inflammation. Unfortunately there were no Chinese water snakes in America, and the American hucksters started juicing rattlesnakes. And then... other even cheaper substitutes like beef tallow, mineral oil and turpentine. [1] I suspect the Erabu sea snake is the Chinese water snake that was originally juiced? I don't think rattlesnake oil would have the same effect :) [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
maxcoder4 3y ago
I'll rephrase a bit for the HN crowd: "The Ethereum currency (Ether) value proposition is that it is used to pay for decentralized apps on the Ethereum Blockchain. The more application and users are there, the more Ether is needed and hence it's value goes up". At least that's how I understand it. OPs point is that most cryptocurrency advocates go for "but my token and hold, it is sure to grow 10x in a few months" and I (like probably OP) consider it misleading baseless hope at best, fraud usually.
- kemotep 3y ago
  Should you not want the price to be stable? If an arcade game’s price went from 50 cents per play to 5 dollars per play because more people are using a delivery application on the other side of the world that doesn’t make much sense from a consumer perspective.
  - pcthrowaway 3y ago
    There are definitely bitcoin diehards out there who look at the price of everything relative to bitcoin. From a practical standpoint, I think most people would prefer it if the currency used by their country of residence increased in value relative to other global currencies, rather than just staying stable (though for hyperinflationary countries, even that would be a major improvement). Although stability relative to another currency (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_exchange_rate_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_exchange_rate_system) is considered (by many) disadvantageous for countries with strong economies, because you strip away the central bank's power to manage the supply. This is basically the whole Gold Standard debate. For blockchain users who want reduced volatility and stability relative to a fiat currency, there are always stablecoins.
    - kemotep 3y ago
      But the argument is that the grandparent comment is making is that you should build your application on the ethereum network, eth is the “oil” of this machine, and the more people who use it the higher the value of eth is. So if I make a game, or an uber for dog walkers, or a global shipping service, or some SaaS app on the ethereum blockchain, then my customers will have to pay more or less (or my costs will be higher or lower) depending on how active the network is. That makes no sense. Day to day price and gas fee fluctuations make it hard to long term plan. Just saying that if you want price stability use a stablecoin doesn’t address that issue because we are not building the app on the blockchain of the stablecoin. There isn’t an eth stable coin that is always 1 blip to 1 eth exchange rate.
      - rglullis 3y ago

by pavlov 3y ago

pazimzadeh 3y ago

Actual snake oil has actual benefits. It's fake snake oil you want to avoid. Effect of Erabu Sea Snake (Laticauda semifasciata) Lipids on the Swimming Endurance of Mice https://karger.com/anm/article-abstract/51/3/281/41756/Effect-of-Erabu-Sea-Snake-Laticauda-semifasciata?redirectedFrom=fulltext https://karger.com/anm/article-abstract/51/3/281/41756/Effec...

bloppe 3y ago
This is an all-time HN comment
arcticbull 3y ago
The origin story of the snake oil trope is kinda cool. Apparently the concept was brought over to the US by Chinese railroad workers. It was made from the oil of the Chinese water snake which is high in omega-3's that actually do reduce inflammation. Unfortunately there were no Chinese water snakes in America, and the American hucksters started juicing rattlesnakes. And then... other even cheaper substitutes like beef tallow, mineral oil and turpentine. [1] I suspect the Erabu sea snake is the Chinese water snake that was originally juiced? I don't think rattlesnake oil would have the same effect :) [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

maxcoder4 3y ago

I'll rephrase a bit for the HN crowd: "The Ethereum currency (Ether) value proposition is that it is used to pay for decentralized apps on the Ethereum Blockchain. The more application and users are there, the more Ether is needed and hence it's value goes up". At least that's how I understand it. OPs point is that most cryptocurrency advocates go for "but my token and hold, it is sure to grow 10x in a few months" and I (like probably OP) consider it misleading baseless hope at best, fraud usually.

kemotep 3y ago
Should you not want the price to be stable? If an arcade game’s price went from 50 cents per play to 5 dollars per play because more people are using a delivery application on the other side of the world that doesn’t make much sense from a consumer perspective.
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  There are definitely bitcoin diehards out there who look at the price of everything relative to bitcoin. From a practical standpoint, I think most people would prefer it if the currency used by their country of residence increased in value relative to other global currencies, rather than just staying stable (though for hyperinflationary countries, even that would be a major improvement). Although stability relative to another currency (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_exchange_rate_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_exchange_rate_system) is considered (by many) disadvantageous for countries with strong economies, because you strip away the central bank's power to manage the supply. This is basically the whole Gold Standard debate. For blockchain users who want reduced volatility and stability relative to a fiat currency, there are always stablecoins.
  - kemotep 3y ago
    But the argument is that the grandparent comment is making is that you should build your application on the ethereum network, eth is the “oil” of this machine, and the more people who use it the higher the value of eth is. So if I make a game, or an uber for dog walkers, or a global shipping service, or some SaaS app on the ethereum blockchain, then my customers will have to pay more or less (or my costs will be higher or lower) depending on how active the network is. That makes no sense. Day to day price and gas fee fluctuations make it hard to long term plan. Just saying that if you want price stability use a stablecoin doesn’t address that issue because we are not building the app on the blockchain of the stablecoin. There isn’t an eth stable coin that is always 1 blip to 1 eth exchange rate.
    - rglullis 3y ago