cowtools

51 ms·

511.
by cowtools 4y ago
I'm not sure what you even mean by that statement that there has never been a functioning decentralized cryptocurrency. I would need you to explain what your bar is for decentralization, and why it's so high. As for privacy, the t
512.
by cowtools 4y ago
I don't claim that all cryptocurrencies are self-regulating. see my parent comment.
513.
by cowtools 4y ago
Cattle have all their needs taken care of them by the farmer: they are well fed, they have good shelter, and they are "safe" from predators. It is easy to make arguments for how the cow is better off than his ancestors; In every m
514.
by cowtools 4y ago
Dropbox exists because people don't know how to use bittorrent. You can grift off that ignorance for a while, but not forever
515.
by cowtools 4y ago
I believe cryptocurrencies are self regulating. If you want to convince me otherwise, you have to do better than just stating the opposite is true. I'll admit that some (many even!) cryptocurrencies make claims about decentralization a
516.
by cowtools 4y ago
I already have :) P.S. all transactions rely on some basis of trust between the merchant and the customer. Cryptocurrency doesn't prevent fraud altogether, but it does severely limit the extent and direction of fraud. P.P.S. (response
517.
by cowtools 4y ago
Credit cards need those systems in place precisely because they are insecure in the first place. I can even use chargebacks to commit fraud against merchants. P.S. You think you're so smart for using paypal or something, wait until y
518.
by cowtools 4y ago
Cryptocurrency is more secure than cash or credit cards in this regard, so who is being made the fool here?
519.
by cowtools 4y ago
What is an "average person"? An average person in a first world country who has access to "trustworthy" financial system? Centralized systems work great... until they don't. P.S. Our grandchildren will wonder why we
520.
by cowtools 4y ago
I don't think that would work as biometrics aren't deterministic AFAIK. That's why operating systems with encrypted storage like Android (and presumably iOS) don't allow you to unlock them with biometrics on startup.
521.
by cowtools 4y ago
In an ideal world, every device would be secure enough that the user could afford to lose it. P.S. I'm using a pixel phone running CalyxOS It has a locked bootloader so I am reasonably confident an attacker could not steal my keys. I w
522.
by cowtools 4y ago
Having separate "hot" and "cold" wallets is a good start.
523.
by cowtools 4y ago
coinbase offers a service which is completely orthogonal to what he is describing. How difficult is it to set up a wallet, then use the same seed phrase when setting up a wallet on another device? If one of your devices gets stolen, make a
524.
by cowtools 4y ago
This reminds me, I was looking at the periodic table the other day and I noticed that gold actually has a pretty high electronegativity: almost as high as carbon! https://mappingignorance.org/2017/02/09/electr
525.
by cowtools 4y ago
GNUnet is a pretty comprehensive solution that does address these things, albeit it is a work in progress. Their solution to the identity problem is a pretty ingenious petname system called GNS. Their solution to incentive issues is a crypt
526.
by cowtools 4y ago
You could take your crypto to a non-KYC exchange like TradeOgre or Bisq, trade it for a privacy coin like Monero/Zcash/Firo, churn the coins, then trade it back. Boom, ownership chain broken.
527.
by cowtools 4y ago
I've looked into it and it sounds like a ton of pretentious crap. How is this any better than IPFS, I2P, tor onion services, or Gnunet? It's nice that it helped introduce you to linux though. You make a few good points about usabi
528.
by cowtools 4y ago
I suppose so. It still makes me cringe. It reminds me of all those scammy crypto projects that love to associate themselves with space for the perceived "cool factor". Like that superbowl commercial
529.
by cowtools 4y ago
Sure, but it is a suitable canvas, is it not? If an artist signs an NFT or Colored Coin with a keypair that is associated with their public identity, shouldn't that be analogous to an autograph? If a physical, signed artistic work has
530.
by cowtools 4y ago
Interesting point. I don't have any comment, but it looks like this guy disagrees with you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31933490
531.
by cowtools 4y ago
Interesting point. I don't have anything interesting to say, but maybe you should argue with this other guy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31933417
532.
by cowtools 4y ago
I completely agree. Another thing I've been thinking about is this: What if, instead of creating inflation by adding new coins, you create "inflation" by directly decreasing the value of transaction outputs, and you just keep
533.
by cowtools 4y ago
I disagree. I think internet advertising is what killed micropayments. If anything, cryptocurrencies would be really useful for micropayments if they weren't used as poker chips.
534.
by cowtools 4y ago
I've argued in another thread that we can expect those adverse effects to decrease as hype dies down and the coinbase reward for bitcoin and others decreases.
535.
by cowtools 4y ago
Maybe the author thinks it is easier to steal or harder to secure bitcoin than gold. I think it is sort of nuanced and could go either way, but I would agree that bitcoin is easier to store: especially with a trusted multisig setup. Bitcoin
536.
by cowtools 4y ago
I think it has a more stable value if the demand for gold is more diversified across industries.
537.
by cowtools 4y ago
Rebut the parent comment
538.
by cowtools 4y ago
I agree with your point, but consider the following: 1: Cryptocurrencies can still operate over distributed mesh networks or sneaker-nets in a semi-doomsday scenario. 2: With gold, it is difficult to verify its authenticity vs some impostor
539.
by cowtools 4y ago
I think bitcoin is about as difficult to transact as gold, although in ideal circumstances cryptocurrency should be easier to transact than gold. However, gold has a fundamentally stronger argument for its value. Gold is useful: it has uniq
540.
by cowtools 4y ago
Sure, but a not-insignificant amount of gold is still used for industrial applications. Even if gold wasn't used as money or in jewlery, I imagine it would still be quite expensive: at least half of it's current price. The same co

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