Hacker News Reader

Comment by ttoinou | Hacker News Reader

  I'm sure there are some niches where it maybe useful

Like a worldwide instantaneous transfer payment and a currency competing with an over-regulated financial system and central banks ?

What a small niche indeed.

View on HN

Like a broken payment system that takes hours for a confirmation, north of 50$ of commission even if you are transferring a single cent, instantaneous theft of hundred of millions USD and countless hard forks? I would say I’m very, VERY lucky of not being part of this small niche that apparently burns more electricity than me, my children, my grandchildren and so on until the 50th generation and over...

Talking about blockchain here, not bitcoin (which already have really good competition)

   that apparently burns more electricity than me, my children, my grandchildren and so on until the 50th generation and over

So you are going to get ride of every electricity consuming technology you have and get back living in a cavern ?

Have you computed the amount of electricity consumed by the actual financial system, payment systems and banks ?

I'm sure we could figure out a way to use carrots as a building material, but I'm still going to use steel.

How do you know which one is better if you don't know how to build a house or don't have dozens of year of human knowledge and praxis that confirms that this material is better ?

Here is why I cannot see bitcoin becoming a "currency" - lack of a central authority which can enforce stability on its value.

If a loaf of bread is going to cost 1 milli-btc today and 2 milli-btc tomorrow, that will simply wreak havoc in the society. Most folks just want a stable predictable life with as little volatility as possible.

Say what you want about modern central bankers, they have kept things mostly stable. 2008 crash was the worst thing happened on their watch, which is mild in comparison to other horrors of the past (like great depression).

I think the point of the article (perhaps wrong) is that blockchain is a terrible solution instantaneous transfer because it is slower and less secure than other solutions.

"instantaneous" => it is faster for me to send a payment via venmo, than waiting 24h on a congested bitcoin network. "currency" => I thought Bitcoin at this point is done as a currency. Merchants have dropped it, payment processors (Stripe) have let it go. The next best use case is "store of value", but even there, with a volatility of +/- 50% in 60 days, I doubt that.

Talking about blockchain, not bitcoin (which already have good competition)

No, that would be one of those religious fantasies since the reality of blockchain technology has certainly not played out in this manner at all. But don't lose faith, brother, the Kingdom awaits one day.

Arguments ?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com