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Comment by krisrm | Hacker News Reader

Mirrors my feelings on the crypto-craze. As "decentralized" as some may want crypto currency to be, there are some inherently "central" activities (exchanges being one of them) that tend to be skirted around by proponents.

Also, Decentralized Woo Hoo sounds like a great band name. Or something naughty from The Sims.

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That centralized exchanges exists doesn't somehow make decentralized cryptocurrencies less decentralized. Just like how centralized social media doesn't make decentralized social media less decentralized.

Crytocurrencies are effectively useless without centralized exchanges. Change my mind.

Social media doesn't need to interop between centralized and decentralized, but currencies do if they want to be useable. At the end of the day, someone will want to actually _buy_ something, and unfortunately I can't go to Petco and use my Dogecoin to buy dogfood.

> Crytocurrencies are effectively useless without centralized exchanges. Change my mind.

https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin/who-accepts/

> use my Dogecoin to buy dogfood.

https://bitcoinist.com/doge-for-dogs-burger-king-brazil-now-...

https://imgur.com/kR1aNcP

...

Maybe not "Change my mind", but definitely a "Prove me wrong"

I will add my own: cryptocurrencies are useless without a legal framework, which requires a central entity with power ensuring that there is fairness, i.e. the government. Change my mind.

P.S. Banking will also still be needed.

In any case, these are social issues and Decentralized Woo Hoo is a great name for it, as decentralization does not solve any of these issues. There is value to "digital cash", but not in the capacity that all these projects claim.

Yes, you can.

https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/petco-usa/?hl=en

They don't have it at the payment terminal directly yet, because of the stigma you and others still have against cryptocurrency.

But after this cycle, the news will have normalized it enough that you WILL pay for your dog food and Taco Bell with Dogecoin — I'd bet 10 DOGE on it.

You're correct, I am opposed to crytocurrencies as implemented today. I'm horrified that we spend tons of resources and energy doing effectively useless work. Maybe a Folding at Home coin would be more palatable.

I'd also argue that bitrefill is, yet again, centralization being needed to make it useful. Once defi is accepted everywhere, suddenly people will want the law and central authorities to perform chargebacks, and end up reinventing our exact same system.

Right now that is obviously true. If I want to pay for something, I need Euros here in Germany. But if I can pay with crypto that could change.

DAI and MIM are some examples of decentralized stable coins that could be used for payment.

Yup, because if shit hits the fan and you're up against a tyrannical government you have a lot more problems to worry about than exchanging goods for money via a physical crypto wallet (because they'll have already blocked communications by the time they're after you on the ground).

I have no idea what you're talking about -- Woo Hoo in The Sims is good clean centralized fun!

"Yep, this house is gonna be Woohoo Central."

http://jenba.net/sims2/?p=185

"I tried to woohoo everyone in The Sims 4"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oibAXV3vlo

"Missing Information: This article is missing information about How to initiate WooHoo. You can help The Sims Wiki by adding it."

"Sims usually desire to do a public WooHoo. Doing a public WooHoo will grant a special memory for the engaging Sims or a special moodlet and stride."

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/WooHoo

Exchanges giving promotional bonuses in Tether (USDT).

That was the "follow the money" moment, for me.

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