Most Bitcoin transactions have a quite high transaction cost, and I would argue that chargebacks are an important consumer protection.
I spent some time researching the best low transaction fee easily accessible crypto for making a sort of crypto Patreon, but the vast vast majority of all crypto information available was folks speculating what was going to go "up", nobody seems interested in what is actually a decent form of money (cheap&easy to exchange, cheap&easy to transfer, and stable).
I suppose it makes some sense from a game theoretic standpoint. If we consider the decision making entities in the game to be the massive crypto exchanges and miners, the best way they make money is by transaction fees and exchange fees, so they aren't likely to come up with a great micro-transaction and micro-exchange fee system. Oh well.
Yes. A transaction is a network-scale operation. It needs to be broadcast and confirmed by at least half the network. Otherwise it wouldn't be decentralized.
As that network increases in size, the resources required for that operation increase proportionally.
"Decentralization" is a bad meme that seems to work at small scales but its adherents refuse to zoom out and accept how technically ridiculous it is at current scales (millions/billions of people).
Now, I don’t know how to translate that to the digital world, but there’s no clear reason why a decentralized network must inform the entire network of everything that happens in it.
- Lightning network on bitcoin. Super cheap and fast transactions, makes micropayments a reality (this is what Twitter is using)
- Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum. There are two optimistic rollups currently on main net (Arbitrum and Optimism). Reddit has recently committed to building on Arbitrum. There are also ZK rollups (starkware, zksync) coming in the next year or so.
- Less decentralized layer 1 chains like Solana, Avalanche, BSC, Fantom
It's unfortunate that people looking to enter the space have a hard time finding real and relevant info. Not sure what the solution is for fixing the information problem, but there are lots of people building real tech in the space
Things like the Twitter solution aren’t great, Twitter owns all the currency and is kind enough to let you have some sometimes. If I were to make my app I wouldn’t want ownership of any of the currency, too much liability.
I’m not very interested in the promises of bleeding edge crypto startups, in my experience they almost never pan out, and certainly aren’t accessible to the masses.
I agree that the twitter solution isn't great. Just pointing out that Lightning network is a tech that can be used for cheap transactions.
100% agree that none of these solutions are accessible to the masses. Tons of UX issues, most people don't want to self custody, layer 2s can require bridging, etc. But, I don't think it's terribly hard to see how these issues will be addressed and they are actively being worked on
Edit: put more simply, a hundred people each want to give $5 to a single person. What path do they follow to ensure that the person can get as close to $500 in their bank account as soon as possible. Bonus question: what is the relation between how much they can get into their bank account and how long they wait?
Not sure about the amount of time between exchange and bank account, I think that is going to depend on each exchange.
You mean with one centralized authority you have to trust?