Comment by FatalLogic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by FatalLogic | Hacker News Reader

>I am genuinely interested on hearing the point of people who still don't believe that decentralized blockchain networks are the future of payments

Decentralization is either a very attractive feature or a dangerous threat. It depends on who you ask and what they have at stake.

I think decentralization is a very attractive feature. But there are many problems with various blockchain-type technologies currently. These problems include high energy costs, slow and limited transaction rates, lack of privacy of transactions, and being too complicated for any average person to use safely.

Not all blockchain technologies have all of these problems. There are many mitigations for these problems. Some people say that some of these issues (like irreversible transactions) are features, not problems.

One way of seeing it is that the current technology is just a a low-level base layer, and better things will be built on top of it.

But, currently I'm not aware of any widely-accepted cryptocurrency or blockchain tech which avoids all of these problems yet.

Edit: and isn't good old physical cash still a reasonable solution in Spain?

I see your point, but how I see it is, blockchain is right now what internet was at its very beggining, new layers will be added with time solving every one of those problems.

Yeah, cash is an option in Spain, however, most people, specially young people, is more likely to just carry their card and no cash.

> blockchain is right now what internet was at its very beggining

Bitcoin was announced in 2008. That’s 15 years ago.

So when is all this stuff going to happen? Every time someone comes up with a criticism the solution will come later because it’s “early days”.

The iPhone, and the following smartphone revolution, absolutely changed the world. That’s been… 16 years. One more than bitcoin. And it was obvious the smartphone changed everything 10 years ago.

So far the blockchain has used up a bunch of resources, produced tons of scams, and enabled ransomware.

I’m still waiting.

ARPANET dates to 1966. You could have said the same thing in 1981: So when is all this stuff going to happen? Every time someone comes up with a criticism the solution will come later because it’s “early days”.

Should we have given up on the internet by 1981 then?

Sometimes new technology takes a few (human) generations to take off. I know everyone wants instant gratification these days, but try to be patient.

> So when is all this stuff going to happen?

It isn't going to happen

The bitcoin developers are too hard headed and there's too much infighting for anything to go ahead. And they still have to decide if it's a store of value, a payment means or a speculative asset. Hence the heads banging together

No wonder the main "stablecoins" are not distributed

> So far the blockchain has used up a bunch of resources

One has to wonder how much waste heat has been produced, plus the associated carbon release from non renewable sources of electricity.

Wasted semiconductor production, wasted resources shipping mining and GPUs all over then dumping them when something more efficient comes along…

> more likely to just carry their card and no cash

And with enough events like this, the young will learn why the old carry at least some cash.

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