Comment by leashless | Hacker News Reader

Comment by leashless | Hacker News Reader

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7. The blockchain is now at a stage in its development equivalent to where the internet was in or around 1995. The internet was unstoppable in 1995 and blockchain technology is unstoppable now. It will become ubiquitous in all major industrial and financial sectors, simply because it allows for the immutable recording of data, thereby reducing friction in commercial and consumer transactions and obliterating the scope for dispute as to what has occurred.

8. As the Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales, I hold an office that pre-dates modern trade in derivatives and reinsurance, even steam engines, powered flight, and certainly the internet. I am particularly and obviously concerned about the reputation and development of English law and the jurisdiction of England and Wales. 9. Many people do not realise that English law governs trading in €600 trillion of OTC derivatives annually, in €11.6 trillion in metals trading, in £250 billion in M&A deals, and in £80 billion in insurance contracts every year – just to take a few examples. My hope is that English law will prove to be the law of choice for borderless blockchain technology as its take up grows exponentially in the months and years to come.

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Speech-M...

Case closed.

I still don’t understand what a fully realized crypto ecosystem would allow people to do that isn’t already being done well by standard technology. Like it or not, for most people doing most things, the government or large companies are suitable enough of a store of trust which is the problem crypto solves by being decentralized. I think it’s a neat technology for tech people but I still struggle to see why normal people doing most things would want to pay for things with bitcoin.

So the argument is twofold.

1) governments didn’t get to print money at will until they went off the gold standard, and the financial regime we have now is worse than the gold era. (Highly dubious, I don’t buy this entirely)

2) blockchain done right gives hub-and-spoke efficiency without creating hegemons like VISA, SWIFT and PayPal to boss around their users with impunity.

This I believe entirely.

There are still significant fees doing transactions over blockchain and those giant hegemonies are what allow things like charge backs and fraud detection while if somone hacks your wallet and steals all your crypto, it’s gone forever. It’s great if you’re trying to launder money or pay for sketchy things but I still don’t get the draw for the average person, just decentralization is not that valuable

Think in terms of antimonopoly — VISA charges outrageous fees for decades because they’re the hub through which all payments go.

People use VISA because they like the convenience and assurance it gives them over cash or a bank transfer, both of which don’t have a fee. Crypto both has neither and is more expensive per transaction.

Lot cheaper than bank wires! Vastly faster too.

ACH is free

And remind me where that works again?

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