Technology
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
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None at all?!
There are multiple important benefits. They may not all be important for you right now, but saying it doesn't solve any problems at all is just ridiculous.
The people who say it's a ponzi scheme are people who don't know what ponzi schemes are.
The crux for all of those points is that the value is affected by fiat investments. It may not be able to be manipulated by a central bank, but it is influenced by the amount of investment put into it, which gives it the dangerous edge of being a very convenient ponzi-scheme, not to mention an incredibly unstable form of currency that most of the proletariat can't afford to risk using for their day to day expenses. That alone turns it from "currency" to "high risk investment."
Being able to send it instantly without fees is a great dream, but the above points kind of spoil the intent.
We don't need to get into the environmental aspects, or the sinful impact it's had on the price of GPU's (further pushing the proletariat from being able to fully participate in the blockchain), and the equally terrible chip shortage combined with the continued purchase and use of GPUs by crypto miners.
But blockchain cryptocurrencies have several serious problems beyond any technical oversights with the actual implentation.
arguably, your biggest stake holders now are the incredibly wealthy -> those who can afford to mine (therefore, those who can actually participate in the blockchain), and/or those who have invested the most fiat into the currency. I know what the original goals of crypto were, but the unfortunate reality is that as soon as fiat got into the mix, the dream died. Capitalism strikes again, and no one with real money being made is going to change the way it works now.
If there's a crypto out there that isn't available for fiat investment, that's the best hope to actually having a decentralized currency for all people
I thought this forum is about technology, and not religion.
Of course, no one is going to change the way an existing currency works, that would cause major trouble. If you want a different type of cryptocurrency, it should start as a new project.
I have no desire to start any new crypto currency. I've worked development in that business for long enough to have completely lost the taste for it. Most coins are poorly planned and run by con men. It's no surprise that things are slowing down
Just noticed this. Didn't think exaggeration or metaphor was beyond the scope of people's comprehension?
If we are talking about most coins, then its definitely true that they are poorly run. But surely you can agree that there are at least a handful of technologically interesting crypto projects. For example Sia
And what exactly do you consider as "sinful impact"? Everything that you personally consider "bad" for some reason?
See above. The comparison was to what the crypto boom has done to GPU prices.
Sia seems mildly interesting, but I don't see what purpose it fulfills that self hosting does not. It introduces several complications to what should be a fairly straightforward process, and keeping your files on the Sia blockchain would really limit what you are able to do with them without introducing even more complicated steps. Like if you wanted a hosting solution that could act as a database, or a simple webserver. It seems like just another way to get people to buy into a specific crypto currency.
Get rid of the crypto currencies, and use the blockchain for more reasonable things. At least in Canada, there would be merit in having every hospital acting as a node on their own private blockchain so they could share patient information. Make sure that if someone is hospitalized outside of their usual location, they aren't given something that they're allergic to. Blockchains are largely just privatized, highly redundant networks for data exchange and tracking. I think what people outside of investors seem to be truly drawn to is that idea of privacy and data ownership. Fediverse and self-hosting align closer to these ideals