Comment by db48x

4 days ago

> It's very clear that the blockchain is 100% BS…

Hmm. The blockchain is actually a very clever solution to a very old coordination problem. In that sense it is not BS at all.

But I agree that it is an open question whether it can directly support a useful economy the way a currency can. It doesn’t seem to have the throughput for that, to start with. But maybe it could be useful for interbank settlements, if for some reason traditional methods weren’t working.

This has been known for a long time that in order for crypto backed securities to work, Bitcoin’s blockchain would need to be the clearing house for assets tied to it. We’re in derivatives of derivatives of indexed derivatives land.

Banks have already started exploring using it as the clearing house and recent US policy has cleared the path for more.

  • My hot take, crypto(currency) is for pure peer markets, since all individuals are accounted for by a government its not especially useful for people. However, governments are essentially peers without some disinterested third party with the power of enforcement. This is place where crypto lives.

    • Yea, something like that. Although even there you still have bond ratings and just straight up reputations to tell you which governments are trustworthy enough to do business with, even without a blockchain.

blockchains and bitcoin are good for two things only: money laundering, and collecting ransomware payments.

blockchains as an immutable ledger should be the dumbest thing anyone has ever heard of. but somehow people saw dollar signs and put aside all their reservations and are using it to try to get rich quick.

as if a set of banks are going to secretly conspire to remove your money from you specifically, without a paper trail, or something. it's a nonsense premise to begin with.