While I agree with much of what he says, such as the pyramid-like nature of investing in bitcoin, I do take issue with these:
Q. What about decentralization?
A. It is the only thing that blockchain could contribute: the absence of a central authority. But that only creates problems.
He should at least acknowledge that lack of a central authority solves some important problems.
Q. But it allows you to avoid a government or central bank.
A. Bitcoin has six pools that control 80% of the mining power. Therefore, they can control what goes into the blocks.
Those pools consist of many thousands of miners, many of whom will be eager to switch pools when presented with evidence of pool collusion and misbehaviour.
I do think he is spot-on about the deflationary emission:
Q. What did he miscalculate?
A. Two things. ... The second thing is that Satoshi believed that inflation was bad. He set a limit so that there would be no inflation. But already in 2009 the first bitcoin user after Satoshi saw that it was best to keep it because it would be more valuable in the future if he started hoarding. Instead of a coin it became something to invest and hold. That’s terrible for money.
A disinflationary emission, such as a pure linear one that results from a fixed block reward, would prevent rampant speculation, and encourage use as a currency. Bitcoin would not be something to invest in, but something to buy in order to transact in.
"A disinflationary emission, such as a pure linear one that results from a fixed block reward, would prevent rampant speculation, and encourage use as a currency. Bitcoin would not be something to invest in, but something to buy in order to transact in."
Was just about to recommend looking into grin [1] before I realized who you were.
Let me blow up some of these arguments with a real world example: the Canadian trucker protests over vaccine mandates. Officials were all too happy to freeze suspected bank accounts and coerce services like GoFundMe into halting payouts to truckers. Just about the only way to get funds through to protesters was to use a blockchain based service like Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin didn't exist already we would have to invent something like it to deal with government overreach and centralized finance like what happened in Canada this year.
We've banned this account for repeatedly posting unsubstantive comments and breaking the site guidelines. That's not what this place is for.
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6 comments
[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 18.7 ms ] threadQ. What about decentralization?
A. It is the only thing that blockchain could contribute: the absence of a central authority. But that only creates problems.
He should at least acknowledge that lack of a central authority solves some important problems.
Q. But it allows you to avoid a government or central bank.
A. Bitcoin has six pools that control 80% of the mining power. Therefore, they can control what goes into the blocks.
Those pools consist of many thousands of miners, many of whom will be eager to switch pools when presented with evidence of pool collusion and misbehaviour.
I do think he is spot-on about the deflationary emission:
Q. What did he miscalculate?
A. Two things. ... The second thing is that Satoshi believed that inflation was bad. He set a limit so that there would be no inflation. But already in 2009 the first bitcoin user after Satoshi saw that it was best to keep it because it would be more valuable in the future if he started hoarding. Instead of a coin it became something to invest and hold. That’s terrible for money.
A disinflationary emission, such as a pure linear one that results from a fixed block reward, would prevent rampant speculation, and encourage use as a currency. Bitcoin would not be something to invest in, but something to buy in order to transact in.
Was just about to recommend looking into grin [1] before I realized who you were.
[1] https://grin.mw
If Bitcoin didn't exist already we would have to invent something like it to deal with government overreach and centralized finance like what happened in Canada this year.
If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
I wish it was used more often, although I'm not sure what can be done to prevent abuse in clients.