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Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by rapnie on Monday November 26, 2018 @01:46AM (#18531596)
> I still don't understand what problem decentralised currency is supposed to solve.

I agree with all your other points, but e.g. in China people may soon wish they still had a decentralized payment system. Especially if you have a low social credit score, and the government starts to decide in detail what you can and cannot buy.

Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by pryce on Monday November 26, 2018 @01:53AM (#18531613)
No one except power companies and current holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency benefits by the staggering amount of energy being poured into this completely asinine model.

If cryptocurrency is supposed to bring the benefits of decentralization to the masses and usher in an era where the "little guy" is more free, it needs to solve that equation somehow.

Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by glitch003 on Monday November 26, 2018 @02:51AM (#18531778)
There are many things being worked on to solve the energy usage. Proof of Stake is one, and different types of it are already in use at scale (dPoS on EOS, etc)
Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by bsder on Monday November 26, 2018 @02:07AM (#18531657)
> e.g. in China people may soon wish they still had a decentralized payment system.

As there will be no way back from a bad social score, this is coming.

The key problem to solve is how to create an exchange that the authorities can't shut down.

Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by lb1lf on Monday November 26, 2018 @03:38AM (#18531951)
-And that problem is difficult to solve even in a well-functioning democracy.

When visiting Sweden recently, I was surprised to find a number of bars, coffee shops and the like only accepting digital payments - no cash. While this makes lots of sense from the vendor's perspective - handling cash is expensive and inconvenient - a customer may feel different about it.

These vendors presumably decided that the benefits of not having to handle cash outweighed the risk of alienating a small percentage of their customers (As 'everybody' in Sweden carries debit cards and cell phones with e-payment solutions, few people rely on cash exclusively).

Now imagine what happens if the authorities also held the power to say that you WOULD not accept cash.

That would make anyone assisting someone with a low social score buy items normally not available to them an accessory to subversion of the state (or something similarly eerie-sounding).

Not good. Unless you are The State.

Re:Richard Stallman: We Can Do Better Than Bitcoin by ospider on Monday November 26, 2018 @02:15AM (#18531675)
You mean cash?