News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by NicoJuicy on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:11AM (#26634158)
On with the hype train. Just like in 2017 when they all announced crypto support and then it silently got removed ( square, steam, ... )
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by weego on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:17AM (#26634227)
Let's see what they peg their exchange rate to
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by seibelj on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:13AM (#26634181)
There is literally nothing positive that can happen in crypto without the HN hate train arguing it’s meaningless / “just use mysql” / “am I the only one that thinks this?!?”
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by NicoJuicy on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:16AM (#26634219)
It's not hate. I don't want to pay 22$ for a 1$ product with bitcoin, when it gets popular.

I'm also not going to put my money in a joke coin like dogecoin.

I like the blockchain, but crypto is just an implementation of it and without a use-case currently ( blockchain has multiple use-cases though).

Instead of trying to go on the emotional side with "hate-train"?

Try to convince me with facts.

Ps. I owned crypto until 2017 and then sold it then, because i didn't see a valid use-case ( and 20 k was high enough for me)

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by throwaway10110 on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:48AM (#26634567)
Ive been using bitcoin since 2011ish i think, one of the first few people on bitcoin-otc first trade was $40 for 10 bitcoins (paid with paypal transfer funily enough) i must have bought and sold hundreds over years, still have few dozen

In some cases yeh bitcoin has not lived up to initial promises, literally first line of satoshis paper is no longer valid, but it could yet be like early internet and take off (or something similar)

i wouldnt write it off but yeh you are also right its not what we thought it be, the whole store of value thing these days instead of currency

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by randomopining on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:43PM (#26642646)
What do you think the endgame is? Gov bans and it becomes underground p2p store of value?
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by tomiplaz on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:23AM (#26634291)
I presume you are not familiar with the Lightning Network? I suggest reading https://github.com/lnbook/lnbook
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by brotherofsteel on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:35AM (#26634436)
Who doesn't love worrying about "watchtowers" and "inbound liquidity"?
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by gruez on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:39AM (#26634461)
Are those hard concepts to grasp?
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by krageon on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:59AM (#26634673)
Given how breathtakingly simple the space actually is, inventing big words and forcing other people to learn them really only serves to stroke an ego.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by gruez on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @10:09AM (#26634776)
"watchtowers" is a big word now? as for "inbound liquidity", I guess you can argue it's big because it's a compound word, but it's relatively easy to understand ("liquidity" is a standard term in finance, for instance) and I can't think of how you can shorten it further without reducing comprehension.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by tgsovlerkhgsel on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @01:42PM (#26637737)
Compared to cash in my wallet, a credit card, or cryptocoins held on chain? Yes.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by NicoJuicy on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:30AM (#26634379)
Yes I am, but not in specifics. It's already been mentioned since 2017...

Fee's are still high. Crypto still can't handle a lot of traffic as far as i'm aware today.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by brotherofsteel on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:28AM (#26634355)
You should try Bitcoin Cash (BCH), the version of Bitcoin that actually works as it was meant to. It has subcent fees by design.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by NicoJuicy on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @01:08PM (#26637267)
You mean it's not controlled by those who mine the most? Which would be miners in CH that could execute a 51% attack? :)

And what about the whole tether scam?

There are more problems to crypto currency than that any crypto solves now.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by brotherofsteel on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @11:01PM (#26643069)
Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin, mining works the same way it does on BTC.

I don't know what's going on with Tether, but it definitely looks iffy to me.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by rawtxapp on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:19AM (#26634255)
> Ps. I owned crypto until 2017 and then sold it because i didn't see a valid use-case.

Do you think maybe you have some biases against it now, because it would have made you a lot of money if you held on to it?

Nobody is paying 22$ for a 1$ product, I'm not sure how you can even remotely come to that while ignoring all the layer 2 developments.

There's a ton of really useful projects happening on DeFi, you can see the blockchain data for yourself and see that a lot of people are using it, maybe you don't see the use case, but that doesn't mean there isn't any.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by NicoJuicy on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:26AM (#26634340)
I actually made a lot of money with it. So I don't think I'm biased because of that. It dropped to 4k afterwards ( I could have purchased again, but if something falls from my watchlist, i don't care about it anymore).

What is probably biasing me, is that I had a digital magazine and the #1 hit was for "how to recover Bitcoin password".

Which also leads me to my conclusion: "There's currently no replacement for a official and trusted centralized authority in Crypto".

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by ketamine__ on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:15AM (#26634201)
Do you know anyone that pays in crypto? I don't.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by Roark66 on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @10:07AM (#26634744)
I was actually paid in crypto for few days of some programming work once. I wish I held to it all rather than spending most of it.

Personally I think the biggest issue with crypto now is, one that it promotes huge value inflation and Ponzi-like schemes (we are seeing it with BTC and ETH), two horrible energy use inefficiency. From a bitcoin transaction that requires orders of magnitude more energy to process than any other transfer of value known to humanity to Ethereum "virtual machine" for smart contracts that is most inefficient way to execute arbitrary code ever invented...

I used to be a big proponent of crypto overall. I still have some holdings in it, but I can't unsee the idiocy in PoW crypto once I saw and understood it clearly.

I wondered for a while what is so specific to crypto that it became today's tulips? (Rather than gold futures, stocks, real estate etc) and then I understood all those asset classes are already used like this. Every kind of asset that can will eventually be used in some kind of pyramid scheme. Just look at the price of gold compared to few years ago, real estate in many large cities, stocks etc. It was absolutely inevitable that crypto as it became a trusted store of value would become a vehicle for speculative bubbles/pyramid schemes.

So then the question is, can crypto fulfill the role of a currency (requiring some level of value stability) and be a vehicle for speculative pyramids at the same time? I don't think so.

Proof of Work is one problem with crypto that perhaps Proof of Stake will resolve.

The other problem is much more fundamental. How do we create crypto that maintains stability without having to resort to typical "stable coin" strategies like holding other currencies and selling/buying them to artificially adjust the value. Is it possible to create crypto that would maintain its value in the long term in distributed - no central authority manner while discouraging pyramid investment schemes.

And finally, once someone invents such crypto would anyone actually hear about it as most promotion of crypto seems to be done by people who got in early and hope for their holdings to increase in value.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by boc on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @12:08PM (#26636344)
Agreed. It's the difference between deflationary assets and inflationary currency. Bitcoin's core, fundamental problem is that it's deflationary. Therefore it will never be useful for economic transactions, because any society which fully commits to bitcoin as their currency will have their economy grind to a halt. Why would I buy a new car today when it's going to be cheaper tomorrow?

There's a reason why the Fed targets a ~2% inflation rate for the USD.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by stormbeta on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @02:31PM (#26638425)
That and the energy cost, both direct as well environmental.

It always surprises me how little cryptocurrency advocates seem to understand basic macroeconomics and unintended consequences, especially on sites like this.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by Geee on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @05:02PM (#26640457)
Think again. You have been brainwashed. You buy a car so that you can go to work. You know that the car produces more value than 2% deflation. You don't buy the car if you don't have a job.

What happens to economy if people buy only things that last a very long time or things that increase their productivity? What happens to economy when companies are forced to produce those things?

Inflationary economy is a total disaster. We produce things that don't last to consume things that don't last. Insane amount of human work output is wasted.

If you measure economic growth by amount of pointlessly running in circles, then yeah inflation is good for economy.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by s7atic on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @12:11PM (#26636391)
> The other problem is much more fundamental. How do we create crypto that maintains stability without having to resort to typical "stable coin" strategies like holding other currencies and selling/buying them to artificially adjust the value. Is it possible to create crypto that would maintain its value in the long term in distributed - no central authority manner while discouraging pyramid investment schemes.

The value of a cryptocurrency is mostly tied to its adoption. Future adoption is uncertain, so there is naturally a lot of volatility right now. If adoption stabilizes, the volatility will likely decrease markedly. In fact, since many cryptocurrencies have a fixed supply (or the supply follows a predetermined set of rules), one could argue that they could end up less prone to speculative pricing than fiat.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by bluecalm on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @10:36AM (#26635064)
I am as much a crypto skeptic as you can find but even I know people who could only pay in crypto and I lost business by not being able to accept it.

The financial regulations around the world are often very strict. A lot of people need to go around them. Sure, a lot of them are drug dealers, gambling operators etc. but there are also people in China struggling with capital control regulations as one example.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by Geee on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:36AM (#26634440)
Do you know any people who use the Internet? I don't.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by ketamine__ on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @11:26AM (#26648476)
Almost everyone I know uses the internet. What was the point of this stupid question?
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by StevePerkins on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:20AM (#26634263)
A few people that I work with order THC gummies from some sketchy source, delivered via mail, that they pay for with crypto. Pornhub still exists, despite having their credit card processing de-platformed, so I guess somebody is paying them some crypto.

But no. I've never met anyone in real life who uses crypto for mundane transactions, where fiat currency is an option.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by madamelic on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:23AM (#26634306)
>A few people that I work with order THC gummies from some sketchy source

I have heard from a friend that typically those 'sketchy sources' are just buying gummies from stores in legal states (cough California) and shipping them out.

My friend would get the gummies in the bags ready for retail sale. Same with other items like vape pods.

Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by brotherofsteel on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:29AM (#26634372)
Hi there. I regularly pay for things with Bitcoin Cash.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by ketamine__ on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @11:26AM (#26648481)
Craig Wright is a pathological liar.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by brotherofsteel on Thursday April 01, 2021 @07:13AM (#26658941)
You're absolutely right. I'm almost glad that BSV split off so BCH didn't have to be associated with him anymore.
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by CyberDildonics on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @04:17PM (#26652554)
He has nothing to do with bitcoin cash
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by ketamine__ on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @04:41PM (#26652876)
Except that he shilled it extensively...
Re:PayPal launches crypto checkout service by CyberDildonics on Wednesday March 31, 2021 @05:34PM (#26653450)
Who cares? He's a pathological liar.