We have a solution for that - it is called money and it is anonymous. I can also use it to buy things like Halloween candy at the store even when the power is out. Truly amazing invention.

But it isn't programmable, and I can't easily carry large quantities of it. Is it really so crazy that some people want to use crypto? The person wasn't saying "crypto uniquely solved this problem" they were defending against someone who said "crypto is useless if you can't do this".

Can't wait until all your crypto disappears because of an off by 1 bug:0 I guess that is the ultimate question - Does crypto actually solve a problem? Or at the very least solve some problems without creating more intractable problems in the process. I definitely remember it being touted as an inflation hedge. How'd that workout? Or that you cannot create more than X amount of Bitcoins - until they split the ledger. It seems like a new scam coin is minted daily - talk about lower barriers to entry. Just the fact that you mention transporting large sums secretly is interesting. There are many Drug Cartels wishing it was easier also.

I honestly don't understand how any self-respecting software developer wouldn't be excited by programmable money. I have wanted programmable money for almost a quarter of a century now, ever since I was consulting for a bank on their first website back in 1998. The centralized banking system simply refuses to do it... they barely even give me API access for taxes and accounting purposes, much less being able to automate moving money around or responding to payments :/. I've anxiously followed attempts by startups to build their own credit cards with better APIs (all of which end up sucking and eventually just fold), I've abused the hell out of the mostly-undocumented OFX endpoints offered by traditional banks, I was the largest mobile/phone customer of Amazon Flexible Payments up until they shut it down and replaced it with a lame Stripe competitor, and I have built an entire empire of tooling on top of PayPal... which somehow is the closest thing we still have here in 2022.

In contrast, crypto is this almost futuristic mechanism that centers developers by giving you a serverless transactional database system on which you not only can work with money but you can implement your own money. I can build my own mechanisms for authenticating access to that money, including--if I wanted to--replicating whatever features I liked from traditional systems. It offers functionality similar to ACH and wire transfers, but as a truly federated system that allows anyone to participate. Does it allow scams? Sure... but only in the same sense that other open systems like telephone networks, e-mail, and the web allow people to run scams! Are you really so closed minded as to not think everyone should get the power to automate their own lives as they see fit? God... I bet you are also one of those people who insist no one should be allowed to write or even install software on their own devices without going through Apple, or who insist that private end-to-end encrypted messaging is going to end civilization by mostly empowering terrorists, child abusers, and "Drug Cartels" :/.

> I honestly don't understand how any self-respecting software developer wouldn't be excited by programmable money.

Saurik, it is HN, where people complain endlessly about Paypal, but never want to fix it because that would be 're-inventing banking'.

Yep. Then you can enjoy all the risks of cash, with the additional benefits that you have to manage digital security as well.

Nothing like losing all your money because you can't unlock your wallet any more. Or sent it to the tip.

Finding liquidity might be a problem though. At least, I don’t have any local market makers quoting a bid/ask for BTC or ETH.

I don't know where you are, but it's very likely that you do.

Can you, with no services at all? You can share your keys... but you can still double spend, etc.