• BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    the idea was great

    I have questioned this ever since I learned that the more adoption there is, the less efficient mining becomes, ergo more power is wasted accomplishing the exact same task for no extra benefit. Difficulty creates a back asswards system that makes adoption a con.

    • NewDark@unilem.org
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      1 year ago

      Mining is only one strategy for concenous, but yes it is a pretty rudementary and inefficient version.

      • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Well it’s been over a decade and Bitcoin is still PoW, as well as nearly 50% of the entire crypto market.

          • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            My point is how great can it be if over a decade later the terrible system for mining is still dominant? The more people participating, the worse it gets. We just had texas power companies paying crypto bros to stop mining it’s gotten so bad - and we aren’t even at .01% adoption yet.

            You’re chiming in in a way that ignores nuance and implied meaning. I feel like my intention has been pretty clear but if I need to spell it out so be it.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              That’s more a question of being first on the scene and the financial impact if Bitcoin maximalists finally accepted that their blockchain is crap compared to other options, that’s what keeps Bitcoin at the top, not how good or bad it is compared to the tech’s potential…

              And no your intention wasn’t very clear otherwise I wouldn’t have had to reply how I did previously.

              • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                that’s more of a question of being first on the scene

                Countless others have used/use PoW and bitcoin still does it despite ETH and others migrating away. It doesn’t matter what the reasoning is, it still does it, and there is clearly no plan to stop doing PoW.

                I used to mine scrypt coins I’m not ignorant of how this all works. Bitcoin is a solution in search of a problem and despite how many cryptos and startups have touted “how exciting the tech is” (a line I used to repeat back in 2011 mind you), what has it solved?

                • It takes more power/resources than traditional currencies

                • Transactions take minutes meaning it’s terrible for daily transactions

                • Setting up your own wallet and protecting your own keys is a massive barrier to adoption

                • Regularly the tool for scams and theft

                What has Bitcoin done for us?

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  I don’t know why you’re arguing about Bitcoin being PoW and how bad it is, in think I made it pretty clear that I agree with that…

                  As I mentioned in another comment, blockchains could replace the stock market and actually improve it. Some chains have transactions that are quick enough that it would be perfectly fine for it (except for automated trading systems, but fuck ATS), transactions would be publically visible instead of the mess that’s happening now, no more T+2 delay for the transactions to settle… But crypto is fighting tooth and nail not to be recognized as a security when it’s probably the only thing it could be good as… 🙄

                  Otherwise, as you said, blockchains are a solution in search of a problem to solve 🤷

                  • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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                    1 year ago

                    transactions would be publically visible

                    But we don’t know who it was so how is it any better than what we currently have? That is not public record unless you own/buy 5%+. Crypto is offering no new information there and it can’t tie people to the moves. So this is wrong.

                    Some chains have transactions that are quick enough that it would be perfectly fine for it

                    Ok but it doesn’t improve anything and it’s still slower than what we have. We don’t need it, swapping it out with current systems changes nothing except for making the transactions slower.

                    blockchains could replace the stock market and actually improve it.

                    I just don’t see how. What does it bring to the table?

                    The reason I keep talking about PoW is that it is a huge part of the consideration here. Mining requires rare earth metals/hardware and an inordinate - and very possibly unsustainable - amount of power. All to do what our entire currency system already does.

        • NewDark@unilem.org
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          1 year ago

          Bitcoin is more religion and cult than anything. Of course they think it’s great or at least able to hand wave criticisms.

          And yeah, consensus is a hard problem to solve for. Many have taken the route of least resistance and implemented what is known to work.

    • AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Ethereum doesn’t use mining at all anymore. It can get expensive to use though, which layer 2 chains help with

      • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I know it’s PoS now but why does that matter? What does it solve? What does it actually do that needs to be done? Because so far the vast majority of crypto is used for speculation. It’s people hoping they can make money just by holding on or, God forbid, day trading.

        • parpol@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          It allows you to send money overseas very cheap. If you moved to a different country, cryptocurrency saves you a lot of headaches with exchange rates and bank fees.

          It also allows you to lock down money into a program and distribute it systematically without anyone being able to touch it. Think mass donations being automatically distributed to a select number of organizations, but instead of trusting that the fundraiser doesn’t pocket any money for themselves, you make it impossible for them to do so.

          It also doesn’t run as a company so it needs no offices, no employees or bosses, so theoretically it is more cost effective than traditional banking. In a way it is like the fediverse where instead of relying on one big bank service, many people host their own ones, and just like the fediverse, you have some hosts that you can trust and some that you can’t, and while it is more expensive to keep track of multiple instances, that simply is the cost of decentralization.

          You’re not really supposed to earn money with crypto (unless you host a node), just spend it or use as your own private bank.