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Comment by ETH_start | Hacker News Reader

Fundamentally, it's being able to control digital assets, like a unique name, or digital currency, with your own device.

You can even forego the speculative aspect of it entirely, and just hold USDC/DAI. Sending value is as simple as effecting a transaction from your browser-based MetaMask wallet. It removes all dependencies on third party custodians and payment networks like Venmo or PayPal.

The technology still has major missing pieces, like privacy (which isn't helped by OFAC's recent designation that prohibits Americans from using the largest Ethereum-based privacy protocol), but the fundamental functionality is a major innovation and leap.

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First of all "controlling digital assets" is a solution in search of a problem, for a majority of people anyway. Secondly, in order for that to be even remotely possible, the first thing that is needed is trust. You can't replace that by any algorithm.

Trust isn't there, and for good reason. Rug-pulls are rampant. Entities that present themselves as solvent one day fall down like a house of cards the next day. It is the Wild West, complete with gamblers, snake-oil salesmen, and bandits, and the sheriff is just another bandit.

The major "innovation" crypto brought has been in leveraging psychological manipulation techniques previously used by cults and sects in order to quickly part foolish people from their money. The math part is just a distraction.

Controlling digital things of value in a decentralized way is a solution in search of a problem? That's news to me.

I don't own any digital things that need controlling. Am I missing out?

I'd personally like to own my own digital currency, so that I don't have to depend on third parties to access my funds and protect my privacy.

Which is a niche need. The world wide web is for everyone, not only for people that share your hobby.

> privacy

The price of that privacy is that no one can help you when a pesky smart contract self activates when you open your wallet and it gets emptied.

I think it'll prove to be a massive need, as it removes a lot of points of friction.

When people have electronic cash on their device, they can, at least in theory, do things like pay $0.01 to bypass a paywall and read an article on a website they just found, without registering with the website or entering their credit card details, and without the website needing to have an account with the same trusted third party payment network as them.

This kind of seamless commercial interaction is made for the jurisdiction transcending internet age.

Also, I think the vast majority don't like the idea of internet commerce being controlled and gatekept by a handful of multinational corporations who run the proprietary payment networks, and decentralized digital currency offers a clear way to fix that.

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