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Comment by bko | Hacker News Reader

I think there's a lot of "slow" companies that get hacked. The core problem is that the idea of blockchain is incredibly flawed. One should not allow ownership of a string to be definitive to that thing.

I heard people want to put things like deeds on the blockchain but what happens if someone steals your keys? Do they own your home? Of course not. A system should have trusted intermediaries and centralized sources of record. If someone hacks my municipality and updates the record that says that they own my home, obviously that wouldn't hold up and that should be reversed. Why would I sacrifice that safeguard for technical elegance or promised efficiency? Why do I want to allow permissionless transfer of my deed to any party? What problem are we trying to solve here?

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Crypto really is "what if possession was 10/10 of the law."

I've made this comment before, but crypto always makes me think of bearer's bonds in fiction, where they always introduce the concept and very carefully emphasize to the characters that if they let go of it, even for a second, it's gone, and it's super important to keep hands on them at all times, and the whole scene is just on the nose foreshadowing that the bearer bonds will absolutely be stolen.

Well, the concept of "this belongs to whoever is holding it" felt like pretty heavy-handed foreshadowing for crypto too, and what do you know?

The classic story of solving a problem that doesn't exist with an overly complicated solution.

I like how Matt Levine at Bloomberg put it - crypto is just “speedrunning the history of [traditional] finance”.

I think a lot of people seem to believe that the current setup of banks, currency, and regulation (writ large) is arbitrary and unique, but a lot of the basic building blocks are actually quite natural consequences of evergreen problems handling money.

its a common pattern in todays society. a perceived problem with the system that is actually a problem with the people running that system leading to the design of a new system that somehow wont allow people to run it and cause the same problems. but then you need to reinvent solutions to every other problem the system solves and learned to solve over its operation

there is almost certainly an easier way to fix the problems people are having by making adjustments to the current banking systems, including support for the growth of different banks that simply act more ethically.

Bitcoin does solve a very specific problem very elegantly, it's just a lot more niche than boosters like to think

I agree with you about using blockchains for various things. With Bitcoin specifically, the problem you are trying to solve for is scarcity and a sound currency. It’s a unique asset not just a methodology or tech (blockchain) I’m sure you understand the problem with centralization and fiat currencies. But again, can’t argue with your other points.

I agree. Money, as defined by a storage of value and means of exchange, is uniquely qualified to benefit from blockchain technology. It shares many of the properties of gold (essentially fixed supply, unique history, lack of centralized control, consistent predictable mining, easy to verify, etc). It's better in that its supply is somewhat more predictable, could be more efficient to store / mine and could be sent digitally. Whether that's worth the downsides (mainly that its newer and easier to steal) is up for debate.

The problem is that you may want to sell your house to someone and be denied permission to do so. However, i have not seen any stories of that actually happening to anyone so idk

The is the obvious question anyone should ask when it comes to assets, but of course its not something that interests those pushing for blockchain-based solutions.

It works for on-chain bearer assets (ie money), not your home.

For on-chain purchases of bearer assets (ie NFTs and nothing else)

It’s not about moving fast or slow. Iirc the employee said it’s a good idea to do or testing before shipping. The CEO said it’s bullshit. AI actually allows you to finally do that pentesting pretty fast.

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