[euske]

Every time I read about decentralization, I remember this episode from NPR Planet Money (one of the best podcasts, btw). It's about Libertarian Summer Camp where they tried to spend a day without fiat money. Gold standard everything. Turned out it's actually pretty hard because you have to get gold, and make sure the gold isn't fake, all by yourself. You bought a hotdog with the gold and now you have to worry about if it contains anything FDA-banned substances, etc etc.

cf. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/06/28/534735727/epis...

Being decentralized means that all the efforts that a central government is currently taking will be distributed to everyone, and now everyone has to worry about things that were taken granted before: basic safety, security and trust. This is why there aren't many decentralized systems that caught on because their usability is pretty bad for most people.

[1ark]

Can't crypto exchanges provide the same safety, security and trust as banks today? Everyone can choose to be their own custodian or not.

[1270018080]

Yeah a centralized and regulated market to exchange funds would definitely make it easier to use crypto as anything more than a scam or buying drugs.