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by danlugo92 1536 days ago
> Is using a cryptocurrency run by a company registered in Hong Kong, backed by a bank on the Bahamas really that great of an idea?

No, but I've never had Binance or Localbitcoins steal my money, Paypal and banks have done so, and I've been using both for around the same time.

> Are large parts of the population able to store their assets correctly.

With great power comes great responsability.

> Are they storing their coins on their own wallets or are they using exchanges.

Usdt over binance (0 fees) seems to be popular with a lot of people that don't want to deal with bitcoin's swings. Most people aren't using USDT real (-ish[0] erc20) wallets because it costs $30 to $60 to send anything. USDT over Bitcoin Lightning (already in the works) will fix this.

> If they use exchanges, does the government have an interest in letting them do whatever or are they imposing sanctions?

Lightning will fix this, it will make exchanges not hold any coins at all, thus they will be unseizable as everything will be done over Lightning,

> If they store their coins in their own wallets, is the majority of the population able to properly secure their assets?

I expect aunt Jane will be using a centralized entity that can recover her funds for her, young people, like anyone under 40 will use Lightning and enjoy their freedom.

> Will mining operations have an impact on the existing infrastructure if it becomes to profitable.

Lightning, halving cycles, etc will reduce mining, though maybe not fast enough if you're thinking in terms of climate change. Reminder that the US military is the single largest polluter in the world, not Bitcoin.

> But most importantly: what will happen if the value of cryptocurrencies decreases or even crashes?

Bitcoin will never crash, when enough people use it, but it might crash a few times before we get there (e.g. covid crash).

[0] It's realISH because ERC20 runs on Ethereum, which is not a real decentralized system like Bitcoin, and the upcoming switch to Proof of Stake switch will only make it more centralized/brittle.

2 comments

Lightning is a very bad solution for a problem that should not exist. It fragments people from being on the actual bitcoin network to being in tiny side channels that still need to sync with the main chain. It solves the problem of someone being able to send a hundred small transactions to the same person, which is a use case that never happens.

Bitcoin is only congested because it has the bandwidth of a 28.8 modem (700KB blocks every 10 minutes)

https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/size-btc.html#6m

Do tell how a bank stole your money.
I'm not the OP, but this is a thing:

"Yes, Banks Are Reordering Your Transactions And Charging Overdraft Fees"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2013/06/11/yes-b...