[beeflet]

If crypto transactions were reversible, then the person accepting cryptocurrency from thieves couldn't be confident that the chain of transactions would not be reversed. So it's a necessary condition of fungibility. Similar to physical cash or gold.

Also, cryptocurrency transactions are reversible, it just takes a hard fork or a 51% attack in order to do so. See the etherium DAO hack and resulting fork. I would argue this is a bad thing, as it goes against the principles of cryptocurrency.

[popol12]

After all these years I fail to understand how people seemingly versed in the subject are still spelling Etherium with an "i" instead of an "e". I wonder if all the occurrences of the error are made by people of the same linguistic origin. Out of pure curiosity, I wonder if you could share if you're an English native ? If so, it would rule out this hypothesis. If you are not an English native, would you share your mother tongue with me ? I myself am (an admittedly nosey) French.

[AStonesThrow]

Partly because that is how it’s spelled in Magic: the Gathering; the Ethereum founders say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum#Founding_(2013%E2%80%...

Buterin chose the name Ethereum after browsing a list of elements from science fiction on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_elements,_ma...

Also, “Ethereum” looks like a misspelling to me; even though we’ve got “petroleum” and “linoleum” my instinct is to replace it with the more common “-ium” ending from the Periodic Table.

However, I have never been inclined to pronounce or spell “Dubai” with a diaresis, because it’s an Arabic word with a diphthong.

I am a native speaker of American English, second language Spanish; polyglot including proficiency in Latin, Italian, Greek, Sanskrit, and Semitic family.

[popol12]

Interesting, thanks. About Dubai, in french it would be pronounced "Du-bay" without the diaresis. It is not ambiguous in english though, but it never occurred to me !

[beeflet]

I'm well-versed in cryptocurrency topics, but not well-versed in ethereum-related topics.

I am an english native, I probably picked up the -ium suffix because that's how elements are usually written.