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Yes, cryptocurrencies and tokens have a lot of speculation from a dollar price perspective, and there are still non-believers and manipulators, but the blockcha

Yes, cryptocurrencies and tokens have a lot of speculation from a dollar price perspective, and there are still non-believers and manipulators, but the blockchain and smart contracts technology is brilliant and the idea is already on people's mind, and it will only become stronger, despite of the price. Social Network: For years I've seen people complaining about Facebook, others building alternatives. If there is one way that Facebook could be defeated and decentralized is by using a P2P blockchain social network. Take for example Steem, not perfect but proof of concept works. Advertisement: another example is BAT (by the JS inventor), funded in 30 seconds, it could be a real threat to Google. Just pair it with Mist browser and ENS, and you can see the potential. ... I think it's no longer about Bitcoin, it's about a profound decentralization of the Internet. Some call it the Web 3.0.

darawk 9y ago
While I think we ought to be skeptical of "tons of money poured in, therefore it's a good idea" sort of arguments, I agree that there is definitely value here. Cryptocurrencies promise to nativize scarcity on the web. The absence if which has led to some amazing things, but has also caused some troubles. Ideally, we'll now be able to capture the best of both worlds. A free and open internet, but with opt-in monetary incentives and scarcity.
- serhei 9y ago
  There's definitely value in cryptocurrencies, in the sense of significant promise of being useful for new types of financial instruments and transactions. This does not preclude the possibility of there being a crypto bubble, i.e. demand/excitement causing the price of the currency to rise far far above its current level of usefulness. The ultimate usefulness of cryptocurrencies is determined by things that may take years or decades to figure out a way to do: everything from 'is it a good store of value' to 'can I shop with it on Amazon?' to 'can I use it to issue equity for my startup?' This gradual growth in usefulness does not really match the tendency of coins to double in price in very short periods of time, so the question is whether the temporary bubbles and disappointments are severe enough to disrupt the gradual growth in base value. This is no different from real estate bubbles potentially making things painful for people who just want to buy a house to live in it.
  - darawk 9y ago
    Ya, definitely agreed. Although I would add the caveat that the rapid growth in value of these coins is not necessarily that crazy. The market cap of the entire ecosystem is still less than 100 billion. Which, no question, is a lot but it's still less than 1/7th of Apple, which is only a single company. So while I agree we might be in a bubble, I don't think the current crypto valuations are at least prima facie necessarily a bubble.
dogma1138 9y ago
Why do you need a block chain for a decentralized social network? Also what actual benefits would a "decentralized" social network bring? Facebook works because it got a lot of things right it let people communicate and share ideas rather than being a glorified geocities where bands come to die like MySpace and it got a critical mass of users which drove it home. Blockchain will not decentralize the internet it might decentralize the World Wide Web, but even then considering the power costs and the fact that bandwidth still costs a ton of money even in developed nations why would you want to "decentralize" a bandwidth rich service in the current landscape. I can understand the usefulness of a blockchain for certain applications e.g. clearing houses. But every time some one says it's like X but decentralized and runs on the hot new blockchain I just want to head bang a wall, I could be too old or too dumb to get my head around it but it simply looks to me that there is a cool toy that every one wants to use as a hammer which makes them look at everything that they want to build as a nail regardless if it makes sense or not.
- daraosn 9y ago
  First, it's not what I want, it's what I perceive – only my opinion. Why a blockchain for social network? To really control my data and my online persona. It doesn't have to be a public blockchain, can be private and shared to my friends, if I wanted to. I agree with you, that in poor countries the infrastructure is not prepared yet, but the world wasn't prepared also when the Internet was on dippers, this is just the beginning, I believe.
  - dogma1138 9y ago
    But again what technical (as in operational, functional etc.) benefits would a social network built on a blockchain would have vs a standard website? Unless you'll use some sort of a thick client you would still need an application server that would take the data which I'll assume you'll store in the blockchain and present it to the user. How would a distributed database that need to hold even 0.001% of the information stored in say Facebook be even feasible on consumer devices? Why would you want to wrap that data with expensive PoW/PoS algorithms and how would this give you any sort of control over your personal information considering it's a public (even if it's a private blockchain) database that anyone with access to it can store any copy or revision of it they would like. I'm not trying to be coy or rude I simply do not understand the point of using a blockchain for any purpose other than finance, it gives you account consolidation, compliance, transaction and balance ledger all in one tool this is great but for anything else... I simply can't see it.

darawk 9y ago

While I think we ought to be skeptical of "tons of money poured in, therefore it's a good idea" sort of arguments, I agree that there is definitely value here. Cryptocurrencies promise to nativize scarcity on the web. The absence if which has led to some amazing things, but has also caused some troubles. Ideally, we'll now be able to capture the best of both worlds. A free and open internet, but with opt-in monetary incentives and scarcity.

serhei 9y ago
There's definitely value in cryptocurrencies, in the sense of significant promise of being useful for new types of financial instruments and transactions. This does not preclude the possibility of there being a crypto bubble, i.e. demand/excitement causing the price of the currency to rise far far above its current level of usefulness. The ultimate usefulness of cryptocurrencies is determined by things that may take years or decades to figure out a way to do: everything from 'is it a good store of value' to 'can I shop with it on Amazon?' to 'can I use it to issue equity for my startup?' This gradual growth in usefulness does not really match the tendency of coins to double in price in very short periods of time, so the question is whether the temporary bubbles and disappointments are severe enough to disrupt the gradual growth in base value. This is no different from real estate bubbles potentially making things painful for people who just want to buy a house to live in it.
- darawk 9y ago
  Ya, definitely agreed. Although I would add the caveat that the rapid growth in value of these coins is not necessarily that crazy. The market cap of the entire ecosystem is still less than 100 billion. Which, no question, is a lot but it's still less than 1/7th of Apple, which is only a single company. So while I agree we might be in a bubble, I don't think the current crypto valuations are at least prima facie necessarily a bubble.

dogma1138 9y ago

Why do you need a block chain for a decentralized social network? Also what actual benefits would a "decentralized" social network bring? Facebook works because it got a lot of things right it let people communicate and share ideas rather than being a glorified geocities where bands come to die like MySpace and it got a critical mass of users which drove it home. Blockchain will not decentralize the internet it might decentralize the World Wide Web, but even then considering the power costs and the fact that bandwidth still costs a ton of money even in developed nations why would you want to "decentralize" a bandwidth rich service in the current landscape. I can understand the usefulness of a blockchain for certain applications e.g. clearing houses. But every time some one says it's like X but decentralized and runs on the hot new blockchain I just want to head bang a wall, I could be too old or too dumb to get my head around it but it simply looks to me that there is a cool toy that every one wants to use as a hammer which makes them look at everything that they want to build as a nail regardless if it makes sense or not.

daraosn 9y ago
First, it's not what I want, it's what I perceive – only my opinion. Why a blockchain for social network? To really control my data and my online persona. It doesn't have to be a public blockchain, can be private and shared to my friends, if I wanted to. I agree with you, that in poor countries the infrastructure is not prepared yet, but the world wasn't prepared also when the Internet was on dippers, this is just the beginning, I believe.
- dogma1138 9y ago
  But again what technical (as in operational, functional etc.) benefits would a social network built on a blockchain would have vs a standard website? Unless you'll use some sort of a thick client you would still need an application server that would take the data which I'll assume you'll store in the blockchain and present it to the user. How would a distributed database that need to hold even 0.001% of the information stored in say Facebook be even feasible on consumer devices? Why would you want to wrap that data with expensive PoW/PoS algorithms and how would this give you any sort of control over your personal information considering it's a public (even if it's a private blockchain) database that anyone with access to it can store any copy or revision of it they would like. I'm not trying to be coy or rude I simply do not understand the point of using a blockchain for any purpose other than finance, it gives you account consolidation, compliance, transaction and balance ledger all in one tool this is great but for anything else... I simply can't see it.