Comment

Comment on Bitcoin is Stupid and Does Not Deserve an Emoji (blog post)

If you want the name of a payment techology that isn’t snake oil, isn’t blockchain-based, isn’t a cult, doesn’t claim to be a currency, doesn’t work on proof-of-work or proof-of-stake, but actually does provide certain privacy guarantees for your basic purchasing needs, is cryptographically secure, and can be used with only FOSS, I recommend looking into GNU Taler.

The only downside is that it’s not really supported anywhere at all yet. But I do hope it becomes a real thing some day.

source

Sort:hotnew top

mp3@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Thanks, I’ll read on it :)

source
deafboy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
GNU Taller is pretty fragile, though. One bank issues unbacked tokens and the credibility of the whole system goes down the drain. It’s the current financial system, just rebranded. Also, it promotes taxation which automatically makes it a cult & scam.

source
- TootSweet@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  One bank issues unbacked tokens
  
  The Taler protocol has bank auditors built-in.
  
  Your hypothetical would just as much apply to existing debit cards.
  
  Unbacked tokens. You mean like Tether? (Let alone Luna.)
  
  Also, it promotes taxation which automatically makes it a cult & scam?
  
  The fuck? How does Taler “promote taxation?”
  
  Fuckin’ Libertarians.
  
  source
  - deafboy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    
    Unbacked tokens. You mean like Tether?
    
    Exactly like Tether. USDT was never backed 1:1 by USD. They don’t even try to deny it anymore. They admit it’s backed by “various assets, including BTC”, which smells like a market manipulation.
    
    How does Taler promote taxation?
    
    “Customers can stay anonymous, but merchants can not hide their income through payments with GNU Taler. This helps to avoid tax evasion and money laundering.”
    
    taler.net/en/features.html
    
    source
    TootSweet@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Thank you for being honest about being pro-tax-evasion and pro-money-laundering.
    
    source
radamant@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Please describe how I can send the money to my mom in Russia (disconnected from SWIFT) with GNU Taler today. I’ll wait.

source
- TootSweet@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I don’t know how I could possibly have been more explicit about it not yet being ready for any real-world use cases than I was.
  
  source
  - radamant@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    It will never be ready. It doesn’t even make sense. To transact with real fiat like the US dollar, you’ll have to go through an official on-ramp and an off-ramp of the respective government. And to do an international transaction you’ll have to use one of the widely accepted systems like SWIFT. GNU Taler doesn’t appear to address anything like that. Anyhow, my comment was made with the premise of this whole thread in mind, i.e. “Bitcoin is stupid” or “snake oil”. Yet there’s no alternatives to what crypto provides. So is it that stupid after all?
    
    source