John

Why? It originated as literally SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language). It only changed because of a trademark conflict.

I guess. I don’t use Reddit’s AI. But Digg specifically billed itself as Reddit + AI. I got early beta access, and it was exactly that: Reddit + shitty AI summaries.

“we’re reddit, but with AI!”

I noped so hard away from digg

These are relatively new changes then

Not really. Lightning has been around for many years. Ethereum transitioned to Proof of Stake back in 2022. Layer 2s on Ethereum went live in 2021-2023, continuing on and ever expanding up until today.

I remember when a transaction cost $25 and 7 minutes

For Bitcoin mainnet, this may still be the case, however in practicality 1) that’s still faster than tradfi settlement times (ACH takes 5-7 days to settle), 2) depending on the amount of money you’re moving, $25 might be very cheap, 3) most people will use Lightning if they value speed and cheap fees. With Ethereum, block times are every 12 seconds or something like that. So actually it’s not only fast but very consistent. Fees [on Ethereum] have been very cheap since blockspace demand has been muted the past couple years, however like Bitcoin most people prefer to use Layer 2s

In any case, that wasn’t practical for anyone except organised crime

that’s just simply not true.

And the fact that crime is still a major user.

I’ve got news for you, tradfi ain’t much better. Regardless, there’s a large and growing list of use cases that don’t involve “crime”: https://ethereumadoption.com/built-on-ethereum?view=byEntity. Exchanges, lending and borrowing, mortgages, insurance, derivatives, pay day loans, no-loss lotteries, social media, collectables, identification, certifications, streaming salaries, …

For normal transactions, it’s too slow and expensive, but for crime, that’s not a problem.

I’m no lover of Bitcoin, but this is just false. Using the Lightning Network (basically a Layer 2 application on top), transactions are near instant and cost only pennies.

Using the Ethereum network and L2s, which has an energy expenditure less than that of your dishwasher, you can move money instantly and for basically fee. There’s a reason big corporations like Visa and countless others are heavily investing in and building on Ethereum: it’s faster and cheaper than legacy tradfi rails. Also, it’s a pretty good way to get aid to Gaza and other war-ravaged countries, pay for privacy-respecting email and VPNs, etc.

primary use case is crime, money laundering, drugs, assassination, ransomware

In fact, crypto has moved on from 2009-era use cases: https://ethereumadoption.com/usecases/

So all those things, but illegal are better? lol

So are you for or against mass surveillance veiled as “child safety”?

Tiktok was THE platform for pro-gaza content and solidarity. Leaks from Congress proves this. It’s a shell of what it once was now that the US oligarchs are in control of it and have turned it into their right wing spyware platform.

Blocked for unironically using the word ‘tankie’.

Interestingly, NFTs could solve a lot of issues with deeds. This was posted on reddit some years ago

Spent some time working in real estate fraud. Your question [regarding somebody hacking your wallet and stealing the deed] creates a scary scenario but let me assure it isn’t better now. You would be surprised at how hilariously easy it is to get on title for a property and start fucking with it.

All I need is the current owners information (public record) and I can go record a deed right now. Its called a wild deed and while they don’t usually cause any trouble if your state laws are decent you can very easily wake up to someone else’s name on your title and an annoying legal process to clear it.

It happens by accident ALL the time and people usually don’t realize it until they try to refinance.

AINs that are different by a single digit are more than common. Deeds can be hand-written and there is a lot of room for human error in the recording process.

“Is that a 6 or a 0?” - Registrar employee about to ruin your month.

Now your neighbor “owns” your property, your lender is sending you angry letters, and you have a court date just to delete a document with a typo on it.

This is before we get into criminals actually trying to steal from you. The damage can be catastrophic. You will lose your home if you sign the wrong paper or (more recently) put your thumb on the wrong ipad.

There are issues here for sure but don’t think a paper deed in a lockbox is much safer than an nft. It’s just how we’ve always done it.

While I think the collectable NFT craze has crashed and burned, it was an interesting experiment. I think NFTs in some way have a use case. While not specifically an NFT, Buenos Aires for example rolled out crypto/blockchain backed Identification.

…and it will conveniently fail spectacularly in Congress while trump claims that he’s helping the working class.