this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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[โ€“] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah that's true about losing access to your shit for sure. There are options like multisignature accounts that could reduce the possibility of theft, but really the danger in crypto is shooting yourself in the face and losing your keys. Theft comes from bad software around the crypto like browser extensions and shit like that, the blockchain itself though makes theft numerically impossible on timescales like the existance of the universe. But your point stands that it isn't user friendly, which isn't new to emerging technology.

On a personal note, I very much like the model of self custody of assets, and this is coming from someone who almost fucked up and lost their keys. Loss of assets is a possibility and should be in the mind of users, but the tradeoff here is that you always have access to your funds and control over them.

Another commenter stated that crypto is solution in search of a problem, and I don't think that's not necessarily wrong. I see that as optimistic because it's still a solution. It potentially broadens the space of possibilities from our sole option of centralized control by existing wealth/power structures.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

the danger in crypto is shooting yourself in the face and losing your keys. Theft comes from bad software around the crypto like browser extensions and shit like that, the blockchain itself though makes theft numerically impossible on timescales like the existance of the universe.

Sure, but you NEED software to interact with the blockchain, and that software WILL have bugs. That's just a fact.

Whatever wallet you use will have security vulnerabilities, and if combined with say a windows 0-day, it can cause huge amount of damage.

But your point stands that it isn't user friendly, which isn't new to emerging technology.

The theft stuff isn't a user friendlyness issue, it's a built in thing. You can try to prevent it, but it will happen, and when it does, whoever it happens to is in huge trouble.

On a personal note, I very much like the model of self custody of assets, and this is coming from someone who almost fucked up and lost their keys. Loss of assets is a possibility and should be in the mind of users, but the tradeoff here is that you always have access to your funds and control over them.

Depends on what your assets are. As soon as it touches any other system, you lose self custody. And if it doesn't interface with other systems, it will be pretty limited.