this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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So, if I understand correctly, the content passes use a blockchain system for authentication, but aren't intended to be used as a currency or investment vehicle and can't be resold or traded. It just uses a blockchain for authentication. The reason why it blew up is because the payment processor was originally meant for nfts and crypto.
Soooo... Basically it sounds like a bunch of people getting upset for no reason because they think blockchain = crypto. Cool. Amazing. Absolutely wonderful. Tbh I don't really care about whatever the Mr. Beast thing is, but the fact that people are confusing the two frustrates me because I could see blockchains having legitimate uses, it's just that scam artists and get-rich-quick schemes have fucked it up.
Maybe it would have turned into an nft scheme, but as it stands right now, it sounds like they were trying to use a blockchain in a legitimate manner.
What is the legitimate use you see? People in this post keep saying there are legitimate uses and gives no examples of what that is.
NFT's are a form of ownership (I know, I know, of a JPEG). If we leave out the scammy bullshit that NFT's have been in the past, then there are interesting things you can do with them. One company now is minting NFT plane tickets. The advantage is that if plans change or something you OWN that plane ticket, and could directly sell it on a seconary market or somthing. Another case would be for games. I personally like collector card games, like hearthstone and things like that. However when you play digital card games you never own shit. They could just close ownership down at any point...technically. with a set of NFT cards you 100% own it.
Beyond that, the ownership model in crypto can be empowering to users as well. One insurance company popped up that let you combine your funds with others directly in the form of their risk pools to provide the necessay function that insurance companies currently do and decreasing the amount of liquidity they have to maintain which can lower prices for consumers and provide for growth on your resources.
Not all of these things have succeeded. The main thing is a different take on ownership. Previously it has been that you give money to institutions and it's yours because you trust them. In crypto it's yours because that's how it's coded in the smart contract. I'm not a maximalist, but I think if that change can be capitalized on in certain cases it could work well.
So these are the points I can gleam from you.
You can own plane tickets:
No you don't. Airlines own planes and if they want you to be able to sell your plane ticket they will just allow that. People sell and change their plane tickets all the time. What you cant do if you have your ticket on the blockchain is easily change it to another flight because a storm cancelled the first one because allowing the airline to have that control over your ticket breaks the system.
You own things in games:
The company owns the game. if the company restructures at any point and closes down the servers you will find out that you actually don't own a game card. You own a very long string of numbers that are useless without the game and the intellectual property of the game
You don't have to rely on institutions to enforce contracts and ownership:
Nothing makes me sound like an anarchist faster than this kind of bullshit. Contracts are enforced by the dominant state apparatus trough the sanctioned use of violence. No other magic can make you own stuff.
Ownership and contracts as we currently understand them must work like this because most of society is still made out of flesh stone and metal. I don't own my house because I pay money for it. that is part of the deal when I moved in, but the main part of the ownership is that I have a deal with the government that they will send armed men to the building I live in if someone else tries to live in it without my approval. I dare you to name any ownership that doesn't work like that.
Guess you won. I'll just pack up and head out with all my wrongness. 🖖