Direct Fiat On And Off-Ramps Are Sorely Needed + Discussion On Decentralization

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(Edited)

Centralized exchanges are the scourge of the crypto space. Getting a coin listed on a centralized exchange is costly and involves an element of politics and business strategy. By acquiring a stake in a large exchange, wealthy companies or foundations developing blockchains and owning large stakes in them can keep "competition" out in a zero-sum game for "dominance".

This is, of course, a reason for anyone who understands the basic premise of blockchain to be weary of the entire space.

Universal atomic swap capability between chains and a large number of existing fiat on-ramps and off-ramps for as many coins would mitigate that problem effectively.

The market is always a social construct where the basic rules are enforced at gunpoint. The violence specialist class has always considered the merchant class a class of inferior human beings without an internal sense of honor (*). They really are that because when left on its own the free market will degrade into a free for all, which selects for dishonesty to a significant degree over a long period of time.

I don't particularly like coercion. Fortunately, there exists another method to enforce honesty. It is far from perfect but I believe it can be of use: protocols. The division of powers with checks and balances is an rudimentary protocol designed to prevent abuse but it is executed by humans. Blockchains have some potential to automatically enforce honest co-operation between even anonymous independent entities.

*) I can recommend a book called Violent entrepreneurs by Vadim Volkov of the European University of St. Petersburg. It is about the transition period between socialism and capitalism in Russia when the state effectively ceased to exist for period of time. Volkov discusses the evolution of Russian organized crime from the Stalinist era to the early 21st century. Every business was forced to pay protection money. All contract enforcement was guaranteed by so-called kryshas or "roofs" that every business had. Protection racketeers put their lives on the line to guarantee contracts. If breaches occurred, there'd be a shooting war between the kryshas. While the protection racketeers were in actual fact entrepreneurs who provided a useful service as contract enforcers, they did not see themselves as such but a class above the merchants, a nobility. It was them who guaranteed the honesty of their merchants but putting their lives down as collateral. Only Putin and the securocrats but a stop to the anarchy and established centralized government control. It's still crony capitalism, of course, but at least the shooting wars stopped.

I've always been fascinated by the stark difference between the level of corruption in the Nordic countries and Russia. It was one Quoran that recently mentioned that while in the Realm of Sweden trade was historically strictly forbidden outside of towns that were granted trading rights, which I knew, in Russia trade was always free. That's why Russian iterant merchants were a historically common sight in the eastern parts of Finland. When trading is done in permanent locations with constant oversight, honesty is culturally selected for.

The crypto space is a wild west. The exchanges are corrupt. Wash trading and other practices banned from mainstream market places are rife. Pumps and dumps, pyramid schemes and exit scams are common. The crypto businessman is best assumed unreliable unless his track record proves otherwise.



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