this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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A bit hyperbole headline, but good to hear that GNU Taler got some NGI funding.

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[–] makeasnek@lemmy.ml -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Love GNU software stack, but they're about 15 years too late on this one.

Bitcoin can:

  • Transfer internationally or across the room
  • Confirms in less than one second (with Bitcoin lightning, otherwise can take a few minutes but still much faster than most banks, especially internationally)
  • Pay less than one cent in fees per transfer (with Bitcoin lightning, otherwise cents to dollars on main chain)
  • No middlemen
  • Operate with 24/7 uptime, 365 days a year without single protocol breaking hack because it's some of the most widely reviewed code on the planet.
  • Entirely open source software and protocol
  • Is available to anybody with a network connection and a cell phone regardless of whether or not they have access to safe, stable banking infrastructure, which billions, with a B, do not. No barriers, no credit requirements, no nonsense.
  • Has been doing this for 15 years running.
  • Can't be printed at the whim of politicians and governments. Has a fixed supply which means as the Bitcoin economy grows, all who have Bitcoin benefit, not just those in charge of monetary policy and whomever they decide to pass the benefits onto. Nobody can split your BTC in half and give the other half to somebody else, which is exactly how supply inflation works.
  • Using <1% of global electricity, often from renewable resources as renewable and over-produced electricity tends to be the cheapest

Each year it gets easier to use, gains more users, increases market cap, and generally adoption continues to grow.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Bitcoin is an entirely different thing, it's really comparing apples with oranges.

[–] makeasnek@lemmy.ml -1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It's a medium to transfer funds from one place to another. It's solving the same problem a different way.

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 10 months ago

No, you misunderstood what GNU Taler is.

It is a digital cash standard for existing currencies and banks. It's not even the same category as Bitcoin.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 9 months ago

It's like using a credit card to pay for a drink vs doing a gold transfer.

Taler is anonymous to payer where Bitcoin transations are public, not wasteful for electrical power (https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption), almost instant and currency agnostic. Taler could also do BTC payments too.