
Cryptocurrencies Aren't 'Crypto' - akvadrako
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43nk9b/cryptocurrency-are-not-crypto-bitcoin
======
erikpukinskis
The basic idea is that cryptographic functions rather than state-sanctioned
violence are used to secure the funds.

------
macawfish
sure they are, they're very much applications of cryptography, or "crypto". I
think this article really means to say that "crypto" isn't just
"cryptocurrencies".

btw, a lot of what's called "cryptocurrency" is actually more interesting and
complex than just money/currency. some of these applications are focused on
gathering and safely encoding consensus from groups of people, using
cryptography. that's very _crypto_ if you ask me!

------
coralreef
Who cares. Same words are used in different contexts with different meanings.

~~~
__s
It can be a bit confusing when the context hasn't first been set-- such as in
the titles of links on hn

------
sova
“Most cryptocurrency barely has anything to do with serious cryptography,”
Matthew Green, a renowned computer scientist who studies cryptography, told me
via email. “Aside from the trivial use of digital signatures and hash
functions, it’s a stupid name.”

Trivial use upon which the whole fabric of secure communications is built. Go
read a book.

~~~
supermatt
Are you suggesting we start calling secure comms crypto as well?

~~~
sova
Secure Comms is already a short name that describes how they work. I fail to
see why Crypto is a bad abbreviation for commodities that are based on
cryptographically signed and cryptographically verified blocks. Just because
the parthenon only uses a small amount of mathematics doesn't mean it's "not a
geometric structure" \-- it's in math books. I feel like Vice could be picking
a better fight than "let's split hairs on jargon" especially when the word
crypto is not going anywhere. How about this: Vice news isn't really "Vice"

