
IOTA being shut off is the latest chapter in an absurdist history - notkaiho
https://www.coindesk.com/iota-being-shut-off-is-the-latest-chapter-in-an-absurdist-history
======
pavlov
_”I was a green crypto reporter approached by the press team for former beauty
queen and reality TV contestant Jessica VerSteeg, who wanted to open a
cannabis business in California. [...] VerSteeg wanted to use the IOTA
protocol, named for its proposed functionality with internet-of-things (IoT)
devices, in a coworking space for cannabis startups.”_

This project is peak 2017 bullshit. I can imagine the pitch deck: “It’s WeWork
but for cannabis startups using IoT on the blockchain promoted by a reality TV
star!”

------
Blackthorn
This project is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to hilarity and
schadenfreude. Custom hash function? Bizarre obsession with trinary? Complete
centralization in a space where decentralization is the point? Constant big
announcements with no substance?

I love watching these guys and their supporters. It's like watching an
internet cult in real time.

~~~
lawn
During a lunch the topic of cryptocurrencies came up and a co-worker of mine
said he'd invested in IOTA and EOS (another nonsense coin).

The thing is I think he's smart and a programmer with the head in the right
place and has made a ton of very good decisions at work. So if you think these
projects only attract idiots and fools you're wrong. Smart people can also be
fooled.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
OK, I'll take the bait, why is EOS a nonsense coin?

~~~
jki275
It does exactly nothing better than anything that was done before it.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
That's not an analysis or an answer to my question, but in response to your
statement, EOS does do things differently than most POW chains as it is DPOS,
does that make it better? Who can say.

I'm not looking for dogmatic crypto-tribalistic nonsense, simply an answer to
why the GP felt necessary to lump EOS into his ad hominem attack. Too often
these discussions resemble drunk bar patrons arguing over which cities sports
team is better, I hoped HN would be better than that.

~~~
jki275
DPOS, with 21 nodes mostly located in China.

Yeah, it's "different", but not in a good way.

EOS has a bunch of big problems, and they're not likely to fix them, as
there's no motivation to do so.

------
alephnan
> First their custom-made hash-function was broken and you could forge
> transactions. Now they had to shut down their network because their wallet
> was hacked. This is insane because you should not be able to shut down a
> decentralized network.

~~~
dylkil
it was never decentralised, they openly admitted this. They had 'plans' to
decentralise it. The hype around this project was supported by nothing other
than shills and bots, hoping to sucker in a few clueless noobs.

~~~
mrtksn
It was amazing, there were headlines all the time about something huge that
happens but no one ever followed up anything.

"Tokyo chooses IOTA"

You assume that that city is implementing IOTA, right? If you dig deep enough
you will see that what actually happens is that few people from IOTA will
participate in something like a seminar with a workshop in Tokyo. It is
organized by somebody in the city administration as part of some social
program and there are 30 participants and what IOTA is chosen for is to be
among those.

------
RileyJames
> “This year we’re really focused on making sure our technology is mature
> enough to have real, live products,” Schiener said.

Outage of 12 days and counting... Why won’t anyone put us in production..

~~~
JohnJamesRambo
I enjoy thinking about an IoT world they envisioned being shutdown for 12
days.

------
zelly
Crytpocurrencies are not valued on its software (even though paradoxically,
what makes it different from other currencies is that it's only software).
Otherwise the best software would have the highest market cap, which obviously
isn't the case. This is true to such an extreme degree that it doesn't even
matter if the cryptocurrency is used, works, or even have a single working
implementation. Seriously, there are top >100M market cap coins that have
never shipped a working binary.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> there are top >100M market cap coins that have never shipped a working
> binary.

How do people know who has how many coins?

~~~
zelly
Almost every coin is implemented with straightforward, non-blinded accounting
("UTXO" model) such that everyone knows how many coins are associated with
each public key. For example, this one belongs to Hal Finney (the creator of
Bitcoin) and you trace the balance of and movement of coins transparently:

[https://blockstream.info/address/1BgoUL3Mf8vDSDU4jjpFARKBJ6z...](https://blockstream.info/address/1BgoUL3Mf8vDSDU4jjpFARKBJ6zPDpa4RU)

~~~
v64
> Hal Finney (the creator of Bitcoin)

To be clear, this isn't definitive, as he is one of many individuals suspected
to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

~~~
EthanHeilman
I think it is fair to say he is "a" creator of Bitcoin given all the early
work he did to make the project a success but there is no evidence that he is
the inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

As an unrelated side note it is worth reading his post from 2009 when we talks
about having ALS: [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bshZiaLefDejvPKuS/dying-
outs...](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/bshZiaLefDejvPKuS/dying-outside) I
have a memory of discovering this essay on hn, but I can no longer find the
discussion. Maybe I remembered it wrong.

 __Edit: __I found
it[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=867623](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=867623)

------
Aaronstotle
Good riddance, I remember during the bull run my friend was talking about
Iota. I was into mining at the time and looked up how to mine it. Read about
the project and knew it was scam then, not sure how it survived until now.

Looking forward to the day where the shitcoins die off and there's only a
handful of cryptos on exchanges/people talk about.

~~~
acpacp
SI'm afraid that day will never come. BS in that space is just too deep.
Valuations are imaginary, people involved too delusional and none of these
projects are based on anything real.

------
Moodles
Still waiting for a use case of blockchain outside cryptocurrency also.

~~~
lawn
Consider a timestamping service that's based on mathematical proof instead of
social proof.[0]

But I agree, most often blockchain outside of a cryptocurrency doesn't make
sense. This use case also depends on the security of an existing
cryptocurrency.

[0]
[https://whycryptocurrencies.com/timestamping_service.html](https://whycryptocurrencies.com/timestamping_service.html)

~~~
RL_Quine
Decentralized timestamping is literally what Bitcoin is, there's no other way
of describing it. Ordering transactions canonically is timestamping.

~~~
lawn
My point is that you can leverage this by inserting extra data on a
transaction, so you can timestamp any message.

------
pat2man
The larger issue here is that the wallet was built in a very similar way to
many crypto wallets. They sort of sell the fact that private keys are not
stored in a central DB as a silver bullet for decentralization. But since the
private keys are copied into memory, and the software is automatically
updated, the location of the key storage becomes irrelevant.

The only real way to keep your keys safe is in a hardware based solution that
has been audited by multiple parties. Our credit cards have that level of
security, crypto wallets need at least that much.

------
7532yahoogmail
I am laughing ... Laughing my b u double t off at this. In 2019 I spent too
many hours debating crypto as currency replacement or substitute. Never bought
it. But this is like m.pythons+galaxy hitch hiker+pink-panther level of crazy
dumb.

------
LaineHerron
The article says that the price of IOTA has gone up in the last 2 weeks. What
does that mean? I don't see how people can be buying and selling IOTA if they
are not able to send or receive it.

~~~
greycol
Because you can still buy and sell the coins on an exchange. It's just that
you can't withdraw or deposit coins from your exchange account only trade
between other exchange accounts. No wallet to wallet trades only trades of the
coins sitting in the exchanges wallet (so basically trades on the exchanges
private(non block chain related) ledgers rather than on the coins ledger).

Actually now that I think about it I wonder what liability the exchange has in
this. Obviously the exchange can't send you your coins because it's physically
impossible and the value is purely speculative but currently being given value
only on the exchange. Would they need to reimburse you for the 'value' of the
coins if you can't withdraw? Though if we're playing a game of silly buggers I
guess the exchange could put up a sell for 0.000001 cents a coin, execute the
trade and immediately freeze further transactions then claim any payout would
be at the last traded value (which obviously wouldn't work as there are
multiple exchanges). Perhaps they could 'give access' to the exchanges wallet
key with instructions that the person trying to withdraw is entitled to take
out their share of the coins thus it's the account holder who is 'in control'
of the coins.

------
1337biz
Tempting to buy. I bet some bullshitters are going to revitalize them.

------
diegoperini
Omg, I just lost my only crypto investment if this isn't fixed.

The amount I lost: 100 USD

~~~
shoo_pl
Just reading this I can see you are new to crypto.

You did not lose 100 USD. You lost XXX MIOTA.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
Weird distinction, is this a common thing in financial markets? Seems like he
might have lost both if the network never comes back online.

If you're a stock trader and you buy $100 in a company that goes backrupt do
you lose $100 or XXX stocks?

~~~
diegoperini
I bought monopoly money for 100 USD, hoping that they will become a thing.
Then I lost my monopoly money. From my standpoint, all explanations are true,
therefore irrelevant. I can no longer redeem my USD, 100 of them or less. 100
USD is gone during my gamble.

The responders are wrong about my proficiency with crypto. I've been following
the tech and finance side of it since Bitcoin was worth 120 USD. I've written
trade bots, some fun smart contracts and even participited in Dogecoin
giveaway with some doge I mined.

------
wyldfire
If your cryptocoin is centralized, it's not really a cryptocoin, even if it's
listed on a cryptocoin exchange.

Nano is another coin with properties similar to Iota that is actually
decentralized.

(disclaimer: I hold some Nano)

~~~
kaffeemitsahne
In a bunch of the recent IOTA threads I've seen people shilling Nano. I'm
slowly beginning to understand HN's allergy to cryptocurrencies.

------
cryptica
The thing about IOTA is that it's just a reflection of the entire economy
which is founded on coercion, manipulation and deception; our economy has
transcended reality and reason; particularly the tech sector.

There is nothing behind it but the lie is so strong and there are so many
people peddling it that the market starts to believe its own lie.

It's funny how quickly some capitalists will discard cryptocurrencies as
worthless junk while simultaneously preaching the doctrine of "efficient
markets" and not realizing the simple fact that "real markets" and
"cryptocurrency markets" both exist in the same universe and are acted upon by
the same market forces.

------
psychlops
It would be nice to read an attack on the technology rather than an article
highlighting hater quotes on the feuding misogynist, ego-maniacal founders.

Iota remains a speculative cryptocurrency. It does not rely on the technology
before it and is not a copy-paste crypto like many that came out of the last
boom cycle.

I still think it is quite innovative. That said, it may eventually fail due to
its poor implementation. The value of it on the exchanges reflects the fact
that it may survive this latest fiasco.

~~~
lalaland1125
The article does go into the flawed technology: the hilariously poorly thought
out trits, the flawed internally developed hash, the centralized nature of the
system, etc etc. IOTA is to technologically flawed that it's amazing that it's
worth more than $0.

~~~
psychlops
The trits are bizarre and introduce complexity but isn't necessarily a
critical flaw. I don't see anything in the article about them. They rolled
their own crypto, but later corrected it.

Indeed, it has had their centralized Coordinator with plans to decentralize.
Is that a flaw? Maybe, but it's also a scaling issue.

The distributed proof of work is novel as well as the absence of centralized
mining and transaction fees.

~~~
jki275
They "corrected" it when they were called out on it, while claiming it wasn't
a problem, and also claiming they did it on purpose so that if someone "stole"
their code they could attack and destroy anything someone else would create.

Truly bizarre bullshit.

~~~
psychlops
I don't recall reading about their rationale that way. Only the unholy way in
which they defended it, while swapping it out then sequestering all iota until
claimed through centralized means.

Sadly, I don't think that the blind defense of flawed security is that bizarre
and is all too common today.

That said, it was corrected and seems solid to date.

~~~
jki275
Solid? The entire ecosystem has been down for two weeks because it's a
centralized shitcoin.

There's nothing "solid" about this. It's a scam.

And yes, that's exactly how they described it.

~~~
psychlops
What's not solid about their current Kerl implementation?

It's a scam? Any link to how they are intentionally stealing money? I'd like
to know how you know.

~~~
jki275
I don't have the time or inclination to engage with shills.

Read for yourself and make up your own mind.

[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5227016.0](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5227016.0)

