Top all-time · #478
David Gerard
Personal blog · davidgerard.co.uk · on HN as davidgerardstartupseconomics
David Gerard's personal blog at davidgerard.co.uk covers startups and economics. Since 2012, 120 different Hacker News readers have linked it 616 times, most often “The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Sometimes recommended · 7 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link David Gerard's blog for its critical coverage of cryptocurrency, Brave and Libra, and his book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. Commenters call his updates useful and his book an excellent summary.
- Recommended for · 7 comments
- Nicely summarised point; excellent crypto summary; useful updates; great books on hype and Libra.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes15 people · 15 mentions · first linked 2020-06-06
- Brave web browser no longer claims to fundraise on behalf of others8 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2019-01-13
- Debunking “But Bitcoin is like the early Internet”6 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2018-04-06
- /blockchain/buterins-quantum-quest/6 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2017-04-29
- /blockchain/5 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2017-06-15
- Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: The Book5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2018-01-01
- West Virginia Voatz blockchain voting pilot: single-user blockchain as database4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2018-06-05
- If you want a scalable Ethereum blockchain, then P=NP4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-04-04
- Tether produces a new attestation – it says nothing useful4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2021-03-30
- Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-11-03
What Hacker News says?
Not necessarily. It's true if the person making the decision is getting paid directly from the mining. But perverse incentives abound in the cryptocurrency space. For example, consider Celsius: https://amycastor.com/2022/09/11/crypto-collapse-celsius-voy... https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2022/08/11/crypto-colla... As they thrash around in bankruptcy, they have proposed that they will mine their way out of the…
Comment linking /blockchain/2022/08/11/crypto-collapse-coinbases-billion-dollar-bloodbath-hodlnaut-goes-down-celsius-voyager-3ac/
on “The Ethereum merge is done”Submitted The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes as a story · 592 points
HN discussionPerhaps this? The Brave web browser is hijacking links, and inserting affiliate codes https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/06/06/the-brave-we... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23442027
Comment linking /blockchain/2020/06/06/the-brave-web-browser-is-hijacking-links-and-inserting-affiliate-codes/
on “IPFS Support in Brave”Submitted How the Bitcoins Were Stolen from Mt. Gox [video] as a story · 563 points
HN discussionSomeone is of course trying this https://davidgerard.co.uk/notes/2017/04/25/wikipedia-right-b... Wikipedia with micropaid contributors living on the Ethereum blockchain.
Comment linking /notes/2017/04/25/wikipedia-right-but-on-the-blockchain/
on “Wikimedia Foundation spending”Submitted Why you can’t cash out part 1: Bitcoin’s “price” is largely fictional as a story · 349 points
HN discussionhttps://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019...
Comment linking /blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/tomscott-tweet-20181221.png
on “Firefox Was Always Enough”Submitted Web3: A VC-funded gig economy of securities fraud as a story · 220 points
HN discussionYour notion that people who disagree with you are just ignorant is tedious as well as wrong. Bitcoin is also a speculative bubble. It has no use value. It is not in any way living up to its original goal as electronic cash. (Contrast transaction volume and adoption with MPesa, for example.) Its main practical uses are speculation and some financial crime. Well, I left one out. It's also great for market manipulation…
Comment linking /blockchain/2020/12/13/tether-is-too-big-to-fail-the-entire-crypto-industry-utterly-depends-on-it/
on “Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index”Submitted Facebook’s Libra is still dead – Diem to be sold off for spare parts as a story · 186 points
HN discussionFully agree, I bet somebody will reply that Bitcoin is like the early internet soon... https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2018/04/05/debunking-bu...
Comment linking /blockchain/2018/04/05/debunking-but-bitcoin-is-like-the-early-internet/
on “Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index”Submitted Medical records on the blockchain – the history of a bad idea as a story · 178 points
HN discussionYou appear to have misconstrued my words. I don't in any way think this is a good idea; just one that has the viral characteristics of "worse is better". I spent about three thousand words on the smart contracts chapter, attempting to conclusively stab this bad idea in the face and supply a suitable rhetorical ammo dump for anyone faced with having to deal with these things to kill the idea stone dead. Absolutely ev…
Comment linking /blockchain/ethereum-smart-contracts-in-practice/
on “153k Ether Stolen in Parity Multi-Sig Attack”Submitted Bitcoin drops below $20k, Ether cracks $1k – what this means as a story · 171 points
HN discussionNot real audits by a major firm. Just pinkie promises. David Gerard discussed a while back: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/03/30/tether-produ...
Comment linking /blockchain/2021/03/30/tether-produces-a-new-attestation-it-says-nothing-useful/
on “Stripe Launches L1 Blockchain: Tempo”Submitted SEC blocks the Telegram ICO – what this means, and what happens now as a story · 157 points
HN discussionhttps://twitter.com/tomscott/status/1085242421817102336 https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019... They fixed the issues.
Comment linking /blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/try-to-tip-reddragdiva.png
on “Chrome extension manifest v3 proposal: comment from uBlock Origin author”Submitted Number go down: the single trade that crashed Bitcoin as a story · 84 points
HN discussionThat's not even close to a facebook shadow profile. It was a way to donate to a public creator page. It didn't track anything. They have also fixed the issues. The page makes it clear when someone has not opted in, and in that case it won't use profile images or names and the tip won't go through. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019... https://twitter.com/tomscott/status/1085242421817102336
Comment linking /blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/try-to-tip-reddragdiva.png
on “Chrome extension manifest v3 proposal: comment from uBlock Origin author”Submitted Why you can’t cash out pt 2: Bitcoin and KYC/AML as a story · 69 points
HN discussionAnother shady practice: you could donate to any website, but Brave itself received the amount if not claimed by the website creator. Users did not know. ( https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-br... , https://redd.it/a8g1i9 ) Don't use Brave. Tell others not to use it.
Comment linking /blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/
on “Brave, the false sensation of privacy”Submitted Wikipedia: We’ve won. Now what? as a story · 69 points
HN discussionwould need to subject oneself to the pushy notifications, whims of Brendan Eich, and the dubious approach of the BAT cryptocurrency [1], but the Chromium based Brave browser on Android has a built in ad-blocker. I think Opera might have one too. [1] < https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-br... >
Comment linking /blockchain/2019/01/13/brave-web-browser-no-longer-claims-to-fundraise-on-behalf-of-others-so-thats-nice/
on “Apple is suing smartphone emulation software startup Corellium”Submitted Internet Brands sues for forking under CC-by-SA as a story · 61 points
HN discussionHere are some other anti-lesswrong materials to consider: https://aiascendant.com/p/extropias-children-chapter-1-the-w... https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2023/02/06/ineffective-... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-03-07/effective... https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23458282/effective-altrui... https://qchu.substack.com/p/eliezer https://x.com/kanzure/status/1726251316513841539
Comment linking /blockchain/2023/02/06/ineffective-altruism-ftx-and-the-future-robot-apocalypse/
on “Why are there so many rationalist cults?”Submitted El Salvador passes its Bitcoin Law – and it's a Tether scam as a story · 59 points
HN discussionI think Solidity, and hence Ethereum as a smart contracts platform, really took off because Solidity is easy to get started with. More formal languages make it harder to shoot yourself in the foot, but ... devs don't use them. The trouble with appealing to the middling devs, of course, is that you end up with middling code, and middling smart contract code is how to shoot yourself in the foot. https://davidgerard.co…
Comment linking /blockchain/ethereum-smart-contracts-in-practice/
on “A hacker stole $31M of Ether – how it happened, and what it means for Ethereum”Submitted Vitalik Buterin’s philosophical essays: they’re not good as a story · 54 points
HN discussionhttps://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/
Comment linking /blockchain/
on “If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it”Submitted Pivot to AI: Hallucinations worsen as the money runs out as a story · 47 points
HN discussion
