I think a lot of HN users like to think of themselves as early adopters of new technology and are disappointed for missing out on the crypto highs at the end of 2017. I think they feel if they could have been in the loop at that time they could have cashed out. Thus crypto discussions are going to have a lot of negativity in the comments since the best way to make yourself feel better about it is to pretend it was a scam all along and you really didn't miss out. My 2 cents of course :)
Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
11–20 of 72 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#12For me personally, I think it's the fact that Bitcoin and especially other cryptos, are far far less secure than people think from attacks. The amount of money you need to move the market or execute at 51% attack (https://www.crypto51.app/) especially if you are working with other large investors is trivial. For a group that loves independence from "big banks" and "Fiat" and the democratization of money, they seem to miss out that they are constantly being manipulated by rich coin holders.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#13Hyperledger can be useful, more in the non-tech sense, but then the cryptokiddies get all irate, lol, part of the fun.
HN tends to shun Blockchain because it has a non trivial amount of fraud and amature hour to it... IMHO. Too much focus on the marginally useful tech, and not enough on the outcomes (i.e. CO2 from mining) and solving real problems. Too much neolib. Forgetting no one really wants their finances made public to the world.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#14Coinbase was a YC S12 company for what its worth.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#15I think a lot of HN users like to think of themselves as early adopters of new technology and are disappointed for missing out on the crypto highs at the end of 2017. I think they feel if they could have been in the loop at that time they could have cashed out. Thus crypto discussions are going to have a lot of negativity in the comments since the best way to make yourself feel better about it is to pretend it was a…
I did not miss out and yet I still have left the BC space to work on more interesting things.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#16I believe many people are against using crypto currencies as an investment opportunity instead of a technology solution.
The primary property of a good currency is stability. The crypto currencies are exactly the opposite.
I like smart contracts but I don't think public/permission-less blockchains are feasible/very useful in the real world. Engaging in a tech and electricity spending race doesn't look like a good way to verify transactions and protect the blockchain against attacks.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#17I personally like Hyperledger Fabric (https://www.hyperledger.org/projects/fabric) for a private blockchain technology.
That being said I still have not found the problem that it is the solution for other than addressing our CTO's case of FOMO.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#18Because bitcoin is solving a problem that isn't a real problem by introducing a dozen more problems the existing system has solved.
Bitcoin decentralizes currency and leaves no one entity in control. Hurrah, the government can't stop you from moving money as you see fit. Except that most of the time, the government is stopping people from doing things that were made illegal for very good reasons. Money laundering of proceeds of crime, terrorist financing, tax evasion. You can debate all day about whether taxes are inherently evil, but right now the law says they are legal and you've gotta pay them. Saying "No worries man, I've got a NEW currency that the government can't stop" doesn't make it not a crime.
All the while, it's not actually free. We're burning huge amounts of energy to do mining, and the costs have to be passed on to someone. Miners get free BTC for mining, but that's a closed system- someone eventually must pay real currency for that energy being used. And it's getting expensive given the number of miners. (Plus, a lot of them are China which is using coal as it's primary energy source, which is killing people from pollution!)
And finally, there's no inflation/deflation controls. A currency's utility is increased by it's stability. Not knowing if my BTC will double in price or drop by half in the next 2 weeks means every day is a gamble. If this were my only currency, I'd be terrified about buying groceries.
Oh, and let's not forget that the huge spike in BTC prices in the last few years were found likely to have been caused by manipulation.
I love crypto and think bitcoin/blockchains are a really neat technology. But I just wish they weren't here, in the real world, because they seem to be a net-loss for the world, and a Ponzi scheme.
Edit after getting a coffee: ... okay, that was a bit of a rant...
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#19HN in general hates hype. The technology behind Bitcoin is interesting; "to the moon!" isn't. Blockchains have a few use cases when they are better than a database, but not billions of dollars in VC worth. That money is the result of FOMO, not innovation.
Re: Ask HN: Why is HN so aggressively anti-Bitcoin?
#20In general people are critical of ideas that are new. HN has an especially critical user-base with technical skills, so attacks can be made on a larger surface area.
1) Blockchain is not "new". It's 10 years old. We went through the hype cycle for it. The thousands of software engineers and mathematicians on HN have had time to assess.
2) HN is for more accepting and enthusiastic about new ideas than the general population.