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Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

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111–120 of 151 posts

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed using Bitcoin for payment does not seem a good fit. However, Bitcoin could be viewed as the world reserve currency that is impossible to debase. This can give stability to all other currencies that are based on it. I think that would be a good thing. It would reduce governments' ability to deficit spend, thus reduce the likelihood of financing armies that can be used for aggression... It would not eliminate wa…

> I hold that Bitcoin is not the cause of the scams. I wish I could agree, as someone who remains eternally hopeful for crypto. Unfortunately, it's almost certainly not the case. When half a billion dollars goes missing from the US banking system, we can follow the paper trail every time. Criminals never cash out at that scale, especially when they wire money digitally. There's always an account to find, a wire trans…

> Criminals never cash out at that scale

Of course not; that's what hole-in-the-wall restaurants that inexplicably stay in business despite having next to zero customers are for ;)

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#114

Many of us were excited when bitcoin came out, about both the technology, and the concept of a currency that sovereigns can't control. The problem is, blockchain / cryptocurrency failed to deliver in any practical way, and as a concept was hijacked by scammers, so the only real hype now is from people trying to bypass securities laws so they can scam you. Find a way I can actually electronically teleport money to pay…

I use bitcoin to do my sports gambling all the time. Works out great and the online bookie I use gives incentives to use it as well. It works perfectly for that. I also give BTC as gifts. Also works perfectly for that. It's not a day-to-day thing for me because I use USD and my insurance-backed credit card for that.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#115

Many of us were excited when bitcoin came out, about both the technology, and the concept of a currency that sovereigns can't control. The problem is, blockchain / cryptocurrency failed to deliver in any practical way, and as a concept was hijacked by scammers, so the only real hype now is from people trying to bypass securities laws so they can scam you. Find a way I can actually electronically teleport money to pay…

How about Dogecoin via a random Starlink base far from your normal route?

That could be coming soon. If it doesn't, something like it will.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems Canada matches the 'good banking system' and 'stable currency' attributes, yet didn't the truckers get robbed by the government? When a government is able to engage in financial retribution against its critics, its own citizenry, Bitcoin might be necessary.

Idk about that characterization, but I don’t see how crypto changes anything. They’ll just hold you in contempt until you turn over the keys or hack you.

Plenty of us have cold storage wallets from years ago. Not theoretically impossible to track but pretty darn difficult. To contrast, any and every bank account and ETF holdings (in the USA) are extremely KYC'd.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#117
post #12

Because HN readers skew more technologically literate, people here are on average (slightly) more capable of seeing though the techno-babble hype than on other social media sites. It's not that the financial status quo is held in high regard, rather that HN readers see crypto's empty promises to fix existing issues for what they are: bullshit designed to lure in ever more dumb money.

I'm not sure this explains it. Look at the comments on any mainstream media article about crypto. The polarization is still there, and the more negative the article more attention there is.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#118
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a Coinbase card and load it with 5 USDC. Go to your diner and buy your coffee with no conversion fee. What's the difference between this and the diner actually accepting crypto?

I don't know what any of that is. I always pay cash. When I say bitcoin, I mean literal coins.

usdc is a digital token backed by usd available on many blockchains.

you can buy a few usdc tokens and pay for coffee using them seamlessly.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#119
> It would be interesting to know why the status quo financial system is held in such a high regard?

This is a false dichotomy.

It is possible to both think that the existing financial system is fairly awful, while at the same time thinking that bitcoin/crypto is useless and worse.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#120
post #27
post #12

Because HN readers skew more technologically literate, people here are on average (slightly) more capable of seeing though the techno-babble hype than on other social media sites. It's not that the financial status quo is held in high regard, rather that HN readers see crypto's empty promises to fix existing issues for what they are: bullshit designed to lure in ever more dumb money.

similar empty promises were made in dot com era. Does it mean dot com period of 1995-2001 was wasted and meaningless?

This is a very poor comparsion. Sure, many companies went bust around then. But many didn't. Plenty of real value was created by companies doing real useful things.
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