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Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#21

Post by rgoulter »

pcdoodle wrote: post #14

There's a lot of no coiners that have had plenty of opportunity to understand the technology and have missed many opportunities to hold a small piece that would have gone big. There are also accounts here that are pro surveillance, pro china, pro lockdown, etc.

That's an interesting juxtaposition. Your first sentence emphasises the speculation interactions with cryptocurrency; the second emphasises the claimed benefits of cryptocurrencies.

But there's quite a big gap between those two.

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#23

Post by csdvrx »

My personal theory is much simple: the crowd is a bit aged here.

They may try to rationalize their hate, but I think it's not about reason but people seeing crypto as "against the natural order of things":

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”

― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#24

Post by mtnGoat »

blunte wrote: post #22

Probably because a vast majority of cryptocurrency projects are just attempts to print money and fool people with tech word soup descriptions.

This could be said about most tech startups to. Just replace the word cryptocurrency with “tech startup”.

I could start a list but I’m sure you can all come up with a few on your own… wework, Theranos, etc.

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#25

Post by LatteLazy »

It used to be a field dominated by tech (yay!). But increasingly a mix of idiots who just act like they have some inside knowledge and management types have taken over.

About 5 years ago I worked at London Stock Exchange. Our division did transaction reporting and I followed crypto out of interest. I was called to an urgent meeting and told our division was launching a crypto unit to make products on blockchain. What products? I asked. "We don't know, just find something, the division upstairs have one and we don't want to be seen as behind" was the answer after about 60minutes of careful questioning. Queue 101 meetings on crypto, often with expensive external "experts" who didn't understand mining or thought blockchain was bitcoin etc.

The fastest way to turn techies against a techis for it to become "fashionable" and therefore be shoehorned into things it isn't good for used as an excuse to waste money on non-sense by people who know no better but somehow control the decisions and the cash.

:(

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#26

Post by kordlessagain »

pcdoodle wrote: post #14

There's a lot of no coiners that have had plenty of opportunity to understand the technology and have missed many opportunities to hold a small piece that would have gone big. There are also accounts here that are pro surveillance, pro china, pro lockdown, etc.

An inane comment using bandwagon bias to sell the idea of losing out due to none participation.

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#27

Post by Jasper_ »

mtnGoat wrote: post #24
blunte wrote: post #22

Probably because a vast majority of cryptocurrency projects are just attempts to print money and fool people with tech word soup descriptions.

This could be said about most tech startups to. Just replace the word cryptocurrency with “tech startup”. I could start a list but I’m sure you can all come up with a few on your own… wework, Theranos, etc.

Those things are hated here too.

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#28

Post by twox2 »

thesuperbigfrog wrote: post #11

The "killer app" for cryptocurrency is ransomware and malware. Ransomware creators used to ask for payments with gift card codes or sketchy Western Union-style transfers. Cryptocurrency makes it MUCH easier for ransomware gangs to get paid. This has led to a boom in ransomware attacks and the commoditization of ransomware into an entire industry [1][2]. There are entities that specialize in getting a foothold via exp…

I think ransomware was around before crypto, but crypto really blew it up. However, I think if crypto vanished, ransomware would still be as big of a problem if not worse. Without crypto, the risk of collecting ransoms increases and I imagine they would go up quite a bit and be harder to navigate in some ways.

That's not to say I don't agree with your take.

I think the second killer app for cryptocurrency these days are DeFi and NFTs, which are perceived by most to be high risk and vaporware.

Personally I love NFTs, but that's an aside. I can acknowledge that it's a territory that's full of scams.

Re: Ask HN: Why is cryptocurrency so hated here?

#30

Post by twox2 »

JZL003 wrote: post #16

It's long but really good, I highly recommend Folding Ideas's video about NFT's (and bitcoin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g . He says it much better than I could the often vacuous greed and bad faith arguments of it

I have some bias as a crypto/NFT enthusiast, but I can acknowledge there are a lot of issues in this space. However, I was pretty disappointed with this video. I feel like it could have been a great piece of journalism, but the video was made to support a negative thesis on NFTs from the get go. It's full of bias and opinion. I think a similar story can present the facts without the commentary and leave some more openness to the positive aspects of crypto/NFTs.
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