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Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

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Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#301

Post by strangattractor »

joecot wrote: post #58
dionidium wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not gloating just yet. If you bought Bitcoin at literally any other time than the two peaks that have occurred over the last year, then you're still way, way, way up. Bitcoin was last at its current price between those two peaks, a little less than one year ago. Of course, NFTs and all that were just so obviously nonsense that I don't even think it's worth commenting on.

As soon as it was clear that Bitcoin was going to be a commodity instead of a currency (why use it as a currency to buy a pizza this week when it could buy you a car next week?), it was clear it was now a pyramid scheme. That's why I didn't invest in it. What I hadn't counted on was how gullible people were for pyramid schemes.

No one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

- Donald Trump

Not really but I am sure he is a practitioner of the philosophy. The actual quote is from H. L. Mencken and applies to both money and politics (which might be the same thing:)

No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby. The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#302

Post by vikramkr »

wonderwonder wrote: post #291
joecot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as it was clear that Bitcoin was going to be a commodity instead of a currency (why use it as a currency to buy a pizza this week when it could buy you a car next week?), it was clear it was now a pyramid scheme. That's why I didn't invest in it. What I hadn't counted on was how gullible people were for pyramid schemes.

stocks are a pyramid scheme as well, just an accepted one. To profit in stocks, new investor funds are required same as crypto. Truly the only non pyramid schemes are income producing assets such as a business or real estate.

Stocks are income producing assets, specifically a portion of a business. Dividends and stock buybacks are a thing.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#304

Post by moultano »

wonderwonder wrote: post #291
joecot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as it was clear that Bitcoin was going to be a commodity instead of a currency (why use it as a currency to buy a pizza this week when it could buy you a car next week?), it was clear it was now a pyramid scheme. That's why I didn't invest in it. What I hadn't counted on was how gullible people were for pyramid schemes.

stocks are a pyramid scheme as well, just an accepted one. To profit in stocks, new investor funds are required same as crypto. Truly the only non pyramid schemes are income producing assets such as a business or real estate.

Look up what a dividend is.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#305

Post by nashashmi »

It was always bound to happen. The crash. The question was always when. I thought the crash was over last Feb. Boy am I wrong!

Another theory I had about two years ago, was inflation was getting sucked by inflating crypto. Now real life inflation is happening and so crypto falls. This was predictable too. The question Wa a matter of when exactly will the pandemic end and people will start enjoying life.

Thats what happened. So don't look at it as omg crypto falling. It's just an economic shift.

New question: what will Future savings look like? Need to brush up on economic theories after world wars for insight

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#306

Post by mjburgess »

id wrote: post #274
IAmWorried wrote: post #9

It's less that I'm glad the market is crashing, and more that I'm glad that the insufferable crypto bros are finally getting a punch to the mouth. Seriously, these people are the worst. Your average "crypto investor" has no skills, no mathematical foundations, nothing. Except for pure stupid luck, and the ability to spew inane crypto babble 24/7. And yes, they think they are much smarter than you, because they achiev…

There are also those of us who played with Bitcoin when it emerged, found it promising and mined it or bought some. Who took some profits along the way and never promoted it. Who still think it's a useful concept, _despite_ the hype that gets too much at times. For what it's worth, you seem consumed by your envy. Accept that crypto investors, even the most stupid ones, took a risk you didn't take and were rewarded ha…

Transfers of wealth from productive to unproductive industries arent risks worth rewarding, neither economically or with praise. It's slothful both as a personal vice, and as an economic activity.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#307

Post by eloff »

wonderwonder wrote: post #291
joecot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as it was clear that Bitcoin was going to be a commodity instead of a currency (why use it as a currency to buy a pizza this week when it could buy you a car next week?), it was clear it was now a pyramid scheme. That's why I didn't invest in it. What I hadn't counted on was how gullible people were for pyramid schemes.

stocks are a pyramid scheme as well, just an accepted one. To profit in stocks, new investor funds are required same as crypto. Truly the only non pyramid schemes are income producing assets such as a business or real estate.

A stock (specifically the company behind it) is also an income producing asset. That income will eventually be returned as dividends or through stock buybacks.

I know there are stocks that don't do either of those things (although rare) but the idea is they will one day in the future. You're still paying now for a piece of future profits. That's very different from a pyramid scheme.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#308

Post by JeremyNT »

I really dislike all of these crypto pyramid schemes, which I view as a purely wasteful endeavor that rewards speculation and con artists, but it's far too early to gloat.

Time and again we've seen dips - and this nonsense always bounces back.

This looks like an overall market correction, which we're overdue for, rather than a fundamental collapse. Maybe some of the more blatant fraudsters will lose their shirts, but at this point I wouldn't dream of betting against this stuff. It's simply become too big to fail.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#309

Post by wongarsu »

ogogmad wrote: post #238
TameAntelope wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish we had a better phrase than "pyramid scheme", because IMO anything that's a "scheme" has people who know better at one end, and I really don't think there's anyone involved in crypto that is deliberately "winning". What's a phrase for when everyone is getting scammed, and not by any one person, but by an idea? Where there are no winners, only lucky and unlucky. Pyramid trap? Pyramid quagmire? IDK, but "scheme"…

Speculative bubble. Or just bubble. People buy it because they expect the price to go up. The price goes up so more people buy it expecting further gains. The fundamentals arguably don't justify such a high price, and so you have a speculative bubble. Eventually, the bubble will pop and most investors will lose money. I suspect BTC is a bubble because everything it does can be done better by other things. I also susp…

I agree that BTC has little inherent value, it hasn't turned out all that useful. Even if you believe the advantages of crypto are worth all the disadvantages there are blockchains that are much better.

But similar things can be said about many things, and some commodities are able to sustain their bubbles for decades or centuries. Gold is going strong for millennia, with a price far exceeding its practical value. BTC probably won't last that long, but unless it's disrupted by legislation it might still have decades left in it.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#310

Post by aww_dang »

Please consider building. Create the change you want to see.

>I'm hoping this crash and those in the future rid the space of the toxic backrooms these $30,000 jpegs provide access to and get us to collectively work on building really exciting cool new things.

Which part about current valuations changes your ability to create?

Dislike "crypto-bros"? Fine. I'm not sure who that is, but they are neither here nor there. Do you give them control over your creative endeavors? If so, why?

Perhaps a less charitable interpretation might be: You're not interested in building at all. In lieu of creation, you blame "crypto-bros" for what you dislike in the space.

There are plenty of alt-coin communities if you are looking for alternatives. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies with different energy consumption patterns and market valuations. Choose one that fits your technical and ideological needs.

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