This is conspiracy theory level stuff, but... I believe it's a dump phase. Later, we'll see a pump phase, where cryptopositive news dominate the pages for a while. It could all be organic in nature, but I wouldn't be too surprised if at least part of it were manufactured.
Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
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Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#42Because 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?
Whataboutism. Crypto is going on for over 12 years now. You can’t compare dotcom with crypto because 12 years after dotcom FAANG was up and running.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#43This is a false dichotomy:
> It would be interesting to know why the status quo financial system is held in such a high regard?
Plenty of people see problems with the status quo financial system and also with the crypto ecosystem that purports to replace it.
It’s not that I’m leaping to defend the current system. It’s that you want to replace it with something I think is worse. That’s why I’m resisting the change.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#44The reason is because the real things that are happening in the cryptocurrency space are overwhelmingly negative. People are getting their wallets hacked, losing their savings by investing in pump-and-dump schemes, using "custodial" crypto wallets that defeat the whole purpose of crypto, raising "ICOs" that skirt securities laws, starting underground markets that sell heroin and guns, quitting their jobs to make a li…
Interesting, this sounds like the Old West. Look at it now. I think these hardships are the exact indicators of a dynamic new frontier. Apply caution, yes, but ignoring it might not be a good strategy either.
Great analogy.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#45Because crypto hasn't proven itself. I won't fight your battles for you. Call me when I can buy coffee at my local diner with crypto.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can use a protocol that doesn't allow for a centralized coordinator with insight into the coin paths, like samourai whirlpool. It could potentially be logging ip's but can be accessed through vpn/tor
How do you know the tor exit nodes and/or VPN aren't being ran by your authoritarian government?
You don't, but all of this makes it harder to track.
Even if the government can track you through all of this, you can setup your private keys in a way that your family can still access your money if the government arrests you.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#47>I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives. Can you elaborate how? From my point of view, the reason the general tech community despises crypto is precisely because of that; every now and then someone shows up saying that the tech is important and positive, yet none of them can come up with a single valid reason why. For people who are outside of it, the answer to why this is th…
I think the biggest 'positive' is that the government in control of the currency is unable to alter the value of it. It is clear that inflation is bad for the citizenry, yet that has been done throughout the ages by every dying civilization. I'm simply looking/hoping for a mechanism to stop it. It would be a 'positive' for you too! Is Bitcoin the ultimate answer? I can't say, but it is a good first step.
Inflation in the form of government spending on infrastructure or wealth transfers to poorer citizens is not 'clearly' bad, there's significant academic debate on the subject. Disincentivizing cash-hoarding drives economic growth, and has done so for the past 50 years.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#48To put it simply, it's because a greater number of HN users upvote those articles than upvote pro-crypto articles. One can speculate about more precise reasons, or about the actual positive/negative value of crypto, but those are all kind of beside the point.
> The sum of these articles appears to me as "propaganda".
Do you realize how much you sound like a conspiracy-theory propagandist yourself? Allow me to illustrate with a couple of examples.
> why the status quo financial system is held in such a high regard
I don't think I've seen anyone espouse such an opinion, and it's not necessary to be "down" on crypto. Two things can both be bad. It's kind of like the old saying: democracy is the worst system of government, except for the others.
> take this perceived negative bias as a confirmation
"Rejection as confirmation" is absolutely classic conspiracy thinking. It's non-falsifiable; the harder one tries, the firmer the conviction becomes. You might want to ask yourself which evidence would actually cause you to change your mind. Be honest with yourself. If the answer is "none" then congratulations, you've been drawn into a conspiracy theory.
> When Bill Gates (and other powerful people) bad mouth Bitcoin I smell a rat.
Odd, in a community where most people lionize financial success without regard for any ethical dimension. How does his wealth or power make his opinion less valid, other than by implying that he's part of a conspiracy?
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#49Because 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?
There were also plenty of real products being adopted, taking advantage of technical growth and penetration of the web.
When we threw the bathwater out after the bubble crash, there were a few babies left.
13 years into the cryptocurrency bubble and I still don't see any productive use. Unless you're in the ransomware industry, or trying to evade sanctions.
Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
similar empty promises were made in dot com era. Does it mean dot com period of 1995-2001 was wasted and meaningless?
Whataboutism. Crypto is going on for over 12 years now. You can’t compare dotcom with crypto because 12 years after dotcom FAANG was up and running.
The scale is different because back then there were circa 100 000 000 +/- mln onboarded onto the hype.
Now They expect 1BLN+ to be onboarded to crypto with internet access.
More growth potential takes more time to play out.
Most people were ignoring crypto in 2017 like internet was ignored in 1993 by most people.
Period of 2009-2016 is like 1980-1992 for the internet. Almost no one was using it beside geeks and tech passionate youngsters.
Institutions are getting interested only from 2021 in a serious manner like in 1998-2001 for the internet period.