I'm not glad of the people got ruined (if that's the case of anyone?) but I'm pleased that I'll hear less often "buy kkcoins!"
Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
491–500 of 670 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#492Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you're suggesting we go back to each private bank issuing their own bank notes?
People like to put up binary choices. Bitcoin Vs. Dollars, Gold Vs. Yuan, Private bank money vs. really bad managed money supply. I am in the opinion that we should experiment with models other than a bunch of academics with no real practical experience getting together every month and deciding on the fate of the world economy. I am sure we could come up with something better.
The Islamic financial model has not been looked at properly by non-Muslims. It works, but it won't allow a few people to get rich by manipulating the market or by lending out money as we have in the rest of the world today.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#493Every single bitcoiner I know keeps selling me a world where everyone will be free from central banks, free from "the banking system"(tm), free from taxation, free from states.
They buy bitcoin to destroy the central banks, the states. The corrupted ones. They are on a crusade and at the top of this very new world : them. One day they will dominate the society. We poor ant-sheeps will continue to struggle while they golden eagles will have almost unlimited satoshis in their wallet that they will have earned so hard by pressing some buttons on a web app.
So yeah I somehow like to see their dreams taste a dose of reality. Bitcoin is a shitcoin too despite them chanting otherwise. And don't get me started on NFTs or other cryptos...
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#494Earlier quoted context omitted.
People like to put up binary choices. Bitcoin Vs. Dollars, Gold Vs. Yuan, Private bank money vs. really bad managed money supply. I am in the opinion that we should experiment with models other than a bunch of academics with no real practical experience getting together every month and deciding on the fate of the world economy. I am sure we could come up with something better.
Please propose a theory of change then instead of handwaving[1]. We need effective people to make the world better. I've seen lots of complaining about the fed from crypto people but almost no theory on how to manage our economy and incentive systems to bring a more prosperous world. [1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/theoryofchange
Look at how Islam addresses these problems. From prohibiting interest, to having a built in "wealth tax" (Zakat), to prohibition of selling what you don't own, to no gambling, etc. Solid principles that work.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#495Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, it is true. When you buy a share in a company, you own a slice of that company. You have voting rights, access to shareholder meetings, annual reports, bod meetings etc. What that share is worth is what others perceive it's value. what it's market "worth" is completely irrelevant to the fact you own a share.
You own voting rights, that's it. The recent Twitter stuff emphasized this. Some people were wondering why they can't just refuse to sell their stock (if the deal passes the various requirements, which includes a shareholder vote) if they don't want to. The reason is because they don't actually own anything, just a vote. If the company as a whole decides to go become a new entity (going from public to private in this…
Actually, the Twitter stuff emphasized just the opposite - even after the board agreed to the sale, a majority of shareholders (well, specifically, a majority of the voting power as determined by shares) still had to agree. And because they did, Musk is on track to own Twitter.
Facebook also demonstrates it - Zuckerberg and a few others (many of whom have given him voting power on their behalf) own 'Class B' stock, which is worth 10 votes (and thus could reasonably be treated as each share being worth 10 of Class A shares). What is sold to everyone else is 'Class A' stock worth 1 vote. Despite owning fewer stock shares, then, Zuckerberg has more votes and thus has effective majority control.
You mention due to stock tiering, but that's just it, those tiers don't remove votes, or even owning a share of the company (your stock still does), it just ensures that majority control stays in the company's control. It doesn't change the claim that stock shares = shares in the company. It just changes the percentage each stock is of the company, so it's not as simple as 1 stock = 1/(# of outstanding shares) control, but it still is (100% stock) = (100% control), and (X% of voting power from stock) = (X% of control).
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#496Earlier quoted context omitted.
Im in the same boat. Started with bitcoin in 2013, bought ethereum in the presale, did freelance app development for all sorts of crypto startups (including coinbase). Was a true believer in the technique. But over the years it became clear it was never going to have a big impact. We went from people armiring the tech, to people with no knowledge about the tech, but with big dollar signs in their eyes. Then in 2016 I…
My uncle used to brag about how good of a blackjack player by talking about how he would win enough to pay off the cruise he was gambling on. We never had the heart to tell him that all that does is prove that he got lucky; professional blackjack players only average a return of 3-5% profit. That's how I feel about the crypto (and to a lesser extent stock) bros. The future is unknowable, and even people who trade the…
"We never had the heart to tell him that all that does is prove that he got lucky; professional blackjack players only average a return of 3-5% profit."
I would say, that depends who they are playing against?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#497Earlier quoted context omitted.
People with this kind of "risk tolerance" usually dont take a risk even tho it would probably be totally "sane". If you think about it, many people make several million dollars over their life time but see it as to high of a risk to put 10k into something that could go to zero but it also could go to 100k or even more. That does not make much sense. The question should not be "should I risk the 10k? The question shou…
> but see it as to high of a risk to put 10k into something that could go to zero but it also could go to 100k or even more. That does not make much sense You could walk into a betting shop and put 10k on all kinds of things that will most likely go to zero but have a finite probability of going to 100k or even more. Q: How do you suggest determining the odds of success? Most of us can't invest in every 10k opportuni…
If the odds are obviously against you its not useful ofc.
If you think there is a 50% chance you lose everything then you should also see a 50% chance that you make over 100% profit if that is not realistic its probably not the right thing.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#498Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you know of any other way to send electronic cash with no intermediaries (EDIT: financial institutions)? It's the first sentence of the whitepaper and ignored by 99% of people, including highly paid software developers. Whether or not you need that will depend on where the world goes. A CDBC social-credit system world presents a lot of incentives to use something else. And if you do need it, you need it ahead of t…
> Do you know of any other way to send electronic cash with no intermediaries (EDIT: financial institutions) In practice you need a bank account to use bitcoin, there's essentially nobody who uses bitcoin that doesn't have a bank account, so the "no intermediaries" thing isn't really meaningful, nobody cares about this.
Yes, for now it is not needed.
The Canadian truckers didn't have bank accounts for a moment (maybe still ongoing). As financial prosecution, eventually algorithmically (have you seen on the threads on HN recently about people getting permabanned from various services for seemingly no reason?) ramps up, and CDBC rolls out...
There is no constitutional guarantee for the freedom to use payment networks so this inevitably will be used as leverage for compliance with anything governments/national banks want
It was Canadian truckers yesterday, Russians today - are we so naive to think it will be nobody tomorrow? Or are we ok with the exiling of people from society as long as its somebody we don't like?
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#499Sure. Because most of it is scams. And because I don’t think there is a status quo that needs disrupting. I find the idea of widespread anonymity in the larger economy downright scary. I can’t see anything that is interesting, cool or necessary that needs it. I also fail to think any of the tech built on/with crypto (and blockchains in general) is even vaguely cool or exciting. I don’t think expensive apes are an abb…
Are USDs not artificially scarce? If not for law enforcement, anyone could print their own.
Then there are the MMT people, who seem to believe that money can be printed by the state in any amount, without consequence.
Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?
#500Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you know of any other way to send electronic cash with no intermediaries (EDIT: financial institutions) In practice you need a bank account to use bitcoin, there's essentially nobody who uses bitcoin that doesn't have a bank account, so the "no intermediaries" thing isn't really meaningful, nobody cares about this.
If you live near a Bitcoin ATM[0] or in one of the 10 US states[1] where LocalBitcoins still operates, you can transact solely in cash. [0]: https://www.bitcoin.com/get-started/how-to-locate-and-use-a-... [1]: https://coingeek.com/localbitcoins-restricted-to-only-10-sta...
You can't just walk up to a bitcoin ATM, put in cash and get out bitcoin, you typically need an account associated with the ATM that requires you to be linked with a bank account or otherwise mandating very invasive KYC that basically turns them into a functional intermediary in the sense that they can track all your payments and arbitrarily deny service based on your identity like e.g. coinbase.
LocalBitcoins is not practical, nobody wants to meet up in the streets to trade cash for bitcoins.