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Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

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Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#71

Post by PikachuEXE »

exdsq wrote: post #48

I work in crypto and have done for the last couple years. To be totally transparent, I worked on Cardano, then a couple random projects including a cosmos DEX and writing test suites for a qa consultancy, and now a startup DEX. I've been active in the scene (investing, reading papers, talking about crypto etc) since around 2016 and worked in it since 2019. I think there's a few things here. I don't believe that many…

Hi cosmos friend (I assume you mean $ATOM unless there is another cosmos)

I agree there are some (how many is another topic) not very long term worthy projects out there being worked on due to this being a new area being explored.

However value are given by people and who knows how different projects would evolve and there might be new value created/discovered later.

There are definitely BOTH scams and real value projects and you definitely have to DYOR (Do Your Own Research). Ultimately Web3/decentralization is about taking back control but that also comes with responsibility. If anyone is feeling unable/unwilling to take the risk by investing time into that company/work field then consider pausing/pulling out.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#72

Post by jlcoff »

cormacrelf wrote: post #16
jlcoff wrote: post #10

I'm working in the same environment, I'm with you bro, it's all a scam. I'm coasting until the whole thing collapse cashing in my paycheck. The math behind is fun though.

Have you taken a moment to consider not doing that, and just leaving?

I'm not biting the whole "thrive on what you like" SV mentra. The money is good, I dug my hole, and I'm fine. Just like with 2008, the problem wasn't CDO dogshit, but people with subprime credit rating buying large house with variable mortgage rate.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#73

Post by randomhodler84 »

version_five wrote: post #60
randomhodler84 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it’s not about that. I put a lot of it down to love of authority. Lots of folks can’t understand why anyone would want some money that didn’t have men with guns to save them. “My bank is safe”. These folks are trusting. Government will save the day. And some don’t trust anyone. Hate banks. Love technology. See how detaching monetary systems from authority provides freedom. It’s about trust. I trust none. Bitcoin…

As a counterpoint I'm a libertarian and very anti centralization. I see libertarians arguing for bitcoin alone the same lines as you. A decentralized medium of exchange might be nice, but as it is, cryptocurrency fails to address any of the concerns with fiat, and most importantly is a scam who's value is entirely based on speculation / greater fool, and not on it's utility as a medium of exchange. From what I've see…

Well there is the whole money printing thing. I think that’s fundamentally the problem at Bitcoin solved, along with the whole decentralized value transfer. It’s fundamentally libertarian technology; along with public key cryptography and peer to peer file sharing. I think the anti-coiners on here miss the forest for the trees.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#74

Post by jlcoff »

cinntaile wrote: post #13
jlcoff wrote: post #10

I'm working in the same environment, I'm with you bro, it's all a scam. I'm coasting until the whole thing collapse cashing in my paycheck. The math behind is fun though.

I don't get how you can work with something that you perceive as a scam? So when you tell your friends or your parents you say "yeah, I rip people off for a living. Haha"?

I build tools other people are free to use. I have historically refused to implement tools to be used for censorship purpose. Here, you're free to invest/yolo.. or not.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#75

Post by rags2riches »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #47
cinntaile wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get how you can work with something that you perceive as a scam? So when you tell your friends or your parents you say "yeah, I rip people off for a living. Haha"?

I think many classes of people are incapable of being anything other than broke. Why shouldn't I profit from human nature?

Having n way to answer "why shouldn't I..." for yourself is no small thing. Don't take it lightly. Many people are incapable of defending themselves. Why shouldn't you...?

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#76

Post by jlcoff »

cormacrelf wrote: post #65
throwawaysleep wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think many classes of people are incapable of being anything other than broke. Why shouldn't I profit from human nature?

Leaving out the pretty extreme lack of morality going on here, one reason that may resonate in this community of rich programmers and capitalists is that we shouldn't do it because fraud is inefficient. It is a huge drain on your economy. It is not a good use of capital or time. If for instance it is all a scam and everything collapses to nothing, that's ten years of completely wasted human effort. If you built it an…

I don't have any problem cashing in my 6 figures paycheck when pezzonavantes (from any side since forever) cash out 9 to 10 figures own scams.

Honesty is for the poor.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#77

Post by cormacrelf »

jlcoff wrote: post #72
cormacrelf wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you taken a moment to consider not doing that, and just leaving?

I'm not biting the whole "thrive on what you like" SV mentra. The money is good, I dug my hole, and I'm fine. Just like with 2008, the problem wasn't CDO dogshit, but people with subprime credit rating buying large house with variable mortgage rate.

(1) You having money and being fine means you have the power to leave.

(2) You cannot explain away 2008 as being the fault of the people who couldn't pay their mortgage. WTAF dude.

What I'm getting from this is that you have wrapped yourself up in a nice blanket of ignorance and a nice comfy salary, and while you have come to the conclusion that the business you're engaging in is fraudulent, you've convinced yourself that anybody but you is responsible. Participating makes you responsible. If you don't have the scruples to leave something like that and have no financial pressure to stay, then you don't deserve any work in tech when the dust settles. I for one would never hire you.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#79

Post by mwerd »

bpeebles wrote: post #46
gonehome wrote: post #26

You’re asking this on HN so are likely to get 95% of people agreeing with you from confirmation bias alone. Median HN hates cryptocurrency. I’d probably suggest this: https://www.matthuang.com/bitcoin_for_the_open_minded_skepti... I think it’s not “all a scam”, but there are definitely scammers in the community which add a lot of noise to what’s a pretty cool new capability to handle decentralized state. https://danr…

You don't list any so I'll bite, I guess. What "cryptocurrency" company isn't a "scam" as basically defined in the post?

How about AAVE and their Arc product specifically? https://www.fireblocks.com/blog/permissioned-defi-goes-live-...

You've got a fully compliant (in terms of anti money laundering), whitelisted counterparties only, decentralized lending and borrowing platform that completely eliminates the friction of a typical corporate treasury banking experience.

You deposit dollars, you earn yield in dollars. If you want exposure to eth or BTC, you can exchange dollars for either or borrow at transparent rates. The transaction settles in seconds and the fees are fractions of what it costs to wire funds.

My organization uses Wells Fargo for similar services (sans BTC and ETH) and pays considerably more for the pleasure of receiving less in return. Aave achieves it with virtually none of the back-office or legacy COBOL based software that these dinosaur, heavily entrenched, ethically challenged financial institutions require. It's like pre-acquisition WhatsApp compared to at&t efficiency comparison.

There's innovation and value creation happening in crypto, whether you choose to see it or not.

The hostility to crypto from a bunch of SV engineers who have scammed society out of billions (trillions?) of dollars pitching ineffective digital marketing is not without irony. Not to mention the societal and political fallout from the uncontrolled spread of misinformation, aided and abetted by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and other SV darlings. Pushing ads to fuel consumerism and coming on here to complain about emissions from proof of work Blockchains. It's rich.

It's not easy to build software that actually solves large scale problems. Most of the companies/apps in crypto will fail, just like internet startups. What succeeds will likely disrupt the financial system.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#80

Post by TearsInTheRain »

pavlov wrote: post #53
vmception wrote: post #17

Genuine question, have you worked for any other startup over the last decade? The entire last decade was filled with the same questions, without the adjectives cryptocurrency or blockchain involved. It's all about excess liquidity, and of course it does laser focus on some industries. Good luck calling the top.

Broad-brush crypto whataboutism strikes again. “Maybe it’s a scam, but so is [central banking / the stock market / every other startup / etc.]” You’re trying to gaslight the OP to believe that what they’re feeling is normal, but it’s not. In startups with real products and real users and actual growth, the mood is not “we’re just dumping tokens.”

> In startups with real products and real users and actual growth

Thats a big caveat. Tons of startups dont have that and still consume billions in capital.

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