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Google bans cryptocurrency ads

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Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#131

Post by drusepth »

gus_massa wrote: post #60
ada1981 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy potatoes to eat, or even really to turn into french fries and sell, its an input. If you buy them to HODL because you think potato options are going to bring you a return, it's an investment. If you've invested in a global, decentralized game of hot potato, well, that's crypto ;)

If you are going to HODL, buy soy or corn or other cereal, potatoes rot too easy. [This is not financial advice!] Somewhat related: A few years ago, in Argentina it was usual that the farmers keep most of their production of soy in big long bags in the field, because if they sold them they only could get pesos and with a 30% annual inflation it was better to keep the grains and sell them when they need to buy somethi…

Thanks a ton for the financial advice. Gonna cash out my 401k to buy massive quantities of cereal for hodling.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#132

Post by jonlucc »

jessaustin wrote: post #96
rastaaaaaa wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in the USA apparently.

USA drug purchases fund most global drug research. That money comes from somewhere. It's fine for us to question whether this is the best way for drugs to be marketed in our nation, but for the rest of the world to do so seems a bit ungrateful?

I work in pharma research in the US, so I'm pretty biased here, but I have thoughts. In my opinion, the more useful kinds of marketing is to physicians. Help them understand new products and where they fit in the treatment paradigm for whatever indications your company makes.

On the other hand, there are tons of people who have stories about knowing something was wrong, being told by 3 physicians that it was nothing, then finding a 4th who diagnosed them with something the others missed because a patient is usually their own strongest advocate.

A boss of mine a few years ago mentioned that he thought the best solution was for a disease to have ads. All of the companies that have drugs in market for that disease will want to buy in and say "Feeling X symptoms? Talk to your doctor; you might have Y". Of course there are still a ton of problems (there was no market for impotence until Pfizer re-branded it as ED, there are lots of diseases where there are low single digit options, etc), but it's a good start, in my opinion.

To tie this back to the topic at hand, there really isn't a trusted authority in the role of crypto purchases, aside from maybe a very forward-thinking/risky financial manager? Part of the problem is the very benefit: marketing to unqualified people gives access for anyone to grow their wealth, but also gives anyone the ability to lose a ton of money. It's sort of the central problem with Libertarianism overall.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#134

Post by RightMillennial »

wyager wrote: post #70
wccrawford wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way about prescription drugs. Those are for doctors to prescribe, not for patients to request.

Doctors aren’t, on average, as competent or on the ball as you think. They don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of every drug available.

A competent physician, like a competent programmer, doesn't need to have a every drug or library memorized. He needs adequate knowledge to know what to look for and where to find it.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#135

Post by Aunche »

iamben wrote: post #110
tobiaswk wrote: post #2

Good. The amount of crazy ICO's I've seen is staggering. Most of them are surely scams in some sense. Reddit is filled with them.

What I think is most bizarre - I have friends with really decent businesses that try really, really hard to get a few hundred thousand in funding. And yet I see the most _terrible_ ideas with an ICO cap of 20 million dollars. Still people throw in the cash. Ideas with literally no need for a blockchain. But "everyone will be able to spend the token on [insert terrible idea]!" 'The most bespoke electric hypercar! With…

How much money is actually raised during ICOs? Market cap is based on marginal pricing, so it's completely meaningless in a cryptocurrency.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#136

Post by nkrisc »

iamben wrote: post #110
tobiaswk wrote: post #2

Good. The amount of crazy ICO's I've seen is staggering. Most of them are surely scams in some sense. Reddit is filled with them.

What I think is most bizarre - I have friends with really decent businesses that try really, really hard to get a few hundred thousand in funding. And yet I see the most _terrible_ ideas with an ICO cap of 20 million dollars. Still people throw in the cash. Ideas with literally no need for a blockchain. But "everyone will be able to spend the token on [insert terrible idea]!" 'The most bespoke electric hypercar! With…

People aren't buying those coins because they think there's a good idea there. They're buying them because they think they'll get rich quick and be able to cash out.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#137

Post by jonknee »

Taek wrote: post #99
robotbikes wrote: post #14

I was listening to terrestrial radio the other day and was surprised to hear a radio advertisement beckoning retirees to cash in their 401ks to join the cryptocurrency future of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The bubble is too big for Google to slow it down and it has grown beyond the realm of tech savvy geeks into something fueled by hype and hubris.

The frustrating bit is that these scams paint a really sour picture of the space as a whole. There's a lot of value to cryptocurrencies, and as a technology it's poised to change the world in some very serious ways. People latch onto it because it's a powerful idea and because the underlying technology has a lot of legitimacy to it. People hear ads about how you need to move over your 401k and discount the whole spac…

> People latch onto it because it's a powerful idea and because the underlying technology has a lot of legitimacy to it.

A few, but the vast majority have latched onto it because they think it will make them rich. Almost no one buying into cryptocurrencies could explain a blockchain if their life depended on it.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#138

Post by bhtru »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #83
robotbikes wrote: post #14

I was listening to terrestrial radio the other day and was surprised to hear a radio advertisement beckoning retirees to cash in their 401ks to join the cryptocurrency future of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The bubble is too big for Google to slow it down and it has grown beyond the realm of tech savvy geeks into something fueled by hype and hubris.

Google doesn't want to slow it down. They just don't want to be associated with companies that are related to fraud. And, I think that this is a valid and correct choice for Google because they have their own brand to protect.

There’s just too many poor ICOs launching and floating around for Google to moderate and police all the potential ads they’d buy. Google has shown no issue with deliberately reducing the service of it’s product to offset future headaches before.

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#139

Post by nkrisc »

Taek wrote: post #95
aws_ls wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mixed feelings on this one. Most of them are likely to be scams as its so easy to do. But there are also things like the Brave browser[1] with its BAT(Basic Attention Token)[2], which am very excited about. With the Ad revenue on Internet falling all around, with Ad-blockers increasing. Brave, with BAT, provides a new way for publishers to get paid. Interestingly it also has the potential to disrupt Google's Adsense…

The vast majority of cryptocurrency advertising is aimed directly at taking advantage of investors who probably don't know how to do proper diligence on such an early and untested technology. I would put this squarely in the same vein as ads that might encourage you to 'buy our gemstone, it's going to be the new diamond'. Or 'our baseball cards are first edition and guaranteed to go up in value', etc.

I always thought the "guaranteed to go up in value" claim was silly. If it's guaranteed to go up in value, why would they want to sell it to me?

Re: Google bans cryptocurrency ads

#140

Post by saosebastiao »

blattimwind wrote: post #7
amelius wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't most products be viewed as investments, from a house or car to a pair of shoes?

You buy into an investment because you expect a capital gain. You don't buy shoes in expectation of a capital gain.

Of course you don't expect a capital gain on shoes (for most people...there's always an exception [0]).

But you can still expect returns on shoes. Construction boots for construction workers, for example, are as much an investment as construction tools. An investment is more than just something that accrues value over time.

[0] http://www.businessinsider.com/18-year-old-entrepreneur-make...

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