I think it took about 13 years for Beanie Babies to rise and fall, but it was really only on the market for about 6 of those years.
The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
41–50 of 88 posts
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#42Anyone old enough to remember what the press said in the 90s about the Internet will recognize the similarities. The Internet is full of fraudulent websites. It's full of porn. Email isn't as warm as a hand-written letter. Communicating online isn't professional. Etc. Guess what, all those things were true but they turned out not to matter. You can do whatever else you want in a network that also carries porn. You le…
Internet-in-the-70s was incredibly, astoundingly useful, and people weren't in it for the potential, but because it was offering them something, _today_.
I'm not seeing a single BTC enthusiast who's out for the utility of it. They are, quite literally, all of them into it for the speculatory potential.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#43I don't follow the blockchain world very well, but he makes an interesting point about it. Are there any projects, other than a few cryptocurrencies, that have impacted any industries significantly? I feel like we are all still waiting for blockchain to be adopted by something that makes it really useful.
There aren't. There just aren't, and I am constantly amazed at how crypto enthusiasts have this level of cognitive dissonance.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#44This is a good example of gish gallop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#45I worked for a blockchain startup that was not in the ICO space -- they had a compelling pitch if you didn't examine it too closely.
Now that I'm gone I think it was a "well intended" venture that could only survive on milking the flush VC market.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#46Right off the bat it shows three bad things about crypto-currency. And yet each of those three have been steadily and consistently improving. But apparently rather than iterating it’s better to just stop? Ah, then the author shows their true colors. “Conspiracy theory”, “nazi”, “right wing”. This is an unserious hit piece meant to bully left-leaning people into sabotaging research and development in the web3 space.
> "the web3 space"
Are the Ethereum people still trying to make that moniker stick? Oh dear.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#47was ready to give this a shot, but what?? > They do not meet any of the standard tests for money (especially the three classic criteria of store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account) That's a really difficult claim to swallow. Especially without further explanation than a wall of citations that I'm not going to bother chasing because I know the claim is false. At least provide a quick synopsis/summary fo…
Only a medium of exchange. Too volatile with no source of trust to be a store of value or a unit of account.
Fiat money relies on the trust generated by the central bank. Non existent in crypto.
So is not money.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#48Cryptocurrencies are an innovation and they have value. We can debate the extent of this and what practical applications can really be built. However, outright dismissing them as garbage does no justice to the debate. Bitcoin is a good , fairly decentralized expression of digital scarcity at the very least and can be a store of value.
Good? Good for buying drugs on Silk Road (back in the day)
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#49Anyone old enough to remember what the press said in the 90s about the Internet will recognize the similarities. The Internet is full of fraudulent websites. It's full of porn. Email isn't as warm as a hand-written letter. Communicating online isn't professional. Etc. Guess what, all those things were true but they turned out not to matter. You can do whatever else you want in a network that also carries porn. You le…
Internet-in-the-70s was incredibly, astoundingly useful, and people weren't in it for the potential, but because it was offering them something, _today_. I'm not seeing a single BTC enthusiast who's out for the utility of it. They are, quite literally, all of them into it for the speculatory potential.
Yup, and it's the one topic where a subset of HN commenters continue to overlook an incredible amount of technical/product deficiencies, just because it could potentially make them rich. If it had actual utility, people would be spending it and not just hodling.
Re: The blockchain/cryptocurrency space is mostly fraudulent
#50Crypto is just a digital asset that is very damaging to the environment and it is not like fiat currency because there is no exclusive market under it.
> very damaging to the environment That's not accurate: not all cryptocoins are secured by an ever-escalating proof-of-work.
Is it true by market value? Bitcoin itself is worth something like $200 billion. What's the biggest counter-example?