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Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

theguardian.com

41–50 of 170 posts

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#41
post #24

No wealth was created or destroyed in the making of these millions, the millions simply changed hands. Think about that before purchasing a cryptocurrency. You're basically handing your money to an earlier "investor" in the hopes that a future "investor" will hand a greater amount to you. This is all there is to it.

Isn't that the case for pretty much all exchanges? How is that different than in the stock market?

This is only the case for pump&dump schemes.

In case of a sustained growth of a company (think Apple over the past 20 years) what the shareholders gain comes from the earnings of the company. Apple shareholders have gained trillions in the past years - no one has lost an equivalent amount.

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the case for pretty much all exchanges? How is that different than in the stock market?

There's a distinction there. In the stock market, your decision to buy leads to a price increase which improves the ability of that specific company to raise money. Your investment decision directly impacted the prospects of that company over others. In an ideal world, speculation in the stock market means that the best companies receive funding and the worst companies are unable to and therefore appropriately go out…

Yes, but in the real world people are makong jsut as much if not more money on comaoniea that they think other people will later invest it, rather than companies that they think are good companies. That makes it little better than crypto.

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#43
post #24

No wealth was created or destroyed in the making of these millions, the millions simply changed hands. Think about that before purchasing a cryptocurrency. You're basically handing your money to an earlier "investor" in the hopes that a future "investor" will hand a greater amount to you. This is all there is to it.

I do liken cryptocurrency as a sort of voluntary "redistribution of the wealth" but from the peanut gallery to early adopters and the already objectively "rich". This really feels like a kind of "screw you, I've gotten mine" form of capitalism.

So like all forms of capitalism for 95%+ of under 40s

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the case for pretty much all exchanges? How is that different than in the stock market?

This is only the case for pump&dump schemes. In case of a sustained growth of a company (think Apple over the past 20 years) what the shareholders gain comes from the earnings of the company. Apple shareholders have gained trillions in the past years - no one has lost an equivalent amount.

I’m not sure what your point is. Are you talking about a small fraction of stocks that pay dividends? Because otherwise the stock market is completely based on this: money changing hands.

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#45
post #24

No wealth was created or destroyed in the making of these millions, the millions simply changed hands. Think about that before purchasing a cryptocurrency. You're basically handing your money to an earlier "investor" in the hopes that a future "investor" will hand a greater amount to you. This is all there is to it.

> This is all there is to it.

Then you very obviously never actually learned about the topic.

To the people downvoting this:

* smart contracts

* decentralized exchanges

* decentralized finance (lending, investing, etc)

* instant borderless value transfer

All of it trustless, permissionless, uncensorable, resilient, not controlled by a centralized entity, mathematically provable.

But keep telling yourself it has no value because you failed to invest.

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#46
post #21

It's interesting how the transfer of wealth to a Goldman Sachs executive via cryptocurrency invokes a feeling of mild jealousy and amusement, whereas the transfer of wealth to 'bankers', just like him, just doing their damn jobs and providing a service , invokes revilement in the eyes of the general public. I do think the psychological (is that the word I'm looking for?) aspects of the frothy financial climate drivin…

Crypto could easily be the largest pyramid scheme in history, I have zero interest in participating even if returns were guaranteed - that's not how I want to make money, I see no value being created in these "investments". Recent developments on the stock market kind of killed the market idealism for me. I don't know what's a better alternative, but from where I'm standing the financial system is rewarding wasteful…

I was thinking, that this is my limited world view. Thanks for sharing your. Albeit I earned money with crypto designing mining hardware (but not using it for myself).

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#47
post #21

It's interesting how the transfer of wealth to a Goldman Sachs executive via cryptocurrency invokes a feeling of mild jealousy and amusement, whereas the transfer of wealth to 'bankers', just like him, just doing their damn jobs and providing a service , invokes revilement in the eyes of the general public. I do think the psychological (is that the word I'm looking for?) aspects of the frothy financial climate drivin…

Crypto could easily be the largest pyramid scheme in history, I have zero interest in participating even if returns were guaranteed - that's not how I want to make money, I see no value being created in these "investments". Recent developments on the stock market kind of killed the market idealism for me. I don't know what's a better alternative, but from where I'm standing the financial system is rewarding wasteful…

But isn't there value being created in actual legitimate blockchain projects like Filecoin and Storj (dropbox replacements)? For these slower growing coins, isn't the value coming from the utility of the product?

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#48
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Wait for the idiots to put their cash into it, and extract that. The rest should wait for more idiots. Too bad for the ones who get in last. So good for him.

I do feel jaded by all of this, but I can only hope that people who lose their shirts on all of this actually learn not to try this mess ever again. Greed really can be our biggest downfall.

In 10 years another bunch of 20-30 year olds will join some new attractive 'get rich quick' scheme before they lose anything they got in the following crash if pyramid. Recycle and repaeat.

Re: Goldman Sachs executive quits after making millions from Dogecoin

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over 10 years in and it's still "early days" for crypto? When do you think this entire thing is considered mature? I'm very much a crypto skeptic, mostly because I see a lot more harm than good that comes out of the space (ransomware enablement, horrendous waste of energy on PoW coins, egoists that make up the majority of the community, etc)

I mean internet has changed very significantly in the last 30 years, or even in the last 5 years. Personally, I will say it's mature enough when Bitcoin is the world reserve currency (crazy, I know!) and defi fulfills majority if not all of my financial transactions/operations, etc. I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards…

>>I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards greener energy sources and there are less energy intensive alternatives being developed.

I keep hearing this "green energy" being pushed harder by proponents of cryptocurrency and I find this rather disingenuous. We are already pushing towards this goal, crypto or not, but unlike a world blissfully free of this long con, green energy will not be appropriately allocated to areas of greater need, like infrastructure, housing, schools, hospitals, etc.

Plus, a true capitalist that wants the maximum value will go for the cheapest and easiest source of electricity. Coal fired and gas via fracking will still be easier to pursue for increased bang for buck. I think you assume the cryptocurrency community has the best interests of everyone else and the planet at heart.

Let's not forget that cryptocurrency miners and stakeholders are not shy from leeching off other countries that may offer subsidized electricity, sometimes even causing blackouts for those that need the electricity the most. Seems very parasitic.

Just my two cents.

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