Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer • Hacker News Board

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#101

Post by fullshark » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #6

marban wrote: post #5

The whole NFT craze lost me when tech founders I once highly respected started pushing and showing off their ugly gifs and trading cards on Twitter. Bad taste of the bored rich is not a new thing, but I hope NFTs won't become a noble tradition.

You mean at some point NFT had you?

I was pretty torn about crypto, I saw most of what this essay describes but I also did find it as a potential global currency / computer system outside gov't control that could enable more as a result. BTC v. $ has been discussed to death but the BTC case isn't COMPLETE nonsense imo, in a world where trillions are generated out of thin air to prevent debt defaults and everyone supports it.

However once NFTs became a thing and the crypto whales started pimping it I saw the truth. These people have no vision beyond finding some story to get someone else to pay more for their crypto tokens down the line, full stop.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#102

Post by nradov » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:51 PM UTC

TomGullen wrote: post #84

marban wrote: post #5

The whole NFT craze lost me when tech founders I once highly respected started pushing and showing off their ugly gifs and trading cards on Twitter. Bad taste of the bored rich is not a new thing, but I hope NFTs won't become a noble tradition.

I must be getting old because I just don't get NFT's. They look stupid and I don't get why anyone would buy them. Declining tech companies and startups seem to be trying to crowbar them into their products much like Blockchain when it was new and shiny. Perhaps younger me would of seen something I can't anymore.

Beanie Babies also looked stupid. It's just another fad and bubble.

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2015/03/02/beanie-baby-bubbl...

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#103

Post by Geee » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:51 PM UTC

Bitcoin has nothing to do with all these scams like NFTs and "internet computers" like Ethereum, which are pushed by tech gurus, influencers and marketers. It's time to stop conflating these under the same umbrella. Bitcoiners are not the same people who push these useless things.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#104

Post by pcmaffey » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

If you think about crypto as a MMOG, people’s behaviors start to make a lot more sense.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#105

Post by aceazzameen » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

Ansil849 wrote: post #99

> Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer An amazingly succinct title. Absolutely true. Whenever someone hypes up cryptocurrency, it is almost always for their personal gain, directly or indirectly.

Absolutely. And with anything that involves greed and riches.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#106

Post by spywaregorilla » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:53 PM UTC

codingclaws wrote: post #71

Off topic. Did anyone else's AI generated text radar go off on this article? Seems like too many fancy words. I wonder how many media outlets use GPT-3 to help generate content.

Unless specifically encouraged, GPT-3 would probably prefer to use common language.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#107

Post by doomroot » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

oyf wrote: post #95

voidray wrote: post #49

If you take every long-refuted criticism of Bitcoin along with cherrypicked examples of cringe celebrities endorsing it, and you combine that with misinformed neo-Marxism and an unquestioning acceptance of government officials, you get this article. If your average sports writer actually wanted to understand the space, they could read something with real data: https://nydig.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NYDIG-Bitcoi…

> Since 1920, at least 55 hyperinflation events have taken place, destroying savings and creating economic hardship... Bitcoin offers the world an alternative – a sound monetary system outside the control of governments and central banks. The paper you linked doesn't exactly get off to a good start, considering there are ~1600-2200 dead/worthless cryptocurrencies (see below) and Bitcoin itself is incredibly volatile.…

> Bitcoin itself is incredibly volatile.

Largely in the right direction.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#108

Post by DanHulton » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #103

Bitcoin has nothing to do with all these scams like NFTs and "internet computers" like Ethereum, which are pushed by tech gurus, influencers and marketers. It's time to stop conflating these under the same umbrella. Bitcoiners are not the same people who push these useless things.

Absolutely correct. Bitcoin isn't the domain of NFT grifters, it's the domain of ransomware hostage-takers.

We need to be accurate when discussing the various scams proposed.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#109

Post by lostcolony » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 2:57 PM UTC

21eleven wrote: post #100

TomGullen wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must be getting old because I just don't get NFT's. They look stupid and I don't get why anyone would buy them. Declining tech companies and startups seem to be trying to crowbar them into their products much like Blockchain when it was new and shiny. Perhaps younger me would of seen something I can't anymore.

The thing about NFTs is that many people who buy them "don't get NFTs". All an NFT is is a token that represents ownership, like if the title to your car or house deed was on a blockchain. NFTs have some sane use causes like designating the owner of a valuable asset or creating electronic tickets that can be resold or transferred without some centralized entity like ticketmaster. Prior to NFTs existing, would you pur…

Yep. It's a completely made up problem. It's maybe useful in enforcing existing IP law (i.e., I can prove that that picture is mine), but even that is questionable (proof of ownership of digital IP has already been proven satisfactorily for courts of law to rule on it).

The fact there is a new way of proving ownership doesn't make the thing owned valuable.

Re: Cryptocurrency is something people tell lies about in hopes of getting richer

#110

Post by ARandumGuy » Fri, Sep 24, 2021, 3:00 PM UTC

doomroot wrote: post #97

wpietri wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, if you look at transaction cost, settle time, user friendliness, and currency risk, it doesn't even work as a medium of exchange, which is the definition of money. More than a decade on, approximately nobody uses Bitcoin for normal transactions. Compare with Venmo or MPesa, both of which launched around the same time, to se what actual digital money looks like. Both of those do way more transactions than Bitc…

Why does the bitcoin blockchain need to be used for normal transactions? Do you not think a neutral payment rail/unit of account between nation state level actor’s could be valuable?

These nation state level actors would need to convert their Bitcoin into something that they can actually spend. Governments need to pay employees, contractors, and suppliers. These people want actual currency they can spend.

The main alternative would be to issue a Bitcoin backed currency. But then you're just re-creating the gold standard, and all of the problems that go along with that.