61–70 of 684 posts
There are plenty of shitcoins out there that are purely pump and dumps, but it seems like BTC is here to stay.
Judging by the attitude on HN, cryptocurrency should be worth $0 and written off years ago. Instead it's bigger than ever and the most important people on earth are focusing on it. Somehow it's simultaneously an incredible, useless scam but is so powerful that we must ban it at all costs! HN doesn't know everything, do your own research, use your own logic.
I was just now seeing the first video of https://a16z.com/crypto-startup-school/ . Whole video is about how blockchain is awesome because Computer, Internet and Mobile were awesome. Followed by some answers about how we don't know of any use case right now. Is there any non currency use case of blockchain?
> They generally invest in gold as a hedge -- a "store of value" -- that they hope will retain its value in case other assets go sour. I strongly believe bitcoin will be the new gold one day, if it doesn't pan out as a currency. It sounds insane, but I actually believe the Winklevoss twins when they say Elon and SpaceX will be able to mine gold on asteroids within the next 20 years, which would crash the price of gol…
What is the energy cost to get a refined kilo of gold back to Earth?
I was just now seeing the first video of https://a16z.com/crypto-startup-school/ . Whole video is about how blockchain is awesome because Computer, Internet and Mobile were awesome. Followed by some answers about how we don't know of any use case right now. Is there any non currency use case of blockchain?
"First, few if any gold investors have expectations of profits. They generally invest in gold as a hedge -- a "store of value" -- that they hope will retain its value in case other assets go sour."
Actually almost every other point he tries to make on things NOT a Ponzi could be made for Bitcoin too.
"By that definition the USD is a ponzi. No, national currencies too fail to fit the definition, because people do not "invest" in them with the expectation of gain" <-- The 6.6trillion/day forex market begs to differ.
Also it is not true that "governments make their currencies slightly inflationary precisely to discourage hoarding." In fact, this is done so that there can be economic expansion. It is true that some economists have advocated for deliberately trying to increase inflation to spur spending, but it turns out that actually forcing inflation is not easy (see also: Japan for the past two decades).
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273418/unadjusted-monthl...
> No, national currencies too fail to fit the definition, because people do not "invest" in them with the expectation of gain. The entire forex trading industry: am I a joke to you?
Isn’t forex kind of a joke to everyone? Hearing your friend got into Forex is about the same as when they get into Amway, Tupperware, DoTerra, or Herbalife …