Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#51

Post by hiq » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:57 PM UTC

icu wrote: post #31

Indeed my first assessment way back when it was 1) Read the Whitepaper 2) Read the Bitcoin Standard Book (and subsequently the Fiat Standard book) 3) Listened to The Saylor Series on YouTube, and 4) Did the MIT Blockchain and Money course. I then re-considered criticism from: 1) Various Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger interviews 2) The Blackpaper by Nassim Taleb, and 3) Various interviews with Peter Schiff. My concl…

It would be more helpful if you could say what changed your mind. From your comment I can't say whether you changed your mind because you learned something in your studies, or because BTC went from <1$ to 10k$+.

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#52

Post by mwattsun » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:58 PM UTC

vinni2 wrote: post #40

Am I the only one hitting paywall while accessing this article?

A non-paywalled link was provided in comments above https://archive.md/sQhtq

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#53

Post by Geee » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:59 PM UTC

It's obvious that there is global demand for money which is separated from state control. You can see this demand in Bitcoin price. Bitcoin is the opposite of a Ponzi scheme, because there's no central operator which can arbitrarily print more money for its own benefit. It's completely transparent and traded on open markets.

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#54

Post by Devasta » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:59 PM UTC

sabellito wrote: post #46

foxes wrote: post #3

Fresh in-pouring of victims to sustain the whole thing, while some bigger players benefit. Im sorry, I don't want to argue anymore with crypto advocates. There is no more rational discussion to possibly be had about any of the current contenders in this space. The whole thing needs to be pulled apart. Just because some people earn money from it, doesn't make it moral, a good idea , useful, or bettering human society.…

I don't care about crypto. You comment seems to amount to "I won't argue because you're not rational. The thing you believe in is awful and should cease to exist". Please reconsider.

"I won't argue because you're not rational. The thing you believe in is awful and should cease to exist" is a perfectly fine stance to have about bitcoin and crypto in general.

Its causing massive amounts of pollution, global spikes in price of computer parts, exacerbates shortages in silicon and facilitates all sorts of illegal activity from money laundering to ponzi schemes to trading of illegal goods.

And for what? The shittiest database you could imagine.

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#55

Post by okareaman » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

icu wrote: post #31

Indeed my first assessment way back when it was 1) Read the Whitepaper 2) Read the Bitcoin Standard Book (and subsequently the Fiat Standard book) 3) Listened to The Saylor Series on YouTube, and 4) Did the MIT Blockchain and Money course. I then re-considered criticism from: 1) Various Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger interviews 2) The Blackpaper by Nassim Taleb, and 3) Various interviews with Peter Schiff. My concl…

Did you become a believer without evidence (faith) or do you wish to share what changed your mind? Like physicist Richard Feynman said, if you can't explain it simply, then you don't understand it.

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#56

Post by Devasta » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:04 PM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #50

Devasta wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do I opt out of the massive amounts of electronic waste and carbon emissions from Bitcoin?

You switch to a coin that uses proof-of-stake? Several of the totally OG cryptographers, like Chaum or Micali, have created blockchains that are using PoS (Micali is behind Algorand and Chaum behind an upcoming "elixxir" coin I think, forgot the name). Of course there's also Ethereum which is currently switching to PoS. Cryptocurrencies haters better find another argument than "energy consumption" because I think the…

Lol, Ethereum has been moving since 2014, and there are no plans for Bitcoin to move. The waste is here to stay so long as crypto is.

EDIT: Also, very insulting of you to assume I use crypto, I prefer to stick to filthy, worthless fiat thank you very much.

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#57

Post by sabellito » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Devasta wrote: post #54

sabellito wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care about crypto. You comment seems to amount to "I won't argue because you're not rational. The thing you believe in is awful and should cease to exist". Please reconsider.

"I won't argue because you're not rational. The thing you believe in is awful and should cease to exist" is a perfectly fine stance to have about bitcoin and crypto in general. Its causing massive amounts of pollution, global spikes in price of computer parts, exacerbates shortages in silicon and facilitates all sorts of illegal activity from money laundering to ponzi schemes to trading of illegal goods. And for what…

My criticism on the original comment is not about his take on crypto, it is about taking that stance about quite literally anything.

If one refuses to argue because they believe the other side is irrational, then abstain for conversation instead of just name-calling/shitting on the thing on a public forum. This is somewhat equivalent to posting some egregious opinion and then saying "don't @ me".

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#58

Post by defaultprimate » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:14 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #53

It's obvious that there is global demand for money which is separated from state control. You can see this demand in Bitcoin price. Bitcoin is the opposite of a Ponzi scheme, because there's no central operator which can arbitrarily print more money for its own benefit. It's completely transparent and traded on open markets.

The only thing you see in bitcoin's price is how many unbacked stable coins have been printed

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#59

Post by defaultprimate » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

bsima wrote: post #36

I love unfounded FUD articles like this. I hope it dips the price so I can get bitcoin at a discount

Please describe which aspects are unfounded and provide evidence to the contrary

Re: Why Bitcoin is worse than a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme

#60

Post by Devasta » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:17 PM UTC

sabellito wrote: post #57

Devasta wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I won't argue because you're not rational. The thing you believe in is awful and should cease to exist" is a perfectly fine stance to have about bitcoin and crypto in general. Its causing massive amounts of pollution, global spikes in price of computer parts, exacerbates shortages in silicon and facilitates all sorts of illegal activity from money laundering to ponzi schemes to trading of illegal goods. And for what…

My criticism on the original comment is not about his take on crypto, it is about taking that stance about quite literally anything. If one refuses to argue because they believe the other side is irrational, then abstain for conversation instead of just name-calling/shitting on the thing on a public forum. This is somewhat equivalent to posting some egregious opinion and then saying "don't @ me".

You're assuming a level of good faith in crypto bros that frankly doesn't exist. They aren't interested in any criticism of bitcoin and the like, they personally stand to make money from it and you are just their next potential victim.