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Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#11

Post by neb_b »

PaulHoule wrote: post #5
Barrera wrote: post #2

It's hard to see Bitcoin's value proposition when you live a life of financial privilege. Bitcoin's value proposition is this: censorship-resistant money. If you don't care about being censored, you won't see the value proposition. If civil asset forfeiture seems like no big deal, then Bitcoin will seem dumb. If routing literally every payment you make through a surveillance apparatus seems fine then Bitcoin makes no…

With most forms of crypto the government can look at the ledger. Frequently the US has success at tracking down and seizing Bitcoin and other forms of crypto. Since the ledger is public you can replace your elected and somewhat accountable 'government' with * North Korea, Iran, ... * Scientology or Jeffery Epstein's lawyers (if you are a victim looking for justice) * the Mafia, Yakuza, Triad, ... * Greenpeace, ACT UP…

The key is that they can look at the ledger, but not alter the ledger. But also privacy improvements to the bitcoin protocol, privacy focused transactions like coinjoins, and payments on the lightning network help hide that even more.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#12

Post by cbdumas »

Because HN readers skew more technologically literate, people here are on average (slightly) more capable of seeing though the techno-babble hype than on other social media sites. It's not that the financial status quo is held in high regard, rather that HN readers see crypto's empty promises to fix existing issues for what they are: bullshit designed to lure in ever more dumb money.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#13

Post by neb_b »

rockbruno wrote: post #10

>I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives. Can you elaborate how? From my point of view, the reason the general tech community despises crypto is precisely because of that; every now and then someone shows up saying that the tech is important and positive, yet none of them can come up with a single valid reason why. For people who are outside of it, the answer to why this is th…

It allows for uncensorable transactions. Which is an improvement to people living in authoritarian countries with governments trying to stop its citizens from saving and transacting freely.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#14

Post by laszlo-kiss »

version_five wrote: post #4

Many of us were excited when bitcoin came out, about both the technology, and the concept of a currency that sovereigns can't control. The problem is, blockchain / cryptocurrency failed to deliver in any practical way, and as a concept was hijacked by scammers, so the only real hype now is from people trying to bypass securities laws so they can scam you. Find a way I can actually electronically teleport money to pay…

Indeed using Bitcoin for payment does not seem a good fit. However, Bitcoin could be viewed as the world reserve currency that is impossible to debase. This can give stability to all other currencies that are based on it. I think that would be a good thing. It would reduce governments' ability to deficit spend, thus reduce the likelihood of financing armies that can be used for aggression... It would not eliminate wars entirely, but would make financing them very difficult.

Unfortunately, scammers are everywhere. I think it is my responsibility to do the best I can to avoid falling for various schemes. I hold that Bitcoin is not the cause of the scams. I unfortunately missed the early days of Bitcoin because I was concerned about being robbed and secondarily I did not understand (or even known about) the intent Satoshi had when he invented the thing...

Thank you for your feedback!

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#16

Post by apeace »

The reason is because the real things that are happening in the cryptocurrency space are overwhelmingly negative.

People are getting their wallets hacked, losing their savings by investing in pump-and-dump schemes, using "custodial" crypto wallets that defeat the whole purpose of crypto, raising "ICOs" that skirt securities laws, starting underground markets that sell heroin and guns, quitting their jobs to make a living in "play-to-earn" schemes that can't possibly last. It goes on and on.

If you have an article about how crypto is positively affecting people's lives (not just the lucky ones who made some good trades and profited), then please share it on HN!

I read somewhere that a large number of Ukranians are currently holding crypto as they flee the country, as they view it as a good way to transfer funds in the midst of a lot of uncertainty. If so, I view that as a positive (assuming many of them don't end up losing their funds one way or another).

I wouldn't be surprised if most in the HN community thought some form of "blockchains are a really neat idea." It's just that the technology is in its infancy, and so far it has attracted a lot of criminals, fraudsters, and speculators. Not much to write home about.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#17

Post by dolni »

neb_b wrote: post #11
PaulHoule wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With most forms of crypto the government can look at the ledger. Frequently the US has success at tracking down and seizing Bitcoin and other forms of crypto. Since the ledger is public you can replace your elected and somewhat accountable 'government' with * North Korea, Iran, ... * Scientology or Jeffery Epstein's lawyers (if you are a victim looking for justice) * the Mafia, Yakuza, Triad, ... * Greenpeace, ACT UP…

The key is that they can look at the ledger, but not alter the ledger. But also privacy improvements to the bitcoin protocol, privacy focused transactions like coinjoins, and payments on the lightning network help hide that even more.

> The key is that they can look at the ledger, but not alter the ledger.

This is only true if you think governments are not capable of pulling off a 51% attack. It would absolutely be feasible for a few of the world powers to pull it off, if not a single world power.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#18

Post by laszlo-kiss »

rockbruno wrote: post #10

>I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives. Can you elaborate how? From my point of view, the reason the general tech community despises crypto is precisely because of that; every now and then someone shows up saying that the tech is important and positive, yet none of them can come up with a single valid reason why. For people who are outside of it, the answer to why this is th…

I think the biggest 'positive' is that the government in control of the currency is unable to alter the value of it. It is clear that inflation is bad for the citizenry, yet that has been done throughout the ages by every dying civilization. I'm simply looking/hoping for a mechanism to stop it. It would be a 'positive' for you too!

Is Bitcoin the ultimate answer? I can't say, but it is a good first step.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#19

Post by ops »

neb_b wrote: post #13
rockbruno wrote: post #10

>I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives. Can you elaborate how? From my point of view, the reason the general tech community despises crypto is precisely because of that; every now and then someone shows up saying that the tech is important and positive, yet none of them can come up with a single valid reason why. For people who are outside of it, the answer to why this is th…

It allows for uncensorable transactions. Which is an improvement to people living in authoritarian countries with governments trying to stop its citizens from saving and transacting freely.

If authoritarian governments can monitor and track the transactions, then arrest those people who make transactions that the government considers illegal, it seems pretty censorable.
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