Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 345 posts

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#301

Post by 9dev »

charcircuit wrote: post #187
tgv wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have the ability to positively impact most of the planet (billions of people) Hundreds of thousands of people work there, yet they haven't managed to achieve that positive impact.

>yet they haven't managed to achieve that positive impact. You don't reach billions of users without positively impacting people who use your service. If there was no positive impact people would simply abandon Google's and Facebook's services.

Do you really equate product growth with a positive impact on people..? Developers working for Facebook or Google are fully aware their employer pays their salary by selling other peoples data. There is no excuse other than immorality.

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#302

Post by ipaddr »

tgv wrote: post #157
jeroenhd wrote: post #97

I'm one of the "haters". I see no value in crypto in 99.99% of crypto and in the cases that do make sense the actual use for it is borderline money laundering or tax evasion. All the "enthusiasts" seem to want to get rich by getting as many people as they can in their greater fool scheme of choice in the hopes of becoming a Bitcoin billionaire. The obnoxious fan base and practical scams coming out of the marketing de…

> A job's a job That's something that doesn't sit well with me. Not all jobs are equal. Some are unethical, or worse. And OP is in the unethical camp, at least by association, and also tarred by the stereotypes of exploitation and fraud. > Anyone refusing you simply because you worked in crypto at some point is short-sighted. I would also not want to hire/work with anyone who's worked for facebook or google in the pa…

I wouldn't hire anyone who used google or facebook because they are unethical. And if I see someone wearing a brand I dislike I pour paint over them. Stereotypes are perfectly acceptable to go by in 2022.

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#303

Post by latchkey »

wasmitnetzen wrote: post #300
latchkey wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not evade. Just give me control of my own funds such that nobody can just empty my account without at least giving me notice first. As you can imagine, that is a quite disturbing and disruptive event.

I do understand you feelings, but I don't see how that's a technical problem. That's an entirely legal problem. The law could easily mandate that feature to any cryptocurrency which doesn't want to go to the underground, or remove that feature from regular banking.

How is law not technical?

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#304

Post by dubswithus »

peyton wrote: post #243
Thlom wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ETH has been a legitimate technology with real use cases for a decade now and all we’ve got is jpeg’s of apes. With the amount of real money, talent and hard work being pumped into this space we should have seen the use cases materialize by now. But there’s nothing. I’m sure someone uses it for something real, but I haven’t seen crypto actually solve a real problem any better than a plain old database. Please correct…

Plain old databases cut secret deals with Citadel.

It’s just a database. And you just got “justed.”

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#305

Post by SkyMarshal »

>but I also see true potential in the technology and ideology.

If you've been in crypto long enough to become opinionated about it and dissatisfied with it, then design something you think is the right way to do it, and pitch it to VCs. Some may agree with you, especially ones with a more long-term perspective on both the industry and their investment horizons, and who actually want to build enduring value rather than get rich quick.

>All the hate for crypto, even though much of it is uninformed

If you think it's uninformed, then either ignore it, or inform it (via twitter, blog, vlog, research paper, whatever).

>If crypto fails, which is a real possibility in my mind, will I be unemployable because I spend several years in the scammy crypto industry?

Depends on what you spent those years doing and if the same skillset is valuable in other domains. Distributed systems architecture and engineering? UI/UX design? Stuff like that is easily transferrable and in demand elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#306

Post by ETH_start »

lupire wrote: post #277
ETH_start wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now Ethereum is only useful for niche applications, like using your ETH as collateral for an autonomously issued DAI loan. This is because its disadvantages, like lack of privacy and very limited throughput capacity, make traditional finance better for all but the highest value blockchain applications, where the extreme integrity of process provided by its highly redundant and collectively managed ledger outwei…

I think you mean "if", not "once". This is somewhere between self driving cars and flying cars in the feasibility scale.

The solutions to throughput limitations are already proven out in testnets and alpha releases, and well understood conceptually.

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#307

Post by xwolfi »

bko wrote: post #207
wild-eep wrote: post #31

I left earlier this year, and worked in the space for a couple of years. I started with a neutral position on crypto, I didn't even think about it much. More like, its easy and pays well. But if people want to waste their money on tokens, go for it, but its not my cup of tea. Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. It started to become gros…

> Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. Can't this be applied for most jobs in social media, advertising, lending and discretionary spending?

Social media maybe, advertising not always (having been on the other side, thank god for advertising matching us with eventually happy customers), lending can be but also can help expand a business so...

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#308

Post by xwolfi »

SergeAx wrote: post #273
bko wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then I started to recognize that its predatory and actually not benign or harmless. It is taking advantage of people. Can't this be applied for most jobs in social media, advertising, lending and discretionary spending?

We are getting at least something useful from social networks. Like, actual social networking.

What you dont think safemoon brings you safely to the moon ?

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#309

Post by kelseyfrog »

bko wrote: post #259
wild-eep wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But, isn’t the key distinction that this is an unregulated space, which is heavily manipulated. Crypto investors cannot make proper informed decisions, because they are being mislead or outright lied to, and cheated, at a near constant rate. It’s optional for them to be sure, but they are being tricked.

You put a lot of faith in regulations. Take lottery for instance. It's almost entirely controlled by states in the US and they prey on the most vulnerable. They even have state gambling apps now so there's virtually no restriction when and how much you play. I don't know how much sports gambling is regulated but I doubt its meaningful. Gambling is dangerous because a certain personality cannot control themselves. Wha…

As drugs are dangerous for those predisposed to substance addiction, betting games dangerous to those predisposed to gambling addiction, crypto is dangerous for people who are predisposed to non-regulation addiction. I've seen far too many people addicted to the fantasy of non-regulation and it's effects that it's hard to find sympathy, but I try to stay grounded in viewing it as the disease it is.

Re: Ask HN: Feel bad about working in crypto, what to do?

#310

Post by charcircuit »

9dev wrote: post #301
charcircuit wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>yet they haven't managed to achieve that positive impact. You don't reach billions of users without positively impacting people who use your service. If there was no positive impact people would simply abandon Google's and Facebook's services.

Do you really equate product growth with a positive impact on people..? Developers working for Facebook or Google are fully aware their employer pays their salary by selling other peoples data. There is no excuse other than immorality.

Yes, no one is forcing people to use Google's search product. People use it because it has a positive impact in helping them find things easier.

>by selling other peoples data

Neither of these companies sell user data. Both these companies take user privacy more seriously than almost every other company on Earth.

Post reply on HN