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Is this the end of crypto?

economist.com

351–360 of 448 posts

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When that happened he shuttered the website and kept everyone's bitcoins. > I knew of bitcoin early on due to this guy, but even then I had no interest and considered it bullshit. Then when I saw what this guy did it just solidified my opinion that it can't be trusted. But isn't it instead an early lesson in "not your keys not your coin" maxim that Bitcoin advocates preach? > If the value of gold crashes it still h…

> "not your keys not your coin" maxim that Bitcoin advocates preach? I keep seeing this phrase crop up throughout the past several days of cryptocurrency news, and something always rubbed me the wrong way about it, but I couldn't put my finger on it until today. It's demanding a change in human nature to accommodate the system, rather than changing the system to accommodate human nature. It's really not that differen…

It is stating the truth. If you don't like it, don't participate on the market. If you don't like it and insist on participating on the market, you will get scammed.

None of that has any ethical or sociological consideration inbuilt. It's a simply observation of the system.

Anyway, yes, that means the system is bad. But this is an ethical and sociological consideration.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not an investment because there is no asset behind it. (no production) It is a speculative vehicle.

The rights to Mickey Mouse are about as productionless as any crypto, and I'd struggle to find anyone that doesn't think it would be a great investment.

Disney makes Mickey Mouse cartoons and uses it as branding. It doesn't have value just because Disney thinks it could sell the rights for more later. In fact, they don't ever want to sell it.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#354

When Crypto was young it was this cool new technology that mostly interesting because of the underlying tech. But even back then it was mostly valuable for buying drugs online and other illegal stuff. Now it's that and a way to scam people of their life savings. I do hope it dies out, it should have been heavily regulated from the get go. Way too many people saw these high production commercials with their favorite c…

When bitcoin first came onto the scene I personally knew a guy who was running a website to act as an exchange. It was small because bitcoin itself at that time was very small. Then bitcoin had its very first dip and it became unprofitable to mine bitcoins. When that happened he shuttered the website and kept everyone's bitcoins. I knew of bitcoin early on due to this guy, but even then I had no interest and consider…

Just for the record (and not as a defense of crypto): using gold for protecting your money from inflation is completely nonsensical, too.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#355

When Crypto was young it was this cool new technology that mostly interesting because of the underlying tech. But even back then it was mostly valuable for buying drugs online and other illegal stuff. Now it's that and a way to scam people of their life savings. I do hope it dies out, it should have been heavily regulated from the get go. Way too many people saw these high production commercials with their favorite c…

Somewhere between "internet nerd project for buying drugs" and "every single Super Bowl ad" regulation should have stepped in. That kind of shit gives the scams a legitimacy they can't buy otherwise.

2017. That last crypto boom. After that whole run we should have probably looked into more regulations.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#356
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BTC, A deflationary currency that lost 75% in value in a year, despite all the problems coming from projects that aren't even BTC.

> A deflationary currency that lost 75% in value in a year I don't know, my BTC is still worth one BTC.

You should work for the white house.

What inflation? 1 USD is still 1 USD.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#357

When Crypto was young it was this cool new technology that mostly interesting because of the underlying tech. But even back then it was mostly valuable for buying drugs online and other illegal stuff. Now it's that and a way to scam people of their life savings. I do hope it dies out, it should have been heavily regulated from the get go. Way too many people saw these high production commercials with their favorite c…

> trusted celebrities on an ad

A fool and his money…

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#358

When Crypto was young it was this cool new technology that mostly interesting because of the underlying tech. But even back then it was mostly valuable for buying drugs online and other illegal stuff. Now it's that and a way to scam people of their life savings. I do hope it dies out, it should have been heavily regulated from the get go. Way too many people saw these high production commercials with their favorite c…

When bitcoin first came onto the scene I personally knew a guy who was running a website to act as an exchange. It was small because bitcoin itself at that time was very small. Then bitcoin had its very first dip and it became unprofitable to mine bitcoins. When that happened he shuttered the website and kept everyone's bitcoins. I knew of bitcoin early on due to this guy, but even then I had no interest and consider…

That's not a Bitcoin problem, but a human problem, and one that exists in any realm where value is held by a third party.

It's like saying that sausages are bad, and should go away from existence, because the dog ate them off the kitchen counter.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As it stands, without crypto, you are pretty much a hostage to visa, mastercard, discover, and amex to exchange money effectively, and those companies are opinionated to a disturbing extent about who they deny business with when it comes to something so important. While those companies are not operated as some sort of common carrier of transactions crypto is essential for a free global society. Apparently Trump of al…

What happened to cash? While I don't use it a lot anymore myself, I'm struggling to think of any service or product I use whose provider would not happily accept cash as payment. There are more than a couple of small restaurants here that only accept cash. My barber only accepts cash.

Payments to remote distances become cumbersome.

Re: Is this the end of crypto?

#360

Fundamental issues of cryptocurrency economy: 1. Biggest pushers are seemingly tech-bros from FANG companies. These companies are laying off staff in record numbers. The biggest cryptocoin believers therefore, will have less income than ever before (in ~3 months or so, after their severance is paid, they'll have to start drawing on savings if they didn't get a job yet... and getting a job in this economy is going to…

> 3. Inflation. Instead of being a hedge on inflation, cryptocoins collapsed in the face of it. I don't disagree with the other points but... That one remains to be seen. Bitcoin was precisely created as a gigantic middle finger to the central bank's endless money printing to bail out the financial system. That's the message in the genesis block ("Chancellor on the brink of second bank bail out": it's as political as…

> I have zero confidence in USD / EUR. I have zero confidence in banks. I believe in stocks and, yes, in BTC and ETH on my own hardware wallet.

I’m eager to learn at which institutions you plan to buy and sell your stocks, and which currency you are planning to use to do so.

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