51–60 of 136 posts
It feels like the skeptics, who were pointing out last year that the rates on crypto yield products, were too good to be true, had a point. That's Celsius, Voyager, Blockfi, Genesis and now nexo all in some level of financial/legal trouble. The question is how much is still to be uncovered.
and yet Bitcoin is up 10% so far this year
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Disruptive product-oriented technologist, with a mind for optimizing customer-business needs.
Shady. Willing to be paid in strange currencies deposited in overseas banks. Likely to have tax troubles one day. Knows how to buy a plane ticket using cash. Strong opinions on Krugerrand valuation. Owns a motorcycle without an odometer. Bought a house with a series of 9,999$ travelers checks. More likely to install a Kim Dotcom-type panic room than run for public office.
Not Crypto, AFVs.
The pitch:
This is not another scam Crypto startup. This is an institutionally backed, fully transparent AFV.
VCs:
Oh, I see. Yep we're in.
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I would be super worried about having a resume filled with ponzi schemes.
Just like every ponzi scheme, the trick is to get out in time. I wonder how many people worked for Madoff but left before it all fell apart. How many of them are now working in other financial jobs? or Lehman bros.
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and yet Bitcoin is up 10% so far this year
I can’t tell if this is sarcastic or not But it’s incredibly fascinating to see how much the Bitcoin fans can ignore all of the fraud and the collapse of crypto markets, instead focusing on hypothetically perfect retroactive market timing. So much of the Bitcoin propaganda is different versions of “Well if you had bought Bitcoin on then you’d be up right now!”
But yes that last part is right, people are always saying stuff like that and it’s a terrible argument if you can even call it that.
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Is Bitcoin a Ponzi? How exactly?
The only way to make money investing in Bitcoin is to convince a greater fool to buy your coins for more than you paid for them. And that greater fool must in turn convince an even greater fool, etc, etc It's not a Ponzi, but it has similar dynamics to a Ponzi in that you can only gain money through other people losing money.
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and yet Bitcoin is up 10% so far this year
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Ahh yes, the time honored "HN is so mean to crypto" complaint. The moment someone can show me realistic benefits to crypto that aren't total scams, happy to change my opinion.
I mean, just look at the BTC community. Yes, they are generally the most conservative, but they are also are the most cultishly wedded to proof-of-work, which is so blatantly an eventual dead end for broad adoption that it's hard to take it seriously.