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Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

stephendiehl.com

151–160 of 396 posts

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a deflationary currency. I hear the country got into trouble with those 90 years ago, but if the only alternative is a hyperinflationary currency, the dynamics of a deflationary currency might be a danger worth approaching.

Temporarily deflationary, when all Bitcoins are mined what happens next?

presumably, a static supply in a growing(?) economy means it continues its deflationary dynamics.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#152
post #60
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The killer app for crypto is "KYC-less" which usually means "I can evade taxes or sell illicit goods". Otherwise, real money is faster, more scalable, and more resilient to users making mistakes. Nothing I do is illegal; I pay my taxes; sometimes I make mistakes. Why would I ever want to use crypto over real money?

Swift transfers are slower than crypto. And governments have placed various restrictions on it called "capital controls". They say it's to encourage investment into their own economies, but investors knows it doesn't achieve that.

Some U.S. bank transfers are slow. This is not true globally or immutable, and the main reason it’s not a problem is that the payment systems the vast majority of Americans use are fast - much faster than cryptocurrencies.

Capital controls are a political topic. You can disagree with them, dissent is important, but it’s also important to be honest and say that you’re seeing an advantage through breaking the law, which is like discovering that your business is more profitable if you don’t pay taxes.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point, crypto is useless. Are people making money trading it? Yes. Can regular people do anything with it? No. With as much money that has been poured into crypto related businesses, I still can't easily send or transact business with it.

> Can regular people do anything with it? No. It's used a lot in the third world. In Georgia you can buy a burger paying crypto via NFC terminal. I also know people who get their salaries in crypto. And it's used a lot for donating to opposition where it's illegal, like in most dictatorship.

I feel bad for them then. I don't know enough about economics or politics, but it would seem preferable if they could be paid in US dollars.

Maybe orthogonal (?) but it sounds a little like an argument in support of lotteries. Though lotteries seem to primarily draw money away from the working class that can least afford it, banning the lottery would seem to take away that sliver of a chance that they can be lifted out of poverty.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#154

I'd like to remind the readers that some people use crypto as a payment method and do not speculate. As far as I know there is no alternative with the same level of convinience that crypto provide (KYC-less and fast payments to anyone in the world with just one secret). Remember that next time you suggest something among the lines of "crypto should be made illegal".

> I'd like to remind the readers that some people use crypto as a payment method and do not speculate.

Yes, there should be something better for these people.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#155

Not just a scam, it is the *ultimate* scam. There is no product being sold. People are being convinced to surrender working currency in exchange for a public database entry that records the fact they were duped.

working currency that has lost 95% of its value over the last 100 years (referencing inflation of US dollar since 1920)

Just wondering, what's your point? Are you saying that deflation is inherently a bad thing?

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#156
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bitcoin per se, no. Bitcoin as practiced, yes. I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean with "Bitcoin as practiced". "Bitcoin as practiced" made Bitcoin into a scam while it wasn't one before "it was practiced"?

Bitcoin as practised is a Ponzi scheme (I say it's valued $5 and if you want to join my cool buddies you need to pay $5 and we paid $0, the next person needs to pay $10 and so on and the value disappears if we don't get new people to our cool clique). The way it works (place data in a file, distribute file to everyone, use cryptography to verify that data in file placed by $someone is valid) is great.

If Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme, then fiat currencies are even worse.

The central bank plainly admits a 2.5% inflation target. That means they capture all progress in technology that allows daily life to be cheaper, and on top of that dilutes the purchasing power a further 2.5% per year.

Ever since the fiat system was implemented, the gap between the rich and poor has been increasing.

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

Bitcoin is one way to side-step this debasement.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#157
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The killer app for crypto is "KYC-less" which usually means "I can evade taxes or sell illicit goods". Otherwise, real money is faster, more scalable, and more resilient to users making mistakes. Nothing I do is illegal; I pay my taxes; sometimes I make mistakes. Why would I ever want to use crypto over real money?

Bitcoin will not freeze your assets for 90-180 days if you suddenly make twice as many sales.

That says you shouldn’t use PayPal, just as the billions locked or stolen by cryptocurrency exchanges says you should be careful about who you entrust with large amounts of money.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Temporarily deflationary, when all Bitcoins are mined what happens next?

presumably, a static supply in a growing(?) economy means it continues its deflationary dynamics.

And the miners would all shut down because no one's transacting with it
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