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Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

stephendiehl.com

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Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#321

Post by hbrn »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #163
TEP_Kim_Il_Sung wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The majority of all USD in existence is digital, so your reasoning falls somewhat flat.

The lack of value for funny internet coins doesn't come from it being digital, it comes from being absolutely worthless because noone wants to take it. When a government, a physical entity is formed and says "the US Dollar is the currency we'll use to exchange goods", you have value in the USD because you know you're going to be able to use it. You'll be able to buy your lunch with it, because the state you live in s…

> you have value in the USD because you know you're going to be able to use it

No, you speculate that you're going to be able to use it. Like, you know, people did in Venezuela.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#322

Post by germinalphrase »

throwaway98797 wrote: post #296
germinalphrase wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an odd… insult?

it’s not an insult someone not using a product doesn’t mean it’s not useful

Ah, got it. That didn’t come through for me (and for others judging by their downvotes).

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#323

Post by Geee »

Almost all money is a scam. People don't typically realize that 'making money from thin air' is the oldest of all scams.

In history books they tell that people used salt, animal furs, shells etc. as money. What's forgotten is that there was always a 'bro' who shilled these new forms of money to other people. This bro had found a way to produce these cheaply and could get rich.

Eventually people realized this scam and moved onto rare metals which can't be produced from thin air, without work. However, these were minted into standard coinage, and eventually they were clipped or mixed with cheaper metals. Again, someone found a way to scam.

Next, we moved onto gold-backed paper money and then to fiat currency, and yet again the scamming continues, even easier than before. They've even made the scamming official, by mandating the 2% inflation target.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#324

Post by mmcnl »

Geee wrote: post #323

Almost all money is a scam. People don't typically realize that 'making money from thin air' is the oldest of all scams. In history books they tell that people used salt, animal furs, shells etc. as money. What's forgotten is that there was always a 'bro' who shilled these new forms of money to other people. This bro had found a way to produce these cheaply and could get rich. Eventually people realized this scam and…

Money is not a scam at all. That's a ridiculous claim.

I can use money to purchase goods and services. Not a scam.

I can't use crypto to purchase goods and services. Yes a scam.

Simple.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#327

Post by mmcnl »

valdiorn wrote: post #27

Crypto absolutely has value, and the price of Bitcoin will never go to zero. NFTs are useful. That's because the value these things provide is money-laundering, bypassing of international financial regulations and tax fraud. Yeah that's a superb value proposition right there, and definitely something we want to keep free and available /s The current system is flawed in many, many ways, but none of it happened arbitra…

Bitcoin has theoretical value. However, how many people are in bitcoin because of said reasons? I'd argue less than 1%. The other >99% are in it to make money out of thin air. So indeed, the value will never go to zero but the current nominal value of bitcoin is orders of magnitude higher than the intrinsic value.

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#328

Post by shagie »

righttoolforjob wrote: post #326

Slightly related. The Reddit subforum for Bitcoin is managed by people supporting the scam and they very actively promote it and will ban any opposition. I think that should be illegal.

While the "Reddit's /r/{something} is supported by people with a financial interest in {something}" can be distasteful, under what theory of law would or should it be made illegal?

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#329

Post by phonescreen_man »

eli wrote: post #202
phonescreen_man wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem with that though is finding a buyer, let’s say I buy 2 rolexs for 50k, I want to pay off my dealer in Ireland, so I fly there with my two watches.. how do I sell them? Do I just hawk em in a pawn shop, if so would I still get back my 50k?

I buy 50k in bitcoin on a US exchange and send it to someone in Ireland and they transfer it to their exchange and cash it out do they get back exactly 50k?

Sometimes.. sometimes more, sometimes less. The point is there is a crypto exchange they can cash out at, in fact many.. and usually the prices are similar across exchanges. John’s pawn shop doesn’t offer the same price for the Rolex as Patricia’s pawn shop.. anyway.. not really important in the grand scheme of things. Bitcoin bad mmmkay ;)

Re: Yes, Crypto Is All a Scam

#330

Post by eli »

ShowalkKama wrote: post #16

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".

It's only KYC-less until you need to buy something that can't be bought with crypto, which is 99+% of the things I buy.

Payments are fast and relatively easy if the recipient wants to be paid in crypto. There are lots of fast and easy payment options if the sender gets to dictate how the value is stored. I can email you an IOU right now. But most people would prefer their local currency, and getting currency A -> crypto -> currency B is neither fast nor easy and almost always involves a KYC process.

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