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Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

wired.co.uk

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Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#121

Post by AnonCoward42 »

What difference does the currency make in terms of scams? I do not see the point here. For me it makes no difference if I am being scammed in BTC, LTC, or USD or Rouble. Then there are the obvious scam coins, but these are not the primary argument here (would've made more sense when attacking crypto). FTX is the primary argument and FTX is not crypto. You could basically make the same thing with fiat money. Crypto is not necessarily the problem here.

I am not much into crypto, but I know the saying: Not your keys, not your coins/money.

What is this article even? There is the very short vita. The common theme being crypto. Apparently she is also a victim (which is a sole identity by now, not sure if hers). And most importantly she hates crypto.

What does she actually do? I have no clue. She has a blog apparently, but that doesn't really warrant an article and the article should tell me why they write an article about that person.

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#122

Post by lern_too_spel »

j0hnyl wrote: post #115
lern_too_spel wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your use-case is breaking money transfer laws. Just like every other use-case, it is far less expensive to break money transfer laws with a centralized ledger. When you make blockchain money transfer comply with regulations, it becomes more expensive than legal money transfer using centralized ledger. When regulation kicks in (and it will — no government wants its citizens to be fleeced by rogue nations like DPRK and…

You're assuming it breaks laws, but it doesn't have to, it just makes it easier to do something that's painful to do either by design or due to shitty economic circumstances. In some countries banks pop-up and fold a dime a dozen week to week. Does that mean someone shouldn't be able to send funds to their relatives in a fucked up country?

> You're assuming it breaks laws, but it doesn't have to, it just makes it easier to do something that's painful to do either by design or due to shitty economic circumstances

Even if your sending end is regulated, at the other end, there has to be a regulated bank. If not, the person who is receiving the "money" could be breaking their country's laws. Cryptocurrencies don't magically change that. Otherwise, PayPal or Venmo could allow accounts to be created for those people in US dollars and do the job even more inexpensively.

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#123

Post by wustangdan »

ceejayoz wrote: post #76
wustangdan wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm From Jan 2019 to now we've had 17.4% inflation. Your purchasing power of the money in your bank account has been reduced. How have other assets faired in that time? > Objection, Your Honor. Assumes facts not in evidence. Okay longer timeline, if you held dollars in your savings account from Jan 2009 to now (during ZIRP) you've lost 30.5% of your purchasing power. How…

> if you held dollars in your savings account from Jan 2009 to now... ... I would be a doofus. That's where my emergency fund goes, but that's it. > From Jan 2019 to now we've had 17.4% inflation. Your purchasing power of the money in your bank account has been reduced. How have other assets faired in that time? My home value has tripled, and the S&P500 has gone dramatically up. Series I savings bonds are also a usef…

Well sorry but you confused me as my main issue was with USD and I believed you thought that USD had "not all that much of consequence" happening to its value. But it seems we are mostly in agreement.

I'm happy you have a home and own some SP500 to offset USD destruction. Not everyone is so fortunate to have access to those markets. I would suggest you look into crypto as part of your hedge against bad USG behavior because it has some nice properties that could uncorrelate it with those assets if things get nasty (90% tax rates, etc).

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#124

Post by not2b »

gitfan86 wrote: post #50
scottiebarnes wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your mistake is in understanding that crypto (Bitcoin) isn't just a transmission network, it is protocol with a defined supply rate. Your payment pipelines become less valuable when nobody wants those Liras, Bolivars, Argentine Pesos, etc. transmitted over them. And if you don't think that the US dollar is at risk of debasing itself, you should qualify why.

The USD lost 98% of its value before bitcoin ever existed. The idea that sophisticated investors have been putting their money into USD and need crypto people to explain inflation to them is ridiculous. It is equally ridiculous that crypto people think that having a fixed supply of something makes it valuable. Oceanfront property in Miami is also limited, but crypto people are not pumping that because they are not in…

Moderate inflation is actually helpful. It improves the situation of debtors, and encourages people to use their money rather than hoard it. It's bad if it gets too high, of course. But a lot of boomers are very comfortable because they managed to buy a house and pay it off with cheaper and cheaper money. If your income keeps up with inflation isn't not much of a problem.

Deflation can send an economy into a death spiral.

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#126

Post by ninepoints »

AnonCoward42 wrote: post #121

What difference does the currency make in terms of scams? I do not see the point here. For me it makes no difference if I am being scammed in BTC, LTC, or USD or Rouble. Then there are the obvious scam coins, but these are not the primary argument here (would've made more sense when attacking crypto). FTX is the primary argument and FTX is not crypto. You could basically make the same thing with fiat money. Crypto is…

What difference you mean, aside from the lack of a regulatory framework, pseudonymity (and paradoxically, lack of privacy), lack of recourse in the face of user error, and custodial issues? The "not your keys not your coins" take is hilariously dumb in light of how much "value" has evaporated in personal custodial failure. The currency and its supporting infrastructure has everything to do with it, and crypto fails basic litmus tests to even attempt to go mainstream.

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#127

Post by molly0x57 »

leashless wrote: post #9

I've crossed swords with Molly a couple of times. I was the release coordinator for Ethereum, and I've been active in the space a long long time. Here's what it boils down to: freedom is messy. The early days of the dotcom space were filled with carnage of a type which makes crypto look pretty normal. Amazon stock dropped >90% and a trillion and a half in value vanished from the market overall. https://en.wikipedia.o…

"crossed swords" indeed: https://twitter.com/leashless/status/1513695569528692738

https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/status/1516610542588284931

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#128

Post by molly0x57 »

vvpan wrote: post #48
X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't see any reason why someone working in cryptocurrency, but clear eyed about the possibility of down sides would "cross swords with Molly". She is an incredible source, as far as I can tell the *best* at finding and highlighting what's going wrong. That's incredibly valuable. rekt.news is also quite good, but skewed towards less reporting but more in depth. IMO Molly should be getting public good funding…

I do not think "crossing swords" is necessarily something aggressive, it could have been debate. I am quiet the blockchain-believer and follow and read Molly's twitter. Yet I do not think she should be unopposed in her views, on the contrary I want her to be challenged, it just comes with making a name for yourself as being anything-skeptic.

https://twitter.com/leashless/status/1513695569528692738

https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/status/1516610542588284931

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#129

Post by bmoxb »

snapcaster wrote: post #52
eli wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"avoiding laws" is not a "legitimate" use

I think you're using legitimate to mean "legal and most reasonable people would be okay with it" whereas the post you're responding to meant "legitimate" to mean an actual real technological advancement that wasn't doable with previous technologies

> wasn't doable with previous technologies

But anonymous London shell companies have been available for years!

Re: Molly White Tracks Crypto Scams. It’s Going Just Great

#130

Post by Krollifi »

beefield wrote: post #103
Krollifi wrote: post #68

Is crypto a briar patch that will fail or is it an ingenious technology that will kill traditional banking? Only time will tell. More competition is a good thing. Right?

I haven't been following crypto space in that detail, but my understanding is that what crypto is/does boils down to in traditional banking terms is payment settlement and (leveraged) trading/gambling. Unfortunately for crypto, these are a tiny, tiny fraction of traditional banking. How is crypto going to kill traditional mortgages, M&A, corporate bond market, car loans etc?

Mostly I was outlining two possible extremes but there is some reality behind them.

Coinbase was planning on creating a lending product but the SEC called that a security and Coinbase has delayed its plans.

There are collateralized loan products already in decentralized finance apps such as Curve and MakerDAO (oasis.app). There aren't many artificial limits to what a Turing complete smart contract can do as long as it has access to the underlying information.

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