Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

wired.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 326 posts

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

#131

Post by quickthrowman »

DannyBee wrote: post #18
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…

I doubt most of tech would appreciate being lumped in with crypto, which should be the first sign that your take is a little off. IE if you think you are just "tech being tech" but lots and lots of tech is like "uh, no, we aren't like you at all, please don't lump us in with you", that should tell you something. Beyond that, your take seems so divorced from reality i'm not even sure where to begin. I don't agree at a…

You are responding to someone who is attempting to replace existing land ownership recording systems with a blockchain based replacement, you aren’t going to persuade them as they are financially and emotionally invested in the success of cryptocurrency.

Here is the thread where they talk about it and reject every single problem that others bring up with their blockchain title system. They also lie extensively about the value of a parcel of land for some odd reason: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33878584

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

#132

Post by neilk »

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…

I wanted to see what "crossed swords" meant, so I searched for what leashless might have meant.

Some examples of threads that I felt were representative.

https://twitter.com/molly0xFFF/status/1513184187498569729

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

I think the most generous summary of these interactions would be that leashless is solidly convinced of two things: blockchains are the answer to pressing world problems, and skeptics are simply not on his intellectual and moral level.

The home page of Mattereum appears to be a pitch to create one NFT per physical item and then make transactions about it on the blockchain. I confess I am also unsure of how this technology adds value to e-commerce. Nor does this scheme seem to be sufficient to bring about such levels of transparency that it could meaningfully combat slavery, or address issues of climate justice. I hope that leashless is correct about all of that.

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

#133

Post by EamonnMR »

EGreg wrote: post #92
drewbeck wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what you're trying to get at here, and your intent for posting this. Can you elaborate?

Sure, of course. I wanted to show that Molly White doesn’t seem to be open to a discussion about the broader issues, and her blog is certainly very one-sided, which I actually appreciate (I love one sided stuff, because it tends to go out of its way to find the best arguments for its side, as long as you balance it with the other side). We are in a unique position to share our experience with her. We spent years quie…

> relying on centralized entities which clearly is a problem

More or less of a problem than out and out scams?

> Web5

Did I miss web4?

Overall your complaint would be similar to if I complained that Bryan Krebs was one-sided in his coverage of cybercrime, in that he's never pro-crime.

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

#135

Post by simonw »

vvpan wrote: post #56

I send money across borders to friends an organizations via blockchain. And millions of other people do, especially in countries with volatile financial systems. I much prefer crypto to anything else in this case. Hearing "no legitimate use case" arguments is awfully annoying when you get objective use from the thing being criticized.

Which countries?

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

#136

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

vvpan wrote: post #56

I send money across borders to friends an organizations via blockchain. And millions of other people do, especially in countries with volatile financial systems. I much prefer crypto to anything else in this case. Hearing "no legitimate use case" arguments is awfully annoying when you get objective use from the thing being criticized.

> Hearing "no legitimate use case" arguments is awfully annoying when you get objective use from the thing being criticized.

What part of the article or Molly White's coverage are you referring to?

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

#138

Post by microtherion »

chasing wrote: post #26
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…

The Web hit the scene in 1991. By 2003 how we shopped, worked, consumed media, communicated with friends and family, and interacted with information was in the process of changing radically. A million "little ambitions" to replace catalogue shopping and how hotel reservations were made were transforming how the world worked. Bitcoin hit the scene in 2011. By 2023 crypto's mostly a failed get-rich-quick scheme with a…

> Bitcoin hit the scene in 2011. By 2023 crypto's mostly a failed get-rich-quick scheme with a couple actual possibly legitimate uses that you can see if you squint just right.

You forgot that already by 2022, you were able to use multiple slurp juices on a single ape!

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

#139

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #122
j0hnyl wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

> Even if your sending end is regulated, at the other end, there has to be a regulated bank.

Are you referring to some specific regulation here?

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

#140

Post by rhcom2 »

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…

Having "bigger goals" is meaningless by itself, especially when crypto has repeatably failed to deliver.
Post reply on HN