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

I wasted years of my life in crypto

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 1001 posts

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#91

Post by kachapopopow »

embedding-shape wrote: post #77
kachapopopow wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok you seem to be pretty outdated I won't blame you for that so I'll catch you up to speed and when I refer to bitcoin I generally refer to any tier 1 crypto currency: There is actually a BitcoinToUSDPipeline. The real problem is that the exchange crypto transactions are NON REFUNDABLE as you know, that means once it leaves the banking system (via making victim register a coinbase or kraken account, or register it fo…

> so I'll catch you up to speed Great, finally someone in this submission who know what they're talking about, exciting! > in Georgia (the country) everyone accepts crypto Oh no, another larper. You cannot walk around Georgia expecting to pay everywhere in BTC/USDT like you would with cash or a standard card, and I'm not sure what you're basing the information on because it's surely not based on personal experience.…

Georgia is from personal experience, everywhere I went was crypto accepted even the small coffee shops accepted crypto (none accepted btc tho) and just to clear it up: you don't rely on crypto for everything, small amounts via some kind of systematic b2b laundering to cover the bases and crypto for larger purchases (you can buy a car!). There are also people who will exchange thousands of crypto for cash in one go, the criminal infrastructure for crypto is massive.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#92

Post by jmye »

tim333 wrote: post #73
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

>How anyone, especially many "intelligent" people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top... However a currency was grafted on, is used by millions and has a $1.7tn market cap. Seems real.

The currency is absolutely not used by anyone serious as currency. Market caps are, quite obviously, representative of nothing, given the current state of the S&P. Let’s be serious.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#93

Post by jmye »

d--b wrote: post #30
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

What do you mean? Technically it works, no? it is an incovenient database, for sure, but the fact that people can trust it enough that they put billions of dollars in it is remarkable. I wouldn’t put my house in an S3 bucket…

You wouldn’t put your house “in a blockchain”, either. What is it you think you’re saying, here?

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#94

Post by Nextgrid »

ikt wrote: post #67
TrackerFF wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for me, the big selling point was being able to send money fast and relatively cheap. Back then you either had PayPal, or wire transfer. PP could easily freeze and hold your money over whatever issues, while bank transfer was slow. And, mind you, I only purchased/sold legal stuff.

Yep, that's what I thought nano had done: https://nano.org/en instant, fee's a fraction of a cent, I thought this was it, international payments that don't rely on visa/mastercard! and then it just went no where :\

Because in practice services like TransferWise solved this problem using fiat currencies with fees low enough not to make it worth bothering with crypto.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#96

Post by Nextgrid »

bayesianbot wrote: post #39
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

I agree with the article and I hold 0 crypto right now. But I still think it's amazing that I can hold something limited, something I can exchange for real money, in my head, just based on math. Sure it is extremely inefficient database, and pretty much all the real value needs to be linked with real world banking, but it does have some really unique features that makes me sad that it (predictably) turned to just sca…

> just scams and speculation

The "currency" part is actually the only one that is not a scam, as long as you understand what it is and the trade-offs it makes.

If you do actually have a legitimate reason to use it (because conventional payment rails are not available, or you're doing crime, or need pseudonymity), it is a perfectly fine tool.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#97

Post by nout »

dpedu wrote: post #51
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

The anonymity aspect of it always confused me. If anything, bitcoin and almost all other cryptos are the ultimate surveillance state currency. Every single bitcoin, no matter how many fractions it is broken into, is traceable through every single transaction it has ever participated in, all the way back to when the coin was first mined.

When you start transacting on Bitcoin Lightning network (which is essentially sending pre-signed bitcoin transactions in a smart way, without submitting them on the main chain), then you no longer see each transaction. Lightning introduces decent privacy, not perfect, but decent.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#98

Post by jb1991 »

lapcat wrote: post #35
jb1991 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, working hard towards a goal is never a waste, it can often be a learning experience regardless of the end result. And that learning is extremely valuable and also takes time.

> Indeed, working hard towards a goal is never a waste, it can often be a learning experience regardless of the end result. What if the end result is harmful to society?

I guess that would depend on your own personal moral backbone as to which direction you would go at that point. Undoubtedly you’ll learn something either way, but hopefully someone would adjust for their next effort.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#99

Post by nout »

Nextgrid wrote: post #94
ikt wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's what I thought nano had done: https://nano.org/en instant, fee's a fraction of a cent, I thought this was it, international payments that don't rely on visa/mastercard! and then it just went no where :\

Because in practice services like TransferWise solved this problem using fiat currencies with fees low enough not to make it worth bothering with crypto.

For larger amounts it makes sense to use the bitcoin rails for international transfers. I'm doing bank to bank international transfers and using bitcoin saves around 3% compared to Wise and you get the money immediately (or within 1hr, depending on what you use).

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#100

Post by koonsolo »

spicyusername wrote: post #9

I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me. The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and ho…

So the bitcoin market cap is currently at $1.8 trillion.

You can compare that to USD M0 which is $5 trillion or EUR M0 which is around €4 trillion.

Not bad for an "extremely inconvenient database".

Post reply on HN