This is very, very well written. Recommend reading in its entirity.
Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
11–20 of 184 posts
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#12I usually brush aside these doomsday articles about crypto, but the linked article is really depressing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/sam-bankm...
I remember nicer days when crypto had some value, and yes exchanges were already shady and did a lot of washing, but there was clearly a closer approximation to market sentiment and real world use cases. Nowadays everything seems to be revolve around derivatives, margin lending, yielding and staking to be margin lent again. The problem, IMO, might actually have been smart contracts.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#13Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to do with the thing that is Bitcoin. Most critics just don't understand what problem Bitcoin solves. They think it has something to do with replacing currency, or sending payments. Bitcoin is a financial freedom tool for billions of people, the likes of which do not browse Hacker News. Those people get Bitcoin instantly. They don't need articles like this one to tell them why their needs are unmet by the traditional finance system. The thing that Bitcoin critics lack is the understanding of credit markets, central banking and manipulation of money - the source of a large number of problems in the world. To them, everything is fine. Reminds me of that meme where the place is on fire and the dog is sitting in the middle of the room - that's the Bitcoin critic.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#14Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to d…
> Bitcoin is a financial freedom tool for billions of people, the likes of which do not browse Hacker News
These people are most vulnerable of the lot. They live hand to mouth, don't posses computing devices (may be cheap China smartphone). I cannot fathom how this demography manages bitcoin assets, manages to purchase their basic needs (which is all they can afford) using coins and not to mention this market crash when even millionaires are feeling the pinch.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#15The author is a bit melodramatic. Yes there are mostly scams in the space, but that is not a bug, its a feature of less regulation.
Most advocates of Crypto like most critics think about Crypto from the perspective of a consumer, which is misguided. How many people, especially technically minded people, know the boring technical intricacies of the financial sector? Not many.
The concepts, if not necessarily the current implementations of them will be used by large financial institutions to generate better margins, help High net worth individuals to avoid taxes better and possibly some other very boring things around decentralized consensus algorithms.
Defi is interesting to Vanguard and Citi, not to the consumer.
It will not revolutionize the world, nor destroy it... like most technology it will create a few successful companies and make some people rich.
PS Just to be clear, it is currently a dumpster fire that needs to be regulated ASAP. But its not going to do much more than pump a bit of cash from poor people to scumbags, that is not new.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#16Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to d…
> fincial freedom tool for billions of people, the likes of which do not browse Hacker News.
Citation needed (to put it mildly). How is Bitcoin improving on e.g. M-Pesa?
Is there much adoption compared to M-Pesa, outside of fantasy?
If you're not familiar with M-Pesa, then you don't know this subject at all.
> Those people get Bitcoin instantly.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/17/jay-z-bitcoin-...
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#17Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to d…
> Bitcoin is a financial freedom tool for billions of people, the likes of which do not browse Hacker News These people are most vulnerable of the lot. They live hand to mouth, don't posses computing devices (may be cheap China smartphone). I cannot fathom how this demography manages bitcoin assets, manages to purchase their basic needs (which is all they can afford) using coins and not to mention this market crash w…
What you describe here is grouping of thousands of different types of demographics into one. The reality is very different depending where you live, and your level of technology access varies. A fleeing Ukrainian is very well versed in Bitcoin - Ukraine has one of the highest levels of adoption. A Nigerian is also very versed in Bitcoin - despite their government's attempt at curtailing use, they still find a way. A kid in Congo may or may not have access to a smart phone - that I have no way of knowing, but I do know that cell phone access is ubiquitous in Africa despite what many imagine or believe. Sure, their needs may be better served by a stable coin, but that does not relieve bitcoin of value. A Salvadorian may or may not understand Bitcoin - but this is like asking the population to understand how your email protocol works - there's a lot to learn. Even in a country like Japan, Bitcoin is becoming a safe haven with the Yen losing 20% of its value when comparing to USD.
Going back to the topic of the "most vulnerable", a bank that you and I take for granted is a luxury in many of Africa's nations. Bitcoin is a permission-less banking system. Does it have technological hurdles for the average person to overcome? Yes. But this is all being worked on right now by people I talk to every day. The same way that most people have no idea how SMTP works, you won't really need to understand behind the scenes of Bitcoin. There are various levels of autonomy and people will fall on the spectrum of where they are comfortable, with the level of privacy / security that most fits their Bitcoin education.
You might find this short video interesting (only 10 seconds or so): https://twitter.com/HODLneverSODL/status/1518134911244320769...
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#18Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to d…
> Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi shenanigans
Really? How do you call something where there is no underlying product generating value, and you need to have someone else put money in to get your money out? It's literally the definition of a ponzi pyramid.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
They were pretty popular on HN, always been. I know because I participated in a lot of discussions the past years here about all the stupidity going around the cryptocurrency space. Don't let your biases write your comments.
Cryptocurrency criticism was prevalent for years on HN, yes. But the popularity of the criticism is increasing with its recent price drop.
That seems... expected? Magical internet money is more on peoples' minds than usual at the moment, so it's natural that stuff about it would get more engagement.
Re: Bitcoin Is a Hideous Monstrosity Made Out of Computers and Greed
#20Bitcoin is the solution to the fundamentally broken debt-driven economy. Critics don't get it because they lump it together with "cryptocurrency". While technically a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi, scam-like shenanigans that are easily observable in shitcoins. Yes, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening with wash trading - but this is a byproduct of lack of regulation and has nothing to d…
> Bitcoin does not exhibit any of the ponzi shenanigans Really? How do you call something where there is no underlying product generating value, and you need to have someone else put money in to get your money out? It's literally the definition of a ponzi pyramid.
Bitcoin is voluntary. The goal is better money. If you take on that big of a challenge, you kinda need people to participate with their "old" money. It's called adoption. Just like internet would have no value if nobody participated, bitcoin has no value if nobody participates. Do you send email to yourself? No. Do you shop from a non-existing platform? no.