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Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

drewdevault.com

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Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#161

Post by eric_cc »

shkkmo wrote: post #151
eric_cc wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said you should buy anything. And certainly never in my life have I tried to sell a crypto. Why would I? I enjoy discussing how crypto is going to change the world because I genuinely believe it will. A move away from everything being centralized is a good thing in my opinion. edit: just to add on - would you call somebody who was excited about the Internet in 1995 a salesman? Just because I have an easy time…

Weren't you just trying to charge people to discuss with them how cryptocurrencies will change the world? That sounds much less like an ethusiast and much more like a salesman.

It was a sarcastic reply to the request the poster made of me but I guess that humor was lost on you. Why on earth would I spend the time and effort to write up a well sourced research paper to satisfy some random request on hacker news?

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#162

Post by narwally »

22c wrote: post #91
aeroheim wrote: post #58

The most alarming thing to me is how effective cryptocurrencies are in drawing out the inner greed of most people. It's created an obsession of quick wealth among a lot of otherwise normal people, hijacking their rationality and further propagating the viral nature of it. If you take a look at many of the online communities for cryptocurrencies online you'll notice a lot of disturbing behavior that's very cult-like.…

Do you think that is related to cryptocurrency, or simply any fast moving asset in general? How many people really bought GME just to stick it to the hedge funds? How many people really liked the stock?

I think it's all of them, but the scary thing is what involvement in the markets for these assets can do to people.

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#164

Post by eric_cc »

shkkmo wrote: post #149
eric_cc wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you don’t believe a protocol like ethereum is beneficial to the above problems? How would you solve it without ethereum (or similar) protocol?

How is ethereum necessary or beneficial in solving any of them?

Not sure if you’re joking or not. If not, at least start with the wiki page to begin learning about it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#165

Post by aeroheim »

22c wrote: post #91
aeroheim wrote: post #58

The most alarming thing to me is how effective cryptocurrencies are in drawing out the inner greed of most people. It's created an obsession of quick wealth among a lot of otherwise normal people, hijacking their rationality and further propagating the viral nature of it. If you take a look at many of the online communities for cryptocurrencies online you'll notice a lot of disturbing behavior that's very cult-like.…

Do you think that is related to cryptocurrency, or simply any fast moving asset in general? How many people really bought GME just to stick it to the hedge funds? How many people really liked the stock?

Cryptocurrency has an edge over other assets due to its inherent nature - it's much easier to employ sophistry and obfuscation by technology to sell it to people. Even well-educated people are vulnerable because it appeals to their sense of curiosity and has enough of a foundation to be viable.

People see the impact and success of technology in their lives. They start looking into cryptocurrencies and go "Wow, this must be revolutionary! This will eventually become as big as the internet!" Most don't care about the practicality or details, just that technology is a winner and that's where they should put their eggs into. And the ones that do care are probably so engrossed and invested into it that they're no longer rational about it.

Once people are invested it's in their best interests to propagate their ideas so they can succeed, regardless if those ideas are actually beneficial or not. I'm no psychologist but I feel like this is instinctual on a human level, which is why I say peoples rationality can get "hijacked". Anecdotally, talking to those who are invested and seeing the ridiculous amounts of irrational goalposts and whataboutisms being thrown around just reinforces this even more for me.

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#166

Post by 2pEXgD0fZ5cF »

s3krit wrote: post #159
2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is US dollar moral? Is it not also "smoke-and-mirrors" US Dollar and other "real" currencies are and can be used for payments and transactions (money in exchange for goods, services etc.). Cryptocurrencies are only converted to/from other currencies to make profits based on speculation.

Disclaimer: I don't know world global finance, I don't know much about economics, I hold several cryptocurrencies. I am fantastically unqualified to actually make this post. I was curious about this comment, because I know FOREX is a massive market. According to [1] the daily volume of FOREX in USD is $6.1 trillion. According to [2], the average 'consumer unit' (ugh... I guess that means 'person'?) in the US spends a…

I think one would have to factor in how much of the population is actually personally involved in that, the rich hold a large majority of all the money and wealth [1] and the amounts of money they move are lightyears away from the amount of money an "average" person uses for everything their daily life encompasses.

A rich person can move more money than whole towns combined. We are left with the question: Which one does better reflect the "actual" usage of money? 2-3 rich people doing speculations or thousands of "regular" people (living expenses, entertainment, work supplies etc.) with way less money?

Compared to that there is the problem that something like bitcoin is actively harmful towards practical usage due to the extremely high transaction cost, slow transactions, volatility, absolute lack of privacy, extremely high energy cost (that already surpasses whole countries with only very few people using it).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_Unite...

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#167

Post by cannabis_sam »

Jfc, while cryptos exacerbate the climate issue, our climate problems are directly and completely a consequence of a bunch of inventions in the 19th and 20th century...

Yet burning gasoline like a deranged madman is apparently constitutionally protected in every country.

Infrastructure spending is literally dependent on the continued ability of peoples to transport themselves quicker by sacrificing their grandchildren’s future.

How did this complete brain fart become policy? It’s far, far more destructive than “cryptos”..

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#168

Post by shkkmo »

eric_cc wrote: post #164
shkkmo wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is ethereum necessary or beneficial in solving any of them?

Not sure if you’re joking or not. If not, at least start with the wiki page to begin learning about it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum

You should not assume ignorance like that, it does not contribute to the conversation. You don't seem willing to make any actual arguments. You just post lists and links and demand payment when people ask you to explain what you are trying to say.

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#169

Post by narwally »

argvargc wrote: post #53
knorker wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But cars had value. They have value. They had value from day 1. Cryptocurrencies just don't. It's all smoke and mirrors, where everything would be better without the blockchain. Without irreversibility. Without everything about it. There are whole books about how terrible and useless it is. And please do what the article said: How much of your own money is dependent on you selling the lie of cryptocurrency or smart c…

The US government has been using cryptocurrencies to deliver aid direct to Venezuelans, for whom previously traditionally bank-wired funds were been pilfered by local (government-controlled) banks. The aspect of direct "peer to peer" electronic cash, coupled with plausible deniability of ownership and no need for trusted parties, are tremendously positive characteristics in poor, corrupt and developing nations where…

I'm not doubting you, but do you have a better source than a cryptocurrency news site?

Also, the US government sending cryptocurrency to South America honestly doesn't sound like a definite positive. Even recently, the US doesn't have a great track record with their interventions in that region of the world.

Re: Cryptocurrency Is an Abject Disaster

#170

Post by shkkmo »

doggosphere wrote: post #157
shkkmo wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think my, or any, national currency is secure forever, but neither is any cryptocurrency. Currently national currencies are, on average, far more stable and secure places to hold assets than any cryptocurrency. If your national isn't as stable as you like, you can more easily use a different national currency. If your country has capital controls that prohibit this, then you are using cryptocurrency to break…

Currently national currencies are, on average, far more stable and secure places to hold assets than any cryptocurrency. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL Did you expect 20% of all US dollars would have been created in 2020? 4x in the last 20 years. That doesn't sound stable to me. When your currency can be debased by 20% in a year, with no democratic process or recourse; 6 board members appointed by Presidents…

Yes, the current use case of cryptocurrency is breaking or avoiding the law, it has yet to find a use case outside that.

People who dump money into gold are idiots or speculators (or hedging larger positions.) I have lived with the ups and downs of the gold industry and it is very much not stable.

The US dollar has far more infrastructure and institutional support preventing it's collapse than bitcoin. Currently the collapse of the dollar would destroy the world economy to such an extent that I highly doubt the bitcoin network would survive intact.

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