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Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

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Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#311

Post by cdiddy2 »

kec wrote: post #176
olalonde wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proof-of-work works fine with clean energy. You should direct your concerns at polluting forms of energy sources.

Increased energy usage is increased energy usage. The underlying argument here is proof of working isn't actually burning this energy for any useful purpose and the excess clean energy production should be directly offsetting dirty energy production instead.

This is not true. If you take a bitcoin miner and put it on a gas well that is leaking methane which is 10x worse than CO2 and burn that methane to create CO2 you are increasing energy usage and cleaning the environment. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-05-03/methan...

If you have already mined coal burning in a field and instead take that coal and put it through a generator and mine bitcoin with it you are using more energy and cleaning up emissions. https://www.wesa.fm/environment-energy/2022-01-31/how-waste-...

In a lot of places in the midwest up to 25% of wind or solar energy is priced at a negative level, this means they are paying to produce energy. Setting up a bitcoin miner is perfect because it can be quickly turned on/off and doesn't require consistent power like most manufacturing or other energy intense activities. This makes renewables more economical.

This goes into all of this as well. https://niccarter.info/wp-content/uploads/txsummit_nc_oct08....

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#312

Post by wonderwonder »

Crypto is fascinating to me as its the first truly social media driven financial market. If twitter died tomorrow, most crypto currencies would go to zero or would start at zero and stay there. Just as social media surfaces the worst of society, crypto currency often reflects that. I do think there are interesting use cases and i do invest in it as a portion of my retirement. I have never felt joy at someone else losing money as at the end of the day many of these abrasive personalities are just reply guys living lives of quiet desperation hoping for some attention and a small chance of exiting the rat race. Majority of them are dealing in very small volumes and are fueled by hope. Why would I wish loss on these people? The truly successful crypto bros are likely still very wealthy and will weather the bear market. Its the small time average investor that serves as exit liquidity.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#313

Post by hnthrowaway0328 »

I'm glad.

Crypto IMHO mostly is a scam. Neither is it backed by real commodities, nor is it backed by violence (think military might). It alone (without converting to other currencies) can make few legitimate purchases. Because it still can make some legitimate purchases, I used the word "mostly".

The computational power could be used for other purposes.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#314

Post by sertorius »

missedthecue wrote: post #282
sertorius wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the perfecting money laundering vehicle. "I made a picture of an ape and 'some random anonymous person' bought it for $1M!"

How is that money laundering? You'd have to buy ethereum with cash, but at that point why bother with the NFT? Just sell the Ethereum on coinbase and you've laundered the money.

Coinbase has KYC ("Know your customer") policies explicitly to comply with anti-money laundering.

https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/managing-my-account/up...

Edit: besides that, the point of 'laundering' money is basically to get it into a form where it is officially yours, in the light, with taxes paid. The NFT is a conceivably 'legitimate' transfer of value. I made a thing and sold it for money, and declared and paid tax on the capital gain - boom, legitimate.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#315

Post by gcheong »

TameAntelope wrote: post #139
joecot wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As soon as it was clear that Bitcoin was going to be a commodity instead of a currency (why use it as a currency to buy a pizza this week when it could buy you a car next week?), it was clear it was now a pyramid scheme. That's why I didn't invest in it. What I hadn't counted on was how gullible people were for pyramid schemes.

I wish we had a better phrase than "pyramid scheme", because IMO anything that's a "scheme" has people who know better at one end, and I really don't think there's anyone involved in crypto that is deliberately "winning". What's a phrase for when everyone is getting scammed, and not by any one person, but by an idea? Where there are no winners, only lucky and unlucky. Pyramid trap? Pyramid quagmire? IDK, but "scheme"…

Greater Fool Theory maybe: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#316

Post by 29athrowaway »

IAmWorried wrote: post #9

It's less that I'm glad the market is crashing, and more that I'm glad that the insufferable crypto bros are finally getting a punch to the mouth. Seriously, these people are the worst. Your average "crypto investor" has no skills, no mathematical foundations, nothing. Except for pure stupid luck, and the ability to spew inane crypto babble 24/7. And yes, they think they are much smarter than you, because they achiev…

If someone is making money, good for them.

My dislike of bitcoin is mostly due to its enormous energy usage. And the scarcity of GPUs.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#318

Post by la_fayette »

IAmWorried wrote: post #9

It's less that I'm glad the market is crashing, and more that I'm glad that the insufferable crypto bros are finally getting a punch to the mouth. Seriously, these people are the worst. Your average "crypto investor" has no skills, no mathematical foundations, nothing. Except for pure stupid luck, and the ability to spew inane crypto babble 24/7. And yes, they think they are much smarter than you, because they achiev…

I think this is a dump discussion here... look at the stock price of amazon, apple or what not. In perspective of the stock market, it is nothing special when u look at the crypto assets...

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else glad the crypto market is crashing?

#320

Post by wonderwonder »

moultano wrote: post #304
wonderwonder wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

stocks are a pyramid scheme as well, just an accepted one. To profit in stocks, new investor funds are required same as crypto. Truly the only non pyramid schemes are income producing assets such as a business or real estate.

Look up what a dividend is.

Amazon is one of the largest companies on earth. How much has it paid in dividends?

Netflix? Alibaba?

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