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The first ICO unicorns are here

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Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#41

Post by sayurichick »

bsder wrote: post #31
brndnmtthws wrote: post #9

This is a bit off topic, but bear with me: so far, nearly every comment in this thread has contained some degree cynicism toward cryptocurrency-related funding. Why does HN have such a distaste for cryptocurrencies? Why can't we just have an intelligent conversation about this new technology? Why do we have all the negativity and downvotes for any remotely positive comments related to cryptocurrencies? This is super…

> Why does HN have such a distaste for cryptocurrencies? Most charitably, because blockchain currencies don't solve any useful problem. As has been aptly demonstrated by the by the Vinnick arrest, they are far from anonymous. And, has been aptly demonstrated by the recent Bitcoin Cash fork, blockchain currencies don't have distributed, immutable trust. So, a bitcoin currency isn't anonymous and is subject to a centra…

decentralization _does_ solve useful problems. The hard part is how do you get rich off of keeping data out of centralized servers, or having financial privacy, or creating platforms for USERS to get rich.

I'm a bitcoin maximalist but there is an upcoming ICO that i have to plug. I bought some to use, not to speculate on, but in hindsight I didn't realize there was an opportunity to make some profit.

It's a lending platform. P2P lending w/o the need of banks. You don't need credit for a loan because you put up collateral in the form of Bitcoin (or probably Ethereum as well).

I've seen all the pump/dump tokens, and i'm not interested in those. I'd actually use and benefit from this platform. I hold a pretty significant amount of BTC and I learned after selling some btc to never sell again. However, If there is a time when I need $USD, I can put up my BTC as collateral, have USD deposited to my bank account, pay interest on it, and once I've paid it all I get my BTC back as well.

It's so easy to be cynical this early, and I don't blame you but we're still 3-8 years from the "Facebook" era of crypto... you're upset because we don't have the ecosystem now, but that's also because people are still coming out with use cases.

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#42

Post by tvural »

There are likely some ulterior motives behind the way cryptocurrency is currently being covered. If you have sway in a news organization, it would be quite lucrative to invest in some crypto-related companies, and then encourage all stories written about cryptocurrency to take a positive view. The persuasion works best when it's hidden, like a story about a teenager becoming rich by buying into bitcoin early. This is fine, but only if all such stories come with a disclosure. Otherwise it's an ethically challenging position to be in, like the rating agencies who kept quiet to avoid losing their clients during 2008.

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#43

Post by ChrisClark »

Kalium wrote: post #12
brndnmtthws wrote: post #9

This is a bit off topic, but bear with me: so far, nearly every comment in this thread has contained some degree cynicism toward cryptocurrency-related funding. Why does HN have such a distaste for cryptocurrencies? Why can't we just have an intelligent conversation about this new technology? Why do we have all the negativity and downvotes for any remotely positive comments related to cryptocurrencies? This is super…

A lot of people find the technologies incredibly interesting and potentially extremely useful. Similarly, a lot of people find the uses to which those extremely interesting technologies are being put to be at best questionable and of marginal utility. Are blockchains cool? OH FUCK YES! Is people raising a lot of cash from suckers in a bubble-y market that threatens to rebound on all of us cool? Some might opine that…

And the technology is the exact reason the OMG token is worth what it is right now. It's to be used for Staking in the Plasma[1] technology sidechains. Plasma is interesting because it's created by two of some of the most influential people in blockchain tech, Butterin of Ethereum and Poon of the Lightning Network. So a new technology from the creators of two already really interesting technologies.

[1] http://plasma.io/

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#44

Post by mrep »

will_brown wrote: post #24
brndnmtthws wrote: post #9

This is a bit off topic, but bear with me: so far, nearly every comment in this thread has contained some degree cynicism toward cryptocurrency-related funding. Why does HN have such a distaste for cryptocurrencies? Why can't we just have an intelligent conversation about this new technology? Why do we have all the negativity and downvotes for any remotely positive comments related to cryptocurrencies? This is super…

>and just complaining about it being a "bubble" doesn't add any value to the conversation. Yeah but that is the kind of thing they said during the housing bubble and the dotcom bubble before that, then after those bubbles all the media and experts had the same talking point... no one saw this coming What more do you want added to the conversation? Bold predictions, that will inevitably be true? That is a little hard…

I agree with everything you said except "there is no real value in Bitcoin or even Ethereum/Ether".

Bitcoin does seem to be the best payment technology for online illegal transactions. Albeit, one could argue those shouldn't be 'real' in the first place.

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#46

Post by mrep »

hndamien wrote: post #29
Ologn wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some startups will grow very large and become very valuable and will stay around for a long time. No cryptocoins will be around for a long time. They are all going to crash to near worthlessness, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Also the idea of Webvan was not a bad one, they were just too early. People put too much money in too early to a good idea. Cryptocoins are not an idea before its time or of its time. It is in…

It is a bank, so I will keep buying.

Are you suggesting cryptocurrencies are banks? Please explain that logic. I also suggest you read up on the tulip mania [1].

Note: I do think bitcoin has value for illegal transactions but that's the only place I see cryptocurrencies solving a problem more efficiently than current solutions.

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

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#47

Post by taysic »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #14
Kalium wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people find the technologies incredibly interesting and potentially extremely useful. Similarly, a lot of people find the uses to which those extremely interesting technologies are being put to be at best questionable and of marginal utility. Are blockchains cool? OH FUCK YES! Is people raising a lot of cash from suckers in a bubble-y market that threatens to rebound on all of us cool? Some might opine that…

Are you suggesting investors in other startups are not also speculators? Do you think every silicon valley startup is destined to succeed and be the next Google/Apple/FB? The tech is cool, and the new funding model is also fascinating. Never before has it been possible for everyone to participate in the early funding of startups. Sure, most will fail, but that's not different from the old model. The biggest differenc…

The main problem imo is the amount of money they are getting. You need to stay a little hungry to be motivated to build a great product. They basically have "FU" money off the bat and no legal obligation to the token buyers from what I understand. The human economics don't work out.

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#48

Post by taysic »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #25
adventured wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does that mean we should shun and shame this new technology? You're inventing a straw-man. It's not the technology that is being primarily shunned or shamed in this thread. It wasn't the technology being shamed during the most extreme quarters of the dotcom bubble either. It's the extreme valuations, backed with no products at all, that is being ridiculed. Properly so.

Those valuations don't really mean that much. It's simply number_of_coins * price. Saying it's worth $1bn does not mean you can take all of those coins and turn them in for $1bn. If you owned a large portion of the coins and tried to liquidate them at that price, the price would quickly drop. The ICO funding model is new technology.

When the users buy into the ICOs don't they send ETH or Bitcoin thus giving the founders a currency which is far more stable and less likely to tank?

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#49

Post by HuginnMuninn »

brndnmtthws wrote: post #22
HuginnMuninn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a distaste for exploiting the vulnerable, which is most certainly what's occurring here. ICO's offer people investment opportunities to people who for numerous reasons couldn't invest in anything before. That's a wonderful thing with educated investors prepared for the risk, but what some of these companies are pulling is modern day snake oil. I'm not just talking about shady types, plenty of respectable peopl…

You're assuming that everyone investing is an idiot. I doubt that's the case. Sure, some people might make poor decisions, but I think that's the minority. Most people are doing their research, and even if they aren't, they would learn quickly that you should never invest more than you're willing to lose. As an aside, I wouldn't touch Filecoin (due to the VC taint), but Sia looks promising.

What would you call research? Reading the whitepaper?

I've hung around crypto for a bit, vast majority neither read the technicals nor actually use the technology.

Have you used Sia? I certainly have.

How would say it stacks up compared to S3? Both on price and speed?

Re: The first ICO unicorns are here

#50

Post by shalmanese »

ehnto wrote: post #35
austenallred wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that simple. You also have to write a whitepaper.

I had a dream last night about managing a succesful company. The dream didn't show what the product was but anyway the initial buy in is 20c I look forward to working with you all doing what ever it is we might do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LtT0xZ11wM
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