Framing all of crypto as a single thing is inaccurate
Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
41–50 of 82 posts
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#42Technically not a Ponzi scheme but still a scam and/or a con. The fact that some people profit from a con doesn't negate the fundamental nature of this zero sum game. Everyone can't win. For every winner, there must be losers of an equal or greater amount. Finding more/bigger fools can be fun and profitable but it is not building or creating any sort of substantial real world *value*. The only *value* in this game is…
I think Bankman-Fried is a realist. He understands that a lot of token economics don't make sense. Having a non-yielding asset pay some kind of yield is the crypto equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. It can work short term but long term its impossible unless the token has some other means of creating wealth (e.g. fee for some gambling scheme) But I think what he is doing is still valuable. He's creating financi…
I think Bankman-Fried is a realist.
Sure --- and a profiteer.
I appreciate his candor. He obviously understands full well that the game makes no sense --- but he is perfectly willing to profit from those who don't.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#43Technically not a Ponzi scheme but still a scam and/or a con. The fact that some people profit from a con doesn't negate the fundamental nature of this zero sum game. Everyone can't win. For every winner, there must be losers of an equal or greater amount. Finding more/bigger fools can be fun and profitable but it is not building or creating any sort of substantial real world *value*. The only *value* in this game is…
So in short, it's built on the solid foundation of stupid people.
Yes.
Life is hard --- harder if you're stupid
--- John Wayne
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#4499% yes.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#45It would be interesting to see a research on how pyramid schemes participants, political/religious extremists and cult participants show some really common traits. They are always blind to the facts, rationalize and deflect everything. Always repeating the same arguments that were served to them "What about gold?", "What about financial market in general?", "What about Hillary?", "What about Islam?".... There is a st…
So people who ask "What about Hillary?" are extremists, but people who ask “What about Trump” aren’t ? ( it’s very obvious what your leanings are ) You’re projecting a strong sense of community, superiority and being enlightened. Since you place an importance on facts, explain why a wide range of ethnic minorities shifted their vote in favor of Trump from 2016 to 2022, while white voters swayed the other way. Looking…
It isn't worth it to get into the weeds with the specifics of political movements.
Agree that "cult like" devotion isn't seen as such when it is aligned towards the dominant narrative of a community. That is seen as normative. The reasoning or lack thereof can be equivalent in all aspects as long as it suits the bias of the viewer.
Getting back to the topic at hand, the intense hatred, the half-baked misapplication of the word ponzi, could be described as cult like. I'm not sure "cult like" is especially meaningful as a criticism given this. It reads as more of a signal of affiliation to one tribe rather than a insightful critique.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can argue that, fallaciously. What's a bitcoin good for? You can't make it into anything else. Cryptography is useful, yes, as an abstract framework. That's not what's under discussion. Buying bitcoin is not the same as investing in cryptography research.
What is investing in cryptography research? Paying to some guy having some interesting whitepapers and that is it?
I don't know, I guess. "The academic field of cryptography" is much more abstract than "a lump of gold". My point was more about what bitcoin isn't - specifically, it isn't a natural resource like gold is.
One useful distinguisher: when someone invents a new use for gold, the value of gold increases. When the field of cryptography progresses, bitcoin becomes more obsolete.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#47Crypto is an industry covering thousands of different projects. The nobel tech behind crypto certainly is not a scam, its revolutionary. Out of the thousand of projects many are indeed scammy. Likewise, many are serious projects, and a few like BTC are paradigm changing. Maybe not to you, the majority western (very) well off reader with a stable and sorta not corrupt governance, but to the millions in this planet whe…
Crypto is an industry covering thousands of different projects. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities was once the 6th largest market maker in S&P 500 stocks --- run by a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange with thousands of wealthy, famous clients. Having a good back story only helped him proliferate his con. The nobel tech behind crypto certainly is not a scam, its revolutionary. Tech isn't nobel. Tech s…
I suspect "nobel tech" may have been a typo for "novel tech", rather than "noble...".
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#48There are a lot of problems that decentralization do not solve. For instance decentralizing currency exchange systems don’t solve anything that the centralized systems haven’t already solved and solved much better.
But one thing decentralization does solve is that it avoids legal repercussions.
If you run a Ponzi scheme you end up in jail. If you launch a system that facilitates a diatributed ponzu scheme operated by thousands, then neither you nor them end up in jail.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#49It would be interesting to see a research on how pyramid schemes participants, political/religious extremists and cult participants show some really common traits. They are always blind to the facts, rationalize and deflect everything. Always repeating the same arguments that were served to them "What about gold?", "What about financial market in general?", "What about Hillary?", "What about Islam?".... There is a st…
There is a large body of research around this phenomenon. I think looking up "conspiratorial thinking" will get you started in the right direction. A major part of the "scientific skepticism" community is studying this kind of thinking, and trying to discover how to treat or prevent people from falling into that kind of trap.
Re: Is crypto just one big Ponzi scheme?
#50In this thread: people bitter for not having purchased bitcoin in 2013 and feeling reverse schadenfreude.