Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely • Hacker News Board

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#71

Post by wbobeirne » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

This article has some substance to it that is worth discussion, but I feel it's value is greatly diminished by the sheer amount of ad hominem in it. Don't buy Bitcoin because Michael Saylor and Elon Musk also own some? That's terrible advice. The USD is also owned by terrible people, and is used to fund terrible things.

I agree with the author that many people rationalize or fall into some of the standard Bitcoin beliefs to justify their desire to get rich, but to project their own case of that on all Bitcoin enthusiasts is completely unfair. Some of the smartest engineers I know work on Bitcoin, and don't see a paycheck for it. The availability of grants for Bitcoin open source work is pretty new, and many of these people have been working on BTC long before there was a strong financial incentive. The real money-motivated play for them would have been to fall into a FAANG and collect a guaranteed high salary.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#72

Post by lottin » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

DaniloDias wrote: post #24

This is a weird, angry screed. Op should read The Ascent of Money and maybe worry less about the moral failings of other humans. Peace and trust cannot exist without currency. Money lubricates peaceful resolution of conflict. If you need food and I have it, trade or violence are your only options if currency doesn’t exist. Screaming at Bitcoin is like screaming at evolution. As long as humans evolve, money will keep…

But bitcoin isn't an advanced form of money.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#73

Post by zepto » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

8fGTBjZxBcHq wrote: post #34

leesalminen wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there's no way to redistribute wealth. There are those who would call that a feature, not a bug.

For the people who look around at the current world and think "ah yes, the problem is too much wealth redistribution?"

I think a lot of people think that what gets called corporate welfare is in fact too much wealth distribution.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#74

Post by fullshark » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:03 PM UTC

rawtxapp wrote: post #22

gnrlst wrote: post #19

The community around Bitcoin is one of the most toxic. It's the main reason I haven't bought, and won't buy, any BTC (regardless of the fact I think the tech is completely subpar). Having said that, there's plenty of really great communities around crypto that shouldn't be pooled together along with Bitcoin. Nano, for example, is probably the most hated altcoin by Bitcoin maximalists (probably because they feel threa…

> The community around Bitcoin is one of the most toxic. If you go on places like Twitter and reddit somewhat, I agree with you. But if you look on Github, you'll see some of the smartest engineers of our generation working real hard and I wouldn't discount their work based on some loud mouths on social networks.

Sometimes I wonder if getting people to click on more ads was actually a more socially beneficial project for that talent.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#75

Post by jerry1979 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:04 PM UTC

fullshark wrote: post #40

The NFT fad has definitely turned me off as it seems totally bonkers, also the fact that the problem BTC is supposedly solving constantly changes based on whatever gets people to put money into it. Add to this exchanges / tether printing manipulating the price and i'm pretty bearish on BTC and crypto right now, seems like the only problem they are trying to solve is "how can I become ludicrously rich by writing some…

>the fact that the problem BTC is supposedly solving constantly changes

I grew my own Bitcoin thesis (legally in my basement for fun and profit). When people say that people changed the Bitcoin narrative, I can always unwrap those layers of opinions and evaluate them against my home-grown thesis.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#76

Post by fallingknife » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

nemo44x wrote: post #53

The price of BTC must be going up since we are seeing these sour grapes stories on the front page again. An NFT sold for 69 million the other day. Crypto is here to stay. It’s time to rethink the critical analysis of crypto. What percentage of stimulus checks are going to be spent on BTC?

BTC 60K! With an Elon tweet! Great way to start the day! Haters gonna hate.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#77

Post by dgellow » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

fullshark wrote: post #40

The NFT fad has definitely turned me off as it seems totally bonkers, also the fact that the problem BTC is supposedly solving constantly changes based on whatever gets people to put money into it. Add to this exchanges / tether printing manipulating the price and i'm pretty bearish on BTC and crypto right now, seems like the only problem they are trying to solve is "how can I become ludicrously rich by writing some…

I'm not sure I understand the hate for NFTs. Don't get me wrong, the concept of NFT as currently used is completely absurd and definitely overhyped. But what is bad about it? People who spend their money on NFTs mostly do it because they got rich in the past few years gambling on BTC or ETH, and now use that money to basically tip the artists they like. Or they plan to resell the token at some point, which is pure speculation, but nobody other than themselves risk to get burn. Minting and selling NFTs is almost zero work and effort for artists, all the risks are on the buyers side, and only if they buy them as speculative assets.

It still make no sense to me, but if rich people want to gamble their money and by doing so support some artists, that doesn't sound too bad IMHO.

I would be more cautious if retail investors would start to gamble in this market, but that's not what I've seen so far.

(I'm also bearish on BTC, mainly because of Tether and the horrible incentives of PoW)

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#78

Post by Klinky » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

gnrlst wrote: post #19

The community around Bitcoin is one of the most toxic. It's the main reason I haven't bought, and won't buy, any BTC (regardless of the fact I think the tech is completely subpar). Having said that, there's plenty of really great communities around crypto that shouldn't be pooled together along with Bitcoin. Nano, for example, is probably the most hated altcoin by Bitcoin maximalists (probably because they feel threa…

That sounds like every early stage crypto community. Once there is real USD at stake, the fangs come out.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#79

Post by vincnetas » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:06 PM UTC

nprz wrote: post #66

peter422 wrote: post #17

I have thought about this with Bitcoin: if the protocol and potential capabilities are so interesting, why is 99% of the conversation related to Bitcoin about the current price. It does make me believe that greed is the predominant driver of most Bitcoin holders, which to me makes the whole concept a lot less principled than people pretend it is.

Admittedly I got in from a greed perspective, but as I read more about the philosophy of bitcoin I stayed for a distributed, censorship-proof currency. Why do I need permission from a central authority to send and receive money? Why do we allow credit cards to invade our privacy and observe our purchasing history? Why store my wealth in fiat that's guaranteed to lose at least 2% of its value every year? It's way out…

You dont need permission to send funds, provided they are legal and you can proove that. These checks are for reason. You dont want money loundering and criminal money flowing around unchecked. Pay income tax on your cash and send them wherever you want (legaly).

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#80

Post by sixQuarks » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

nemo44x wrote: post #53

The price of BTC must be going up since we are seeing these sour grapes stories on the front page again. An NFT sold for 69 million the other day. Crypto is here to stay. It’s time to rethink the critical analysis of crypto. What percentage of stimulus checks are going to be spent on BTC?

I'm a bit fascinated by the negativity of bitcoin on HN. It goes all the way back to when it was trading for below $1. I almost purchased some but decided not to DUE to HN comments, I assumed they knew what they were talking about, I was wrong.