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I wasted years of my life in crypto

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Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#891

Post by kikimora »

ninkendo wrote: post #562
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately, this solves the wrong problem. Spending money usually involves getting a good or service in return, which inherently requires "trust" (as does any human interaction). Your fancy blockchain is not going to help you if you order something with Bitcoin and no package arrives. That problem already has solutions. The problems cryptocurrency is supposed to solve are, I want to buy subversive literature fro…

> > Your fancy blockchain is not going to help you if you order something with Bitcoin and no package arrives. > That problem already has solutions The solution to that problem is "the court orders the bank to send the funds back to my account", including all the way up to clawing back any funds the scammer spent. This is possible when the government controls the currency. It is not possible with crypto. The only rem…

>The solution to that problem is "the court orders the bank to send the funds back to my account"

I see this as a very naive statement. A big story in Russia - popular singer sold her appartment, then told court she was scammed to sell appartment and have sent all money to scammers. Appartment returned to the singer, court suggested the buyer to get money from unidentified scammers.

So much for court orders :))) Poor buyer has lost > $1M. There are over 3000 similar cases all across Russia. Appartment sellers get their apartments back in court without compensating buyers. This madness is going to be resolved someday, next will appear immediately.

Another story - a prosecutor's office tells that largest pasta producer in Russia was actually illegally bought from the government some 20 years ago. Boom, entire business goes to government (to prosecutor friends, really). I can go on and on, there are literally hundreds such stories just in Russia just in the past couple of years.

The point is - having certain independence from the government is good. For the majority of world population (China, Middle Wast, all Africa) government is not a friend but either an unpredictable force of nature or a foe.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#892

Post by kikimora »

VieEnCode wrote: post #446
maaaaattttt wrote: post #442

In recent months I changed views and shifted from the desilluioned "this is a casino" mindset that is described in this article to a "we need this now" one. An example in this article [1], the US can now unilateraly decide to prevent an individual anywhere in the world from having a functioning financial life and this because of the quasi (western) duopoly that is Visa and Mastercard. Nothing against the US in genera…

If, after all these years, Crypto has not become a stable store of value that can replace a fiat currency and let you buy your groceries with it, why do we suddenly 'need it' to do that now, and what would change that will enable that to happen?

Stablecoins work just fine. Not sure what is the problem you are referring to?

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#893

Post by kikimora »

rrdharan wrote: post #570
uselesswords wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are multiple countries in the world where issues like hyperinflation have pushed day-to-day transactions to crypto for everyday people.

No, there actually aren’t. People just assume there are but the majority of desperate people turn to the barter system before crypto helps them.

Please tell me about a better system that would let me send money from EU to Russia to help my mother buy her medicine?

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#894

Post by kikimora »

hvb2 wrote: post #190

> your bank account would just hold USDC or Bitcoin, and you could send a billion dollars to anyone in the world in a few seconds. That belief is powerful and I still ascribe to it. These statements still surprise me to this day. If you're a good person engineer, why does sending money in seconds need blockchain? There's parts of the world where this is commonplace and free as well. I don't believe cross border was t…

>why does sending money in seconds need blockchain?

I challenge you to explain how such a system would work?

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#895

Post by kikimora »

torginus wrote: post #500
yes_man wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cross border not about technical capacity but legal control. For example if you are a refugee you might not be able to pull your bank savings and liquid stock with you from your home country to another without it being seized or taxed, but your crypto is always yours as long as you are the only holder of the keys. This scenario is one of the rare real world utilities I see with crypto.

A lot of countries cracked down on merchants accepting bitcoin, and in a lot of places it's illegal to offer BTC->cash conversions without KYC. I suspect authoritarian regimes would be the first to close this loophole. This is not theoretical - Russia did this in 2022 to stop people from offloading their rubles and/or fleeing the country with their money.

As a Russian I can attest - you can do crypto in Russia and it is one of a very few ways many friends of mine support their families from abroad.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#896

Post by kikimora »

nrhrjrjrjtntbt wrote: post #193
hvb2 wrote: post #190

> your bank account would just hold USDC or Bitcoin, and you could send a billion dollars to anyone in the world in a few seconds. That belief is powerful and I still ascribe to it. These statements still surprise me to this day. If you're a good person engineer, why does sending money in seconds need blockchain? There's parts of the world where this is commonplace and free as well. I don't believe cross border was t…

It is not an engineering problem, it is a geopolitical and legacy banking problem. Yes sending an encrypted message somewhere in the world in under a second is solved.

How about sending money in seconds? Do you realizes capital requirements and cross border implications?

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#897

Post by ecocentrik »

more_corn wrote: post #880
ecocentrik wrote: post #672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My advice: There's always at least one crypto scammer telling you to hold through the dip.

I hear there’s always money in the banana stand.

Given the choice between a 2000 acre banana plantation and 400 bitcoin. I would choose the banana plantation with full confidence that I would get a better return from bananas over the next 20 years.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#898

Post by wat10000 »

PKop wrote: post #873
wat10000 wrote: post #869

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, not everything is the same. My question is, why crypto over all millions of other things you could invest in? Are you suggesting it's a better choice because of the volatility? (The onion futures thing was a joke. Onion futures trading is specifically illegal in the US.)

Yes since you can extract a gain within some small portion of its bull market that's compressed into a shorter period of time relative to some other assets like gold. It means you aren't holding for as long. Crypto rises harder and falls harder. For traders, this is very useful. Of course I know you were just riffing, but the particular terrible nature of the assets you compared it to was worth pointing out. Since yo…

Volatility might be useful but it also means you'll lose your shirt unless you have some secret technique others don't. If one can reliably ride the periodic bulls, take profits, and repeat, then they ought to be one of the wealthiest people on the planet by now.

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#899

Post by [deleted] »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #874
munificent wrote: post #784

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're not worried about a restaurant stealing your money because by the time you pay them you've already eaten. But the restaurant is worried about you stealing their food and dashing off without paying. Any transaction requires some level of trust to function. Crypto is a pipe dream for people who want to participate in society without confronting their pathological aversion to trusting and depending on others.

> But the restaurant is worried about you stealing their food and dashing off without paying. Except that they serve you before collecting payment regardless of which payment method you use. And even if they didn't, having the customer pay at the same time they receive the food isn't a trust problem for the restaurant or the customer, because the customer gets the food before the restaurant gets the money but the res…

[deleted]

Re: I wasted years of my life in crypto

#900

Post by troad »

AaronAPU wrote: post #64
troad wrote: post #47

This is a sob story from someone who got wealthy from building an engine to finance crime. There are paths towards redemption - the author could begin by donating every ill-gotten cent to a worthy charity. What's that? Crickets? Thought so.

Theres this pattern where you make your wealth off dubious means, then one day become born again and start a new life where you gain more popularity and influence by speaking out against the reason you have a megaphone at all. These people interestingly never give away that naughty wealth they now regret so much.

Meanwhile, those with the backbone not to do evil from the start get nothing at all, continuing this warped set of incentives (do evil > get rich > "I'm sowwwy" > zero accountability) for the next generation.

It's also worth noting the framing of the article: "I wasted years of my life in crypto." It's not contrition for the harms inflicted, it's pure self-pity.

Edit: This post is now second in "/best". This is the best of HN? What a depressing thought.

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