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Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

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Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#1

Post by two_poles_here »

I'm working in a Cryptocurrency startup, and all my colleagues are investing heavily into the domain, both mentally and monetarily. I cannot shake off the feeling that this is all a scam. It's so shady, from the way there are new coins and tokens every week, and how investors are throwing money into this program. I don't think my company's product deserves the sort of money it's been getting, and it feels like a bubble that will burst, sooner if not later. Some part of the tech is interesting, the essence of the blockchain, for example, but the main application seems to be just suspicious. What do others in the domain think? I'm not leaving yet because I'm not in a place to change jobs yet again, but I will, eventually, but I feel like this domain is very fishy.

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#3

Post by version_five »

Same as another poster. It's so obviously a scam I have nothing to do with it. I'm increasingly amazed how screwed up the world is getting, like how more and more people and businesses jump onto something, obviously out of greed or fomo, that is so objectively a huge scam.

There was a post not long ago about our obligation as people who know better to speak out about this stuff. Thankfully I've explained to my parents what a scam it is and they have not been taken in, and my siblings agree with me so I don't have to waste time fighting it. But there are so many people being exploited - some maybe deserving.

Tldr, it's an amoral industry that is literally running a criminal scam, you have to decide if you're cool making money off that.

Like it's morally worse than dealing drugs or lots of other "crimes"

Re: Ask HN: Does Anyone else working in a crypto company feel this is all a scam?

#8

Post by themodelplumber »

> and it feels like a bubble that will burst, sooner if not later

There are people who look into the future and perceive this, and to them the effect is an intuitively-scammy feel; and it may even seem like it's a system that is destined to fail. Generally the systems perspective or meta-perspective will be first to call out the scam side here.

Things meeting the scammy-feel bar tend to be ephemeral, emotional, the front side of the technology curve for sure. Non-scammy things seem more qualitatively planned-out, secure, quiet, structured, etc. just like early-scam-radar individuals often demonstrate at a personal or temperamental level.

There are others who look at the moment, who take the ephemeral for what it is, and think, "wow, in the right position you could turn this into something that really helps you make it to your next stage in life." These people are probably less likely to think it's a scam, not necessarily because it definitely isn't, but because it's also a lot of other things. Scammy could just be one relevant tag among many. "Hey, maybe this undertaking can just be enough to get us to the next spot, it doesn't have to be perfect but it will require some excitement or hype just like any venture."

To some degree you need to fit things out to suit your favored perspectives or you'll feel the worse for it. To some degree you also need to understand others and see the difference in perspectives as possibly positive, or you'll tend to get stuck in subjective loops as you move forward in life.

And to some degree, if you can combine those perspectives and develop a sort of both-perspective, IMO you can really put together a strategy that flies well, and far, because you'll be gripping both ends of the handlebars on the human race bicycle.

Just some ideas, and a terrible metaphor--good luck with whatever you decide.

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