Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#1

Post by laszlo-kiss » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:01 PM UTC

I admit, I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives. Yet every day I open HN and scan the articles I get the sense that most (not all) articles are anti crypto currency. The sum of these articles appears to me as "propaganda". Does anyone else feel the same way?

It would be interesting to know why the status quo financial system is held in such a high regard? Especially in light of the continual debasement of the dollar since it was decoupled from gold.

I for one, take this perceived negative bias as a confirmation that Bitcoin is a genuine threat to the existing financial system. When Bill Gates (and other powerful people) bad mouth Bitcoin I smell a rat. Does anyone else think this way? Am I just a dumb ass? :)

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#2

Post by Barrera » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:08 PM UTC

It's hard to see Bitcoin's value proposition when you live a life of financial privilege. Bitcoin's value proposition is this: censorship-resistant money. If you don't care about being censored, you won't see the value proposition. If civil asset forfeiture seems like no big deal, then Bitcoin will seem dumb. If routing literally every payment you make through a surveillance apparatus seems fine then Bitcoin makes no sense. If weaponization of your local currency to fight those who disagree with the regime in power seems legit, Bitcoin is just a scam.

Here's the problem: you give a government an inch and they'll take a foot. Give them a foot and they'll take a yard.

The financial weaponization and surveillance policies put in place by western "democracies" are never, ever going away. They will only be expanded. Today they knock on the door of the crackpot. Tomorrow it could be your door they're knocking on. It's easy to stay blind to this simple fact until it's far too late to respond.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#3

Post by Finnucane » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:12 PM UTC

As someone who thinks that bitcoin etc are just a techy form of alchemy (the old dream of creating something of value from nothing), if not an outright scam (for anti-social losers to escape from 'teh rulez'), I wouldn't say that it's not so much that I hold the existing order in high regard, but that the alleged 'disruption' does not appear to be anything other than an old ruse in a new guise.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#4

Post by version_five » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:22 PM UTC

Many of us were excited when bitcoin came out, about both the technology, and the concept of a currency that sovereigns can't control. The problem is, blockchain / cryptocurrency failed to deliver in any practical way, and as a concept was hijacked by scammers, so the only real hype now is from people trying to bypass securities laws so they can scam you.

Find a way I can actually electronically teleport money to pay for something without a trusted authority, without volatility and fees and scams, and I'll be all over it. But most of us went up and down the hype cycle on bitcoin years ago, and are just watching it's vestigial promise be used to promote a scam, so we're negative about it.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#5

Post by PaulHoule » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:33 PM UTC

Barrera wrote: post #2

It's hard to see Bitcoin's value proposition when you live a life of financial privilege. Bitcoin's value proposition is this: censorship-resistant money. If you don't care about being censored, you won't see the value proposition. If civil asset forfeiture seems like no big deal, then Bitcoin will seem dumb. If routing literally every payment you make through a surveillance apparatus seems fine then Bitcoin makes no…

With most forms of crypto the government can look at the ledger. Frequently the US has success at tracking down and seizing Bitcoin and other forms of crypto.

Since the ledger is public you can replace your elected and somewhat accountable 'government' with

* North Korea, Iran, ...

* Scientology or Jeffery Epstein's lawyers (if you are a victim looking for justice)

* the Mafia, Yakuza, Triad, ...

* Greenpeace, ACT UP, Proud Boys, ...

really anybody who wants to make your life hell. So going to crypto is going from the frying pan to the fire.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#6

Post by dolni » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:36 PM UTC

There are two major issues with Bitcoin for me.

First, crypto is always broken eventually. We have seen the deprecation of crypto algorithms time and again. Why should we assume Bitcoin is immune to this phenomenon? It's a high-value target and it could literally become valueless in an instant.

Second, the changing climate is one of the most pressing matters of our time. Bitcoin is absolutely not helping there.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#7

Post by neb_b » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:41 PM UTC

version_five wrote: post #4

Many of us were excited when bitcoin came out, about both the technology, and the concept of a currency that sovereigns can't control. The problem is, blockchain / cryptocurrency failed to deliver in any practical way, and as a concept was hijacked by scammers, so the only real hype now is from people trying to bypass securities laws so they can scam you. Find a way I can actually electronically teleport money to pay…

I think it's more that it's delivering in a practical way to people that live in authoritarian governments with currencies that are more unstable than bitcoin. In places where the citizens have to deal with their governments literally trying to steal their hard assets.

For those of us who live in countries with a good banking system and mostly stable currencies (which is most of hn), bitcoin isn't a necessity.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#8

Post by uberman » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:42 PM UTC

In my opinion:

You either believe that non-fungible metadata pointing to a fungible destination that currently represents a five year old kid's drawing of a farting dinosaur is worth $100k USD or it is worth nothing.

There is a huge divide with some clearly seeing something splendid with the ability to generate massive wealth and liberate the masses from economic governmental control, while others clearly see something more like a pump and dump scam.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#9

Post by Finnucane » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:44 PM UTC

Barrera wrote: post #2

It's hard to see Bitcoin's value proposition when you live a life of financial privilege. Bitcoin's value proposition is this: censorship-resistant money. If you don't care about being censored, you won't see the value proposition. If civil asset forfeiture seems like no big deal, then Bitcoin will seem dumb. If routing literally every payment you make through a surveillance apparatus seems fine then Bitcoin makes no…

There isn't a lot of practical evidence that the rhetoric of bitcoin's value proposition is actually manifest.

Re: Ask HN: Why do negative crypto articles dominate on HN?

#10

Post by rockbruno » Wed, Apr 13, 2022, 5:44 PM UTC

>I believe that Bitcoin will have an important (and positive) future in our lives.

Can you elaborate how? From my point of view, the reason the general tech community despises crypto is precisely because of that; every now and then someone shows up saying that the tech is important and positive, yet none of them can come up with a single valid reason why.

For people who are outside of it, the answer to why this is the case is clear.