6 ms·

And making the rich richer. No way to invest unless you have money or you are in the inner circle. Code has also not been released. So much for open source.

arethuza 9y ago
If it makes you feel any better, I suspect that a lot of these schemes are going to make a lot of rich people that bit less rich...
- koolba 9y ago
  And a few rich people a bit more rich. All depends which side of the coin you're on (pun intended).
  - arethuza 9y ago
    Well I propose "RobinHoodCoin" with an innovative "proof of no stake" approach!
    - pmlnr 9y ago
      "RobinHoodCoin" - whatever is mined will get evenly distributed, incl. genesis.
      - teekert 9y ago
        RobinHoodCoin will constantly leak money form large to small wallets
jondubois 9y ago
Yep, only accredited investors could buy Filecoin at the ICO. The rest of us can still buy Siacoin which is similar. I don't think these VC-backed cryptocurrencies will win in the long term. It's the same principle as with stocks, cryptocurrencies are going to work in favour those who understand them the most; in this case, developers. The mission of cryptocurrencies is to take control away from finance people. Hobbyist developers are going to decide which cryptocurrencies deserve their precious development time. Cryptocurrencies are all about the tooling and infrastructure around them.
- chii 9y ago
  > in this case, developers. i dont think developers are the ones who will profit - after all, developers are the ones who wrote the code for a lot of financial institutions, and none of them gain much more than just a salary.
  - jmknoll 9y ago
    At the same time though, 3 of the 5 largest companies in the US have CEOs with a background in software development/computer science. 5 years ago, 0 of 10 did. There's definitely a trend toward developers having more power.
    - jamespo 9y ago
      That trend started further back than the last couple of years, as billg can confirm.
    - chii 9y ago
      and yet, are those CEO's doing dev when they are being paid their large sums of money? They may have learnt something as a developer, but _doing_ development isn't their major money making activity.
      - icebraining 9y ago
        jondubois said understand, not do.
    - FireBeyond 9y ago
      Not to be contrary, but "citation"? This (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...) lists the 5 largest companies in the US as: 1. Walmart 2. Berkshire Hathaway 3. Apple 4. Exxon Mobil 5. McKesson Walmart's CEO, Doug McMillon, career at Walmart was in distribution and then buying before moving to the executive. Buffett had a background in business admin, economics and insurance. Tim Cook has that CS background. Daren Woods of Exxon Mobil has a degree in Electrical Engineering in the early 80s, which might be at best half a point. John Hammergren of McKesson has a pure business background, with a Bachelors and Masters in Business Administration.
drieddust 9y ago
Crypto currency are the new tulip bulbs[1]. Only some are going to make money. Current buyers are relying on greater fools to take these off their hands. A crash is eminent so hold tight and wait for it. You will have plenty of opportunity. History will repeat itself as new fools arrive on the scene[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_market_crashes_and_bear_markets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_market_crashes_a...
- kdelok 9y ago
  I'm actually worried that one of the main things in favour of cryptocurrencies is that they can act as an effective currency for illegal activities, i.e. they'll stay profitable for as long as regulations struggle to keep up with them.
  - saiya-jin 9y ago
    this is already a case for quite a few years in dark web (mostly bitcoin for now). or you think that illegal drugs and weapons and whatnot are being paid by money account transfers over SEPA?
  - soneca 9y ago
    I believe that cryptocurrencies only reached a critical mass to be relevant att all because of the value it delivers to criminals. All that is ever discussed about cryptocurrencies at HN is marginal in comparison.
    - matthewbauer 9y ago
      I think enthusiasts and speculators are actually a significant driver of the high prices. Criminals would much rather have a stable, quick Bitcoin than what we're seeing right now.
- empath75 9y ago
  I am starting to worry that this bubble is going to grow until it threatens the world economy.
sp332 9y ago
According to https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/investors-poured-millions-into-a-storage-network-that-doesnt-exist/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/inves... they hardly have any code yet anyway.
the_stc 9y ago
We're about to announce our company and do a fundraising round. Relatively small, a few million at first with a limited number of investors, then do a blockchain IPO (yes IPO - we're selling shares with control and dividends, not pointless tokens). And our market is huge with no real coordinated players, so it should be very lucrative. Even so, I am concerned about letting just anyone put money in. Even though we are an extrajurisdictional company and the SEC doesn't trouble us, I'd like to know people putting money in have some idea what they're doing. At first we thought to limit the amount, require a minimum $1000 or $2000 purchase. But that makes it worse, I think. What is a company in our situation supposed to do to be socially aware and not just "make the rich richer", while also making sure someone doesn't invest their last $1000? Just put up disclaimers?

arethuza 9y ago

If it makes you feel any better, I suspect that a lot of these schemes are going to make a lot of rich people that bit less rich...

koolba 9y ago
And a few rich people a bit more rich. All depends which side of the coin you're on (pun intended).
- arethuza 9y ago
  Well I propose "RobinHoodCoin" with an innovative "proof of no stake" approach!
  - pmlnr 9y ago
    "RobinHoodCoin" - whatever is mined will get evenly distributed, incl. genesis.
    - teekert 9y ago
      RobinHoodCoin will constantly leak money form large to small wallets

jondubois 9y ago

Yep, only accredited investors could buy Filecoin at the ICO. The rest of us can still buy Siacoin which is similar. I don't think these VC-backed cryptocurrencies will win in the long term. It's the same principle as with stocks, cryptocurrencies are going to work in favour those who understand them the most; in this case, developers. The mission of cryptocurrencies is to take control away from finance people. Hobbyist developers are going to decide which cryptocurrencies deserve their precious development time. Cryptocurrencies are all about the tooling and infrastructure around them.

chii 9y ago
> in this case, developers. i dont think developers are the ones who will profit - after all, developers are the ones who wrote the code for a lot of financial institutions, and none of them gain much more than just a salary.
- jmknoll 9y ago
  At the same time though, 3 of the 5 largest companies in the US have CEOs with a background in software development/computer science. 5 years ago, 0 of 10 did. There's definitely a trend toward developers having more power.
  - jamespo 9y ago
    That trend started further back than the last couple of years, as billg can confirm.
  - chii 9y ago
    and yet, are those CEO's doing dev when they are being paid their large sums of money? They may have learnt something as a developer, but _doing_ development isn't their major money making activity.
    - icebraining 9y ago
      jondubois said understand, not do.
  - FireBeyond 9y ago
    Not to be contrary, but "citation"? This (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...) lists the 5 largest companies in the US as: 1. Walmart 2. Berkshire Hathaway 3. Apple 4. Exxon Mobil 5. McKesson Walmart's CEO, Doug McMillon, career at Walmart was in distribution and then buying before moving to the executive. Buffett had a background in business admin, economics and insurance. Tim Cook has that CS background. Daren Woods of Exxon Mobil has a degree in Electrical Engineering in the early 80s, which might be at best half a point. John Hammergren of McKesson has a pure business background, with a Bachelors and Masters in Business Administration.

drieddust 9y ago

Crypto currency are the new tulip bulbs[1]. Only some are going to make money. Current buyers are relying on greater fools to take these off their hands. A crash is eminent so hold tight and wait for it. You will have plenty of opportunity. History will repeat itself as new fools arrive on the scene[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_market_crashes_and_bear_markets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_market_crashes_a...

kdelok 9y ago
I'm actually worried that one of the main things in favour of cryptocurrencies is that they can act as an effective currency for illegal activities, i.e. they'll stay profitable for as long as regulations struggle to keep up with them.
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  this is already a case for quite a few years in dark web (mostly bitcoin for now). or you think that illegal drugs and weapons and whatnot are being paid by money account transfers over SEPA?
- soneca 9y ago
  I believe that cryptocurrencies only reached a critical mass to be relevant att all because of the value it delivers to criminals. All that is ever discussed about cryptocurrencies at HN is marginal in comparison.
  - matthewbauer 9y ago
    I think enthusiasts and speculators are actually a significant driver of the high prices. Criminals would much rather have a stable, quick Bitcoin than what we're seeing right now.
empath75 9y ago
I am starting to worry that this bubble is going to grow until it threatens the world economy.

sp332 9y ago

According to https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/investors-poured-millions-into-a-storage-network-that-doesnt-exist/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/inves... they hardly have any code yet anyway.

the_stc 9y ago

We're about to announce our company and do a fundraising round. Relatively small, a few million at first with a limited number of investors, then do a blockchain IPO (yes IPO - we're selling shares with control and dividends, not pointless tokens). And our market is huge with no real coordinated players, so it should be very lucrative. Even so, I am concerned about letting just anyone put money in. Even though we are an extrajurisdictional company and the SEC doesn't trouble us, I'd like to know people putting money in have some idea what they're doing. At first we thought to limit the amount, require a minimum $1000 or $2000 purchase. But that makes it worse, I think. What is a company in our situation supposed to do to be socially aware and not just "make the rich richer", while also making sure someone doesn't invest their last $1000? Just put up disclaimers?