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I'm legitimately interested in cryptocurrency; I think it's a really cool idea. So what I'm hoping for is that everything goes as horribly wrong as possible, th

I'm legitimately interested in cryptocurrency; I think it's a really cool idea. So what I'm hoping for is that everything goes as horribly wrong as possible, the price tanks, everyone's dreams are smashed, and all the bullshit takes disappear. At that point, the people who are interested in building something worthwhile will be the only ones who remain, and we can work in peace.

jgh 9y ago
I'm sure that there will be some kind of reckoning at some point. Who knows though, maybe prices will just stabilize to the point that it becomes another boring equity.
adwhit 9y ago
Is there an altcoin which is indefinitely and exponentionally inflationary? Such a coin would not have the gold-rush/ponzi characteristics which bitcoin has, and there wouldn't be a such huge incentive to mine new coins so hopefully it would avoid the incredibly wasteful mining arms race. But no one would get rich quick, so it would probably never take off in the first place.
- pjkundert 9y ago
  I think the concept you're looking for is "value stable". Right now we're seeing the tip of the iceberg of potential cryptocurrencies. Pretty much only token-based (ie. non-ledger) based currencies, where we need global BFT consensus to track the current position of every single coin. This is crazy. And, as it turns out, unnecessary (see: Holochain). When the iceberg capsizes (as Git capsized the CASE industry), globally consistent ledger-based value-stable currencies based on peer-to-peer co-signed personal blockchains will supplant these unnecessary globally consistent token based ... things. (Do I really care that you just slid a nickel across the table to someone? Nope). Same with crazy Turing-complete globally consistent VMs implementing Smart Contract languages. Not necessary. You are correct -- value-stable currencies won't have anyone getting rich quick. But, when every sub-saharan goat herder and neighbourhood kid with a collection of trading cards can independently monetize his/her wealth into a value-stable currency, we'll see the face ripped off of the global Fiat monetary systems...
- tenaciousDaniel 9y ago
  I know of only two: Tether and Dai https://tether.to/ https://tether.to/ https://makerdao.com https://makerdao.com
hectorr1 9y ago
When did you find out about cryptocurrency? Because this has already happened in 2014-2016. It happened before that too. Each time the speculative bubble rises, it is being driven at first by improvements to the tech and/or ecosystem. Then it gets a life of its own, goes crazy, and runs out of gas. But along the way, more people learn about it and decide they care enough to continue the project. Even if you are only in it for the money, the tech matters. Because the closer you are to the tech, the better you understand where the long term value will be, and when the price has outrun that value.
- tenaciousDaniel 9y ago
  I really got into it in a little over a year ago. I first heard about it about 4 years ago though. I'm sure there are ebbs and flows, but this time around does seem different, given that my tech-illiterate family members were asking me about it over the holidays. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it seems inescapable.
conanbatt 9y ago
Because thats how we got such perfectly tuned markets like housing, stocks, international trade, debt. They never break down after one big crisis that takes lots of people down with them.

jgh 9y ago

I'm sure that there will be some kind of reckoning at some point. Who knows though, maybe prices will just stabilize to the point that it becomes another boring equity.

adwhit 9y ago

Is there an altcoin which is indefinitely and exponentionally inflationary? Such a coin would not have the gold-rush/ponzi characteristics which bitcoin has, and there wouldn't be a such huge incentive to mine new coins so hopefully it would avoid the incredibly wasteful mining arms race. But no one would get rich quick, so it would probably never take off in the first place.

pjkundert 9y ago
I think the concept you're looking for is "value stable". Right now we're seeing the tip of the iceberg of potential cryptocurrencies. Pretty much only token-based (ie. non-ledger) based currencies, where we need global BFT consensus to track the current position of every single coin. This is crazy. And, as it turns out, unnecessary (see: Holochain). When the iceberg capsizes (as Git capsized the CASE industry), globally consistent ledger-based value-stable currencies based on peer-to-peer co-signed personal blockchains will supplant these unnecessary globally consistent token based ... things. (Do I really care that you just slid a nickel across the table to someone? Nope). Same with crazy Turing-complete globally consistent VMs implementing Smart Contract languages. Not necessary. You are correct -- value-stable currencies won't have anyone getting rich quick. But, when every sub-saharan goat herder and neighbourhood kid with a collection of trading cards can independently monetize his/her wealth into a value-stable currency, we'll see the face ripped off of the global Fiat monetary systems...
tenaciousDaniel 9y ago
I know of only two: Tether and Dai https://tether.to/ https://tether.to/ https://makerdao.com https://makerdao.com

hectorr1 9y ago

When did you find out about cryptocurrency? Because this has already happened in 2014-2016. It happened before that too. Each time the speculative bubble rises, it is being driven at first by improvements to the tech and/or ecosystem. Then it gets a life of its own, goes crazy, and runs out of gas. But along the way, more people learn about it and decide they care enough to continue the project. Even if you are only in it for the money, the tech matters. Because the closer you are to the tech, the better you understand where the long term value will be, and when the price has outrun that value.

tenaciousDaniel 9y ago
I really got into it in a little over a year ago. I first heard about it about 4 years ago though. I'm sure there are ebbs and flows, but this time around does seem different, given that my tech-illiterate family members were asking me about it over the holidays. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it seems inescapable.

conanbatt 9y ago

Because thats how we got such perfectly tuned markets like housing, stocks, international trade, debt. They never break down after one big crisis that takes lots of people down with them.