4 ms·

Stunned by that comment. Stunned.

appleflaxen 9y ago
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- alex_hitchins 9y ago
  It is genuine, I appreciate your comments though. The comment I found depressing as it highlights (to me at least) the erosion of what was a community/culture I respected. Perhaps I'm just an old fool. EDIT : Just to say I've ensured my email is in my bio now.
roymurdock 9y ago
I almost didn’t write it and knew I’d be downvoted. Many folk that hang around HN are very idealistic myself included. My main point is that you shouldn’t feel sorry for cryptocurrency investors; many know exactly what they’re gambling on. Easy money and BS “tech innovation” being used to grab portions of that cash pile is the reality I see. What’s your opinion of the mkt?
- IntronExon 9y ago
  Choosing not to be a completely unethical scumbag isn’t idealism, it’s the baseline.
  - roymurdock 9y ago
    It’s not the baseline in cryptocurrency, and my point is both the ICOing companies and investors are in on the game so nobody is fooling one another. I don’t have the stomach to spew BS for money so I’m not involved in the ecosystem. But I think you need to be a bit more realistic and not view investors as just a class of people that are being ripped off - most, especially bigger/institutional are savvy with their money.
- sangnoir 9y ago
  > My main point is that you shouldn’t feel sorry for cryptocurrency investors; many know exactly what they’re gambling on. This category is broader than you imagine and now includes unsophisticated individuals who can't tell the difference between the blockchain and a bike chain. Lately, I've been hearing a lot of "invest in bitcoin" talk from people who are not well-informed, and do not know what they are gambling on. What's illegal for penny stocks should be equally illegal for cryptocurrency - the Feds should crack the whip.
  - roymurdock 9y ago
    It's not hard to understand the high risk, high reward investment principle. There are plenty of safe index funds, blue chip stocks, and bonds available to retail investors/unsophisticated individuals. It's not difficult to understand that cryptocurrencies are highly speculative. I would never advise my parents to buy bitcoin, ethereum, or any other cryptocurrency without adding the caveat that they be prepared to lose everything in an exchange hack or some other shady behavior. I can understand the need for the SEC to protect investors when it comes to investment into traditional companies - regular people can't read a 10k and don't sit in on analyst calls that are mandated for public companies registered with the SEC. But if you're investing in an unregulated, highly risky asset, where you don't understand any of the assets or technology the company owns...come on man.
    - sangnoir 9y ago
      > But if you're investing in an unregulated, highly risky asset, A lot of people are about to find out that cryptocurrencies are, in fact, regulated. It's weird to see some techies agree with the idea that "pedestrian thing, on a computer" patents are invalid (because the "on a computer" bit is irrelevant), but when it comes to "fraud/misrepresentation on a computer", then it suddenly needs to be legally special-cased as somehow different. Intangible/abstracted assets predate cryptocurrencies - there's nothing new about crypto in the eyes of the law.

alex_hitchins 9y ago
It is genuine, I appreciate your comments though. The comment I found depressing as it highlights (to me at least) the erosion of what was a community/culture I respected. Perhaps I'm just an old fool. EDIT : Just to say I've ensured my email is in my bio now.

I almost didn’t write it and knew I’d be downvoted. Many folk that hang around HN are very idealistic myself included. My main point is that you shouldn’t feel sorry for cryptocurrency investors; many know exactly what they’re gambling on. Easy money and BS “tech innovation” being used to grab portions of that cash pile is the reality I see. What’s your opinion of the mkt?

IntronExon 9y ago
Choosing not to be a completely unethical scumbag isn’t idealism, it’s the baseline.
- roymurdock 9y ago
  It’s not the baseline in cryptocurrency, and my point is both the ICOing companies and investors are in on the game so nobody is fooling one another. I don’t have the stomach to spew BS for money so I’m not involved in the ecosystem. But I think you need to be a bit more realistic and not view investors as just a class of people that are being ripped off - most, especially bigger/institutional are savvy with their money.
sangnoir 9y ago
> My main point is that you shouldn’t feel sorry for cryptocurrency investors; many know exactly what they’re gambling on. This category is broader than you imagine and now includes unsophisticated individuals who can't tell the difference between the blockchain and a bike chain. Lately, I've been hearing a lot of "invest in bitcoin" talk from people who are not well-informed, and do not know what they are gambling on. What's illegal for penny stocks should be equally illegal for cryptocurrency - the Feds should crack the whip.
- roymurdock 9y ago
  It's not hard to understand the high risk, high reward investment principle. There are plenty of safe index funds, blue chip stocks, and bonds available to retail investors/unsophisticated individuals. It's not difficult to understand that cryptocurrencies are highly speculative. I would never advise my parents to buy bitcoin, ethereum, or any other cryptocurrency without adding the caveat that they be prepared to lose everything in an exchange hack or some other shady behavior. I can understand the need for the SEC to protect investors when it comes to investment into traditional companies - regular people can't read a 10k and don't sit in on analyst calls that are mandated for public companies registered with the SEC. But if you're investing in an unregulated, highly risky asset, where you don't understand any of the assets or technology the company owns...come on man.
  - sangnoir 9y ago
    > But if you're investing in an unregulated, highly risky asset, A lot of people are about to find out that cryptocurrencies are, in fact, regulated. It's weird to see some techies agree with the idea that "pedestrian thing, on a computer" patents are invalid (because the "on a computer" bit is irrelevant), but when it comes to "fraud/misrepresentation on a computer", then it suddenly needs to be legally special-cased as somehow different. Intangible/abstracted assets predate cryptocurrencies - there's nothing new about crypto in the eyes of the law.