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US Senate Testimony: Crypto Is the Mother of All Scams

18 points by hudon 8y ago

hassan_shaikley 8y ago
a decentralized ponzi scheme. that's what I said : ) but I am curious to see how it functions in times of crisis. does it go to shit, explode, or nothing.
Mc_Big_G 8y ago
I imagine you could have said equally terrible things about the internet ten years after it's protocols were developed. Bubble! Scams! Blah blah blah... If you don't have even one good thing to say about something that has obvious benefits, you may be unreasonably biased.
- hannasanarion 8y ago
  Obvious benefits of the internet: communicate instantly with anyone anywhere in the world with any interface that can be digitized. Obvious benefits of blockchain: You can get tons of free money from idiot investors? You can hide wealth from the tax man with private fiat? You can forget your bank account number and never be able to access your money again? You can have a database that takes ten times as much electricity to maintain? There are so many benefits!
  - Mc_Big_G 8y ago
    Just because something can be used for "evil" doesn't mean it can't be used for "good". You really can't imagine any "good" benefit?
    - asynchrony 8y ago
      The only benefit that doesn't involve evading regulations is (a dream) of lower fees for sending money. But even that hasn't materialized and comes with rather large costs.
    - hannasanarion 8y ago
      I genuinely can't. What can a blockchain do that a database can't?
justjonathan 8y ago
“Blockchain Is The Most Over-Hyped Technology Ever, No Better than a Spreadsheet/Database” I think he fundamentally understands and misunderstand something that most people, (though probably not here) don’t get. A blockchain is an immutable distributed ledger (database). It is a terrible decision for anything that can be centralized (something where you can trust some party). It is incredible tool and a case where you can’t trust anybody. There are very few applications where The trade off of trust does not outweigh the efficiency of centralization, but should you have such a case…
- nil_pointer 8y ago
  I stopped reading the paper after this quote. If the author doesn't understand the tech or has a very simplistic understanding of it, their opinion on it doesn't matter and shouldn't hold any weight.
  - asynchrony 8y ago
    I think he understands the technology better than a fair percentage of casual readers here. Perhaps you should read the rest of the paper.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
sugarygrind 8y ago
USD is the mother of all scams.
pontifier 8y ago
Crypto has 1 advantage... signed transactions are undeniable and cannot be argued with. This feels almost like a new UI paradigm. At the same time, this can be a terrible disadvantage... mistakes are brutally punished with no recourse. Lose your key or get hacked and you lose everything. There is no warning. To me, interacting with large amounts of crypto feels like running full speed through an electrified razor-wire maze.

18 points by hudon 8y ago

a decentralized ponzi scheme. that's what I said : ) but I am curious to see how it functions in times of crisis. does it go to shit, explode, or nothing.

Mc_Big_G 8y ago

I imagine you could have said equally terrible things about the internet ten years after it's protocols were developed. Bubble! Scams! Blah blah blah... If you don't have even one good thing to say about something that has obvious benefits, you may be unreasonably biased.

hannasanarion 8y ago
Obvious benefits of the internet: communicate instantly with anyone anywhere in the world with any interface that can be digitized. Obvious benefits of blockchain: You can get tons of free money from idiot investors? You can hide wealth from the tax man with private fiat? You can forget your bank account number and never be able to access your money again? You can have a database that takes ten times as much electricity to maintain? There are so many benefits!
- Mc_Big_G 8y ago
  Just because something can be used for "evil" doesn't mean it can't be used for "good". You really can't imagine any "good" benefit?
  - asynchrony 8y ago
    The only benefit that doesn't involve evading regulations is (a dream) of lower fees for sending money. But even that hasn't materialized and comes with rather large costs.
  - hannasanarion 8y ago
    I genuinely can't. What can a blockchain do that a database can't?

justjonathan 8y ago

“Blockchain Is The Most Over-Hyped Technology Ever, No Better than a Spreadsheet/Database” I think he fundamentally understands and misunderstand something that most people, (though probably not here) don’t get. A blockchain is an immutable distributed ledger (database). It is a terrible decision for anything that can be centralized (something where you can trust some party). It is incredible tool and a case where you can’t trust anybody. There are very few applications where The trade off of trust does not outweigh the efficiency of centralization, but should you have such a case…

nil_pointer 8y ago
I stopped reading the paper after this quote. If the author doesn't understand the tech or has a very simplistic understanding of it, their opinion on it doesn't matter and shouldn't hold any weight.
- asynchrony 8y ago
  I think he understands the technology better than a fair percentage of casual readers here. Perhaps you should read the rest of the paper.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

sugarygrind 8y ago

USD is the mother of all scams.

pontifier 8y ago

Crypto has 1 advantage... signed transactions are undeniable and cannot be argued with. This feels almost like a new UI paradigm. At the same time, this can be a terrible disadvantage... mistakes are brutally punished with no recourse. Lose your key or get hacked and you lose everything. There is no warning. To me, interacting with large amounts of crypto feels like running full speed through an electrified razor-wire maze.