6 ms·

Bitcoin Is [Functioning as] a Scam

27 points by ForHackernews 6y ago

chewz 6y ago
Sold my 64 BTC that I have mined out of boredom during sick leave in 2011. Thanks for the ride... Looking for the next big thing...
- gjvc 6y ago
  how and how long did that take you?
  - xyzzy4 6y ago
    In 2011 you could mine about 0.5 to 1 Bitcoin per day with a gaming computer.
- culopatin 6y ago
  That’s nice. I wish I had stayed mining longer in 2010. Back then it was mostly losses when taking electricity into consideration and I stopped at 1btc with my pleb ATI card. I am feeling the same way. Not really about the value but I feel like I don’t want to be part of it anymore
mgerullis 6y ago
Tether is the real scam.
fallingfrog 6y ago
I became aware of Bitcoin back when the first bubble happened and it went up all the way to one dollar, but when I tried to buy it it was really difficult, you had to do some wacky thing like buy the internal currency of some rpg game, and I lost interest.. probably should have tried harder. It might be a scam, or might not, I don’t know.
- fallingfrog 6y ago
  Sometimes I feel like I have some cyber stalker who just instantly downvotes anything I say.. generally about 30 minutes after I post something I get 2 quick downvotes, no matter what I said. It is odd.
  - fallingfrog 6y ago
    And right on schedule, exactly two downvotes
    - radu_floricica 6y ago
      No idea about the rest of the comments, but in this particular case it's probably just the lack of value for the others. It's a musing on your experiences with bitcoin, but doesn't help or inform anybody else.
0xld 6y ago
Those are a lot of words from someone who admits they panic sold. I don't see anything new in this article apart from the usual Tether FUD (and you know what that means - stonks go up)
- antidaily 6y ago
  Well, he also says "I expect Bitcoin to continue increasing in value".
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  Interesting catch-22 if you won't listen to somebody telling you about their mistake because they admit it was a mistake. "I don't trust anyone who stopped using Python to give me their opinion on Python"
person_of_color 6y ago
How many people lost out on being rich
- someguydave 6y ago
  they will all write blogs about why bitcoin sucks
  - person_of_color 6y ago
    Then that is simply a way of coping.
EliRivers 6y ago
"Can you imagine Apple or Tesla having an asset that’s expected to go up and down in orders of magnitude through the years on their balance sheet?" Well that part of the argument didn't age well :)
akyu 6y ago
I simultaneously believe that crypto is a giant scam, and that it has the potential to be the future of finance and radically change our world. Cryptocurrency gives us the first opportunity to have trust minimized financial transactions, and contract enforcement without the use of violence. This is revolutionary in ways I couldn't do justice to explaining here in the comments. Almost no one in the field is actually working towards these goals, but I want to live in a world where these things are possible, so I keep hope.
cfup 6y ago
Most cryptocurrencies are a huge scam. They are pyramid schemes that the new people pay the early adopters. There are no "real" values. But, investing in Crypto is still a fast way to get rich.
prohobo 6y ago
Crypto is a given at this point; fiat currencies are on their way out. Whether it's Bitcoin that takes the stage is up for debate. So here's why crypto is useful: * Ease of dissemination has intrinsic value. Keeping track of gold/fiat/etc. and transporting it is difficult and error-prone. Crypto doesn't have that problem. * Cutting out middle-men. You don't need transaction services to send and receive crypto. * More transparency (or more privacy). We can easily see how much Bitcoin people are moving around, as we often see with the seemingly quarterly "whale sends $1 billion in Bitcoin to someone" reports, and yet no one can really know how much crypto you personally have. * Smart contracts. You can make the transaction of crypto trigger events, or create second-degree value as part of the transaction. Crypto is very young, so these things are being worked on and improved. Some things might not pan out, and some new things might suddenly become extremely valuable. People saying "lol, crypto is stupid like who even needs it" are dinosaurs living with delusions of grandeur - and stability. Society is at a crossroads whether people like it or not, and things will drastically change over the next decade. To say that Bitcoin is behaving like a Ponzi scheme isn't inaccurate. Yes, it's almost like the gold rush in terms of people rushing in to probably find themselves washed up and broke. It's still a gold rush though (so maybe start making shovels?)
- scsilver 6y ago
  I figure its best to start a gold managment business during a gold rush, that is if gold is appreciating tremendously while the rush is going on. Why sell shovels when you can make money selling services. How do I become a crypto retirement advisor.
- whydoibother 6y ago
  How is fiat on the way out? Seems like a bold claim to make with no evidence. Also, how do you tackle the environmental effects of crypto?
- noddingham 6y ago
  >Crypto is a given at this point; fiat currencies are on their way out. This statement is false and backed by zero evidence. >* Ease of dissemination has intrinsic value. Keeping track of gold/fiat/etc. and transporting it is difficult and error-prone. Crypto doesn't have that problem. USD hasn't been gold backed for a while, argument invalid. Regarding tracking and transporting, I'd rather have the money in my bank than be the guy that can't remember his wallet password, or threw out the HDD that it was on. This addresses a problem created by cryptocurrency, not one people are asking to be solved today. >* Cutting out middle-men. You don't need transaction services to send and receive crypto. You don't realize you're just moving the middleman. You still need nodes, networks, and other operators that become your middleman and will squeeze you when it benefits them. Also no casual user is going to download the whole BTC blockchain just exchange a few bucks with you. >* More transparency (or more privacy). We can easily see how much Bitcoin people are moving around, as we often see with the seemingly quarterly "whale sends $1 billion in Bitcoin to someone" reports, and yet no one can really know how much crypto you personally have. You're welcome criminals and otherwise already insanely rich people. More on this at 10. >* Smart contracts. You can make the transaction of crypto trigger events, or create second-degree value as part of the transaction. This provides zero real world value, see above regarding rich people. Here's the thing, a majority of the world's population doesn't have access to digital currency at all. 42% of Bitcoin value is held by 0.01% of holders. This isn't some grassroots, "screw the man", "by the people", or whatever slogan you want to attach revolution. This is just a replay of where we're already at, with different names attached to things. Instead of 'real estate' you call it 'cryptocurrency', and instead of 'high frequency trading market manipulation' you call it 'smart contracts'. If you want to do something spectacular with cryptocurrency (and probably get rich at the same time), figure out how it can help feed the estimated 690 million people that will go to sleep hungry tonight.
danielEM 6y ago
If you make paper money in your basement you're a thief and criminal, but once it is electronic money - everything is ok?

27 points by ForHackernews 6y ago

Sold my 64 BTC that I have mined out of boredom during sick leave in 2011. Thanks for the ride... Looking for the next big thing...

gjvc 6y ago
how and how long did that take you?
- xyzzy4 6y ago
  In 2011 you could mine about 0.5 to 1 Bitcoin per day with a gaming computer.
culopatin 6y ago
That’s nice. I wish I had stayed mining longer in 2010. Back then it was mostly losses when taking electricity into consideration and I stopped at 1btc with my pleb ATI card. I am feeling the same way. Not really about the value but I feel like I don’t want to be part of it anymore

mgerullis 6y ago

Tether is the real scam.

fallingfrog 6y ago

I became aware of Bitcoin back when the first bubble happened and it went up all the way to one dollar, but when I tried to buy it it was really difficult, you had to do some wacky thing like buy the internal currency of some rpg game, and I lost interest.. probably should have tried harder. It might be a scam, or might not, I don’t know.

fallingfrog 6y ago
Sometimes I feel like I have some cyber stalker who just instantly downvotes anything I say.. generally about 30 minutes after I post something I get 2 quick downvotes, no matter what I said. It is odd.
- fallingfrog 6y ago
  And right on schedule, exactly two downvotes
  - radu_floricica 6y ago
    No idea about the rest of the comments, but in this particular case it's probably just the lack of value for the others. It's a musing on your experiences with bitcoin, but doesn't help or inform anybody else.

0xld 6y ago

Those are a lot of words from someone who admits they panic sold. I don't see anything new in this article apart from the usual Tether FUD (and you know what that means - stonks go up)

antidaily 6y ago
Well, he also says "I expect Bitcoin to continue increasing in value".
ForHackernews 6y ago
Interesting catch-22 if you won't listen to somebody telling you about their mistake because they admit it was a mistake. "I don't trust anyone who stopped using Python to give me their opinion on Python"

person_of_color 6y ago

How many people lost out on being rich

someguydave 6y ago
they will all write blogs about why bitcoin sucks
- person_of_color 6y ago
  Then that is simply a way of coping.

EliRivers 6y ago

"Can you imagine Apple or Tesla having an asset that’s expected to go up and down in orders of magnitude through the years on their balance sheet?" Well that part of the argument didn't age well :)

akyu 6y ago

I simultaneously believe that crypto is a giant scam, and that it has the potential to be the future of finance and radically change our world. Cryptocurrency gives us the first opportunity to have trust minimized financial transactions, and contract enforcement without the use of violence. This is revolutionary in ways I couldn't do justice to explaining here in the comments. Almost no one in the field is actually working towards these goals, but I want to live in a world where these things are possible, so I keep hope.

cfup 6y ago

Most cryptocurrencies are a huge scam. They are pyramid schemes that the new people pay the early adopters. There are no "real" values. But, investing in Crypto is still a fast way to get rich.

prohobo 6y ago

Crypto is a given at this point; fiat currencies are on their way out. Whether it's Bitcoin that takes the stage is up for debate. So here's why crypto is useful: * Ease of dissemination has intrinsic value. Keeping track of gold/fiat/etc. and transporting it is difficult and error-prone. Crypto doesn't have that problem. * Cutting out middle-men. You don't need transaction services to send and receive crypto. * More transparency (or more privacy). We can easily see how much Bitcoin people are moving around, as we often see with the seemingly quarterly "whale sends $1 billion in Bitcoin to someone" reports, and yet no one can really know how much crypto you personally have. * Smart contracts. You can make the transaction of crypto trigger events, or create second-degree value as part of the transaction. Crypto is very young, so these things are being worked on and improved. Some things might not pan out, and some new things might suddenly become extremely valuable. People saying "lol, crypto is stupid like who even needs it" are dinosaurs living with delusions of grandeur - and stability. Society is at a crossroads whether people like it or not, and things will drastically change over the next decade. To say that Bitcoin is behaving like a Ponzi scheme isn't inaccurate. Yes, it's almost like the gold rush in terms of people rushing in to probably find themselves washed up and broke. It's still a gold rush though (so maybe start making shovels?)

scsilver 6y ago
I figure its best to start a gold managment business during a gold rush, that is if gold is appreciating tremendously while the rush is going on. Why sell shovels when you can make money selling services. How do I become a crypto retirement advisor.
whydoibother 6y ago
How is fiat on the way out? Seems like a bold claim to make with no evidence. Also, how do you tackle the environmental effects of crypto?
noddingham 6y ago
>Crypto is a given at this point; fiat currencies are on their way out. This statement is false and backed by zero evidence. >* Ease of dissemination has intrinsic value. Keeping track of gold/fiat/etc. and transporting it is difficult and error-prone. Crypto doesn't have that problem. USD hasn't been gold backed for a while, argument invalid. Regarding tracking and transporting, I'd rather have the money in my bank than be the guy that can't remember his wallet password, or threw out the HDD that it was on. This addresses a problem created by cryptocurrency, not one people are asking to be solved today. >* Cutting out middle-men. You don't need transaction services to send and receive crypto. You don't realize you're just moving the middleman. You still need nodes, networks, and other operators that become your middleman and will squeeze you when it benefits them. Also no casual user is going to download the whole BTC blockchain just exchange a few bucks with you. >* More transparency (or more privacy). We can easily see how much Bitcoin people are moving around, as we often see with the seemingly quarterly "whale sends $1 billion in Bitcoin to someone" reports, and yet no one can really know how much crypto you personally have. You're welcome criminals and otherwise already insanely rich people. More on this at 10. >* Smart contracts. You can make the transaction of crypto trigger events, or create second-degree value as part of the transaction. This provides zero real world value, see above regarding rich people. Here's the thing, a majority of the world's population doesn't have access to digital currency at all. 42% of Bitcoin value is held by 0.01% of holders. This isn't some grassroots, "screw the man", "by the people", or whatever slogan you want to attach revolution. This is just a replay of where we're already at, with different names attached to things. Instead of 'real estate' you call it 'cryptocurrency', and instead of 'high frequency trading market manipulation' you call it 'smart contracts'. If you want to do something spectacular with cryptocurrency (and probably get rich at the same time), figure out how it can help feed the estimated 690 million people that will go to sleep hungry tonight.

danielEM 6y ago

If you make paper money in your basement you're a thief and criminal, but once it is electronic money - everything is ok?