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It does mimic an MLM-Pyramid and Ponzi scheme, and this is exactly why they keep investing - they need to keep it moving - creating tools for people to use, eve

by loceng 6y ago

It does mimic an MLM-Pyramid and Ponzi scheme, and this is exactly why they keep investing - they need to keep it moving - creating tools for people to use, even though competitively they cost more - but for early adopters using their early bought Bitcoin (etc) they've already gained profit and aren't spending their initial investment, they are also re-investing to perpetuate the appearance of adoption and usefulness. Nowhere have I ever seen a "this is how much this costs vs. current options" in pitch decks for these companies though - price competitiveness since the beginning of time being the most important factor for competition (aside from governance which we'll eventually get back to). Edit to add: I 100% expect all of my counter-narrative posts to get downvoted as Bitcoin "army of HODLers" is financially incentivized to suppress anything negative about their scheme.

Nextgrid 6y ago
In this case it indeed seems like a Ponzi scheme, but in a lot of cases where businesses suddenly decide to (re)do a solved problem with blockchain, it's more in an attempt to raise VC funding or buy-in from large clueless companies rather than from crypto people.
meowface 6y ago
Don't worry, I think the majority of HN readers essentially share your opinion. Possibly even the vast majority. The people who get downvoted are the ones who say cryptocurrencies - as a technology - serve absolutely no purpose to humanity other than scams, fraud, laundering, drug trafficking, and other criminal activity, as well as useless zero-sum speculation and shuffling around of funny money, at the cost of country-level electricity use dedicated solely to generating and hashing pseudorandom numbers all day. (Which isn't that far off the mark, but it elides the genuinely interesting aspects of the technological and cryptographic innovations, as well as the full potential of general-purpose decentralized smart contracts and all the current legitimate use cases. Plus the fact that Proof of Stake, if successful, basically eliminates the electricity and environmental problems.)
CynicusRex 6y ago
>It does mimic an MLM-Pyramid and Ponzi scheme It does so because it is.

by loceng 6y ago

Nextgrid 6y ago

In this case it indeed seems like a Ponzi scheme, but in a lot of cases where businesses suddenly decide to (re)do a solved problem with blockchain, it's more in an attempt to raise VC funding or buy-in from large clueless companies rather than from crypto people.

meowface 6y ago

Don't worry, I think the majority of HN readers essentially share your opinion. Possibly even the vast majority. The people who get downvoted are the ones who say cryptocurrencies - as a technology - serve absolutely no purpose to humanity other than scams, fraud, laundering, drug trafficking, and other criminal activity, as well as useless zero-sum speculation and shuffling around of funny money, at the cost of country-level electricity use dedicated solely to generating and hashing pseudorandom numbers all day. (Which isn't that far off the mark, but it elides the genuinely interesting aspects of the technological and cryptographic innovations, as well as the full potential of general-purpose decentralized smart contracts and all the current legitimate use cases. Plus the fact that Proof of Stake, if successful, basically eliminates the electricity and environmental problems.)

CynicusRex 6y ago

>It does mimic an MLM-Pyramid and Ponzi scheme It does so because it is.