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No need to be jealous, since it's still the very early days for crypto in the grand scheme of things. It's far from having hit any of the real success metrics (

No need to be jealous, since it's still the very early days for crypto in the grand scheme of things. It's far from having hit any of the real success metrics (much broader usage, significant % of wealth stored, transferred, etc). They may prove to be a lot more useful than you imagine and one thing for sure is they are here to stay at this point. The big difference compared to 2019 is that we had a Bitcoin halving in 2020, prices usually increase significantly after that since it becomes a lot more scarce, people think Bitcoin is too expensive for them, so they flip altcoins, we are in the middle of the altcoin season. And we've also stress tested a lot of the defi protocols that are now fundamental blocks in the crypto world (uniswap, maker, compound, aave, etc).

SwimSwimHungry 5y ago
Over 10 years in and it's still "early days" for crypto? When do you think this entire thing is considered mature? I'm very much a crypto skeptic, mostly because I see a lot more harm than good that comes out of the space (ransomware enablement, horrendous waste of energy on PoW coins, egoists that make up the majority of the community, etc)
- rawtxapp 5y ago
  I mean internet has changed very significantly in the last 30 years, or even in the last 5 years. Personally, I will say it's mature enough when Bitcoin is the world reserve currency (crazy, I know!) and defi fulfills majority if not all of my financial transactions/operations, etc. I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards greener energy sources and there are less energy intensive alternatives being developed.
  - SwimSwimHungry 5y ago
    >>I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards greener energy sources and there are less energy intensive alternatives being developed. I keep hearing this "green energy" being pushed harder by proponents of cryptocurrency and I find this rather disingenuous. We are already pushing towards this goal, crypto or not, but unlike a world blissfully free of this long con, green energy will not be appropriately allocated to areas of greater need, like infrastructure, housing, schools, hospitals, etc. Plus, a true capitalist that wants the maximum value will go for the cheapest and easiest source of electricity. Coal fired and gas via fracking will still be easier to pursue for increased bang for buck. I think you assume the cryptocurrency community has the best interests of everyone else and the planet at heart. Let's not forget that cryptocurrency miners and stakeholders are not shy from leeching off other countries that may offer subsidized electricity, sometimes even causing blackouts for those that need the electricity the most. Seems very parasitic. Just my two cents.
  - nly 5y ago
    > I mean internet has changed very significantly in the last 30 years, or even in the last 5 years. Has it? I think the biggest inflection point in the last 15 years has been the prevalence of smart phones and mobile connectivity, otherwise most of what we do on the Internet today was already happening in the 90s, it's just more prevalent now.
  - manigandham 5y ago
    > "it's pushing us towards greener energy" It definitely isn't, unless you count anything that uses power as pushing towards green energy which makes no sense. The only way to incentivize different forms of energy production is by making them more profitable, which has nothing to do with what that power is used for.
nly 5y ago
Everyone in crypto and sat on a 5x gain tells you its the "early days" because they can afford to lose 80% and still shrug it off. It's easy to be chipper right now. Go back to between early 2018 and early 2020 though and look at r/bitcoin and you'll see a bunch of people running themselves in to early graves with anxiety, following every twitch in the market and hyping up every news story about crypto to try and justify to themselves why they bought in. Bitcoin could go to $1M/coin, but it might do that over a 3 month period 10 years from now after a decade of going nowhere.
- SwimSwimHungry 5y ago
  They just want someone down the line to buy in to keep the grift going, honestly.
- Hendrikto 5y ago
  You have it the wrong way around: People who realized it’s still early days are making those returns.

SwimSwimHungry 5y ago

Over 10 years in and it's still "early days" for crypto? When do you think this entire thing is considered mature? I'm very much a crypto skeptic, mostly because I see a lot more harm than good that comes out of the space (ransomware enablement, horrendous waste of energy on PoW coins, egoists that make up the majority of the community, etc)

rawtxapp 5y ago
I mean internet has changed very significantly in the last 30 years, or even in the last 5 years. Personally, I will say it's mature enough when Bitcoin is the world reserve currency (crazy, I know!) and defi fulfills majority if not all of my financial transactions/operations, etc. I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards greener energy sources and there are less energy intensive alternatives being developed.
- SwimSwimHungry 5y ago
  >>I look at ransomware as a positive, finally a forcing function for companies to take security seriously. Energy, it's pushing us towards greener energy sources and there are less energy intensive alternatives being developed. I keep hearing this "green energy" being pushed harder by proponents of cryptocurrency and I find this rather disingenuous. We are already pushing towards this goal, crypto or not, but unlike a world blissfully free of this long con, green energy will not be appropriately allocated to areas of greater need, like infrastructure, housing, schools, hospitals, etc. Plus, a true capitalist that wants the maximum value will go for the cheapest and easiest source of electricity. Coal fired and gas via fracking will still be easier to pursue for increased bang for buck. I think you assume the cryptocurrency community has the best interests of everyone else and the planet at heart. Let's not forget that cryptocurrency miners and stakeholders are not shy from leeching off other countries that may offer subsidized electricity, sometimes even causing blackouts for those that need the electricity the most. Seems very parasitic. Just my two cents.
- nly 5y ago
  > I mean internet has changed very significantly in the last 30 years, or even in the last 5 years. Has it? I think the biggest inflection point in the last 15 years has been the prevalence of smart phones and mobile connectivity, otherwise most of what we do on the Internet today was already happening in the 90s, it's just more prevalent now.
- manigandham 5y ago
  > "it's pushing us towards greener energy" It definitely isn't, unless you count anything that uses power as pushing towards green energy which makes no sense. The only way to incentivize different forms of energy production is by making them more profitable, which has nothing to do with what that power is used for.

nly 5y ago

Everyone in crypto and sat on a 5x gain tells you its the "early days" because they can afford to lose 80% and still shrug it off. It's easy to be chipper right now. Go back to between early 2018 and early 2020 though and look at r/bitcoin and you'll see a bunch of people running themselves in to early graves with anxiety, following every twitch in the market and hyping up every news story about crypto to try and justify to themselves why they bought in. Bitcoin could go to $1M/coin, but it might do that over a 3 month period 10 years from now after a decade of going nowhere.

SwimSwimHungry 5y ago
They just want someone down the line to buy in to keep the grift going, honestly.
Hendrikto 5y ago
You have it the wrong way around: People who realized it’s still early days are making those returns.