4 ms·

How is this news? They were cryptocurrencies, of course they were scams.

helloworld11 5y ago
Pray tell, in what way are bitcoin, or ether for example, or several other major currencies without central control scams as designed? Or hell, even dogecoin, whose creator explicitly, openly created as a joke, without ever having control of its later price rises. I know this site is militantly anti-cryptocurrency much of the time but some of these comments like yours just delve into the idiotically, crudely simplistic in their dismissiveness.
- ostenning 5y ago
  Agreed with the anti crypto sentiment on hn. Not unjustifiable though - the space is actually filled with scams
  - krageon 5y ago
    It absolutely is, but claiming every single entity in the space is a scam (as the root post is doing) is disingenuous and doesn't help anyone.
    - decremental 5y ago
      Well, it certainly doesn't help anyone who has sank money into crypto. Whether it hurts anyone who hasn't or might be tempted to is a different matter.
      - krageon 5y ago
        Perhaps you feel like speaking an outright lie to "protect" folks is totally fine, but I do not. We're just going to have to disagree.
    - ostenning 5y ago
      True, I think there are some promising aspects to crypto, once you weed out the get rich quick scams and the crypto bros
- Traubenfuchs 5y ago
  All crypto is controlled by a handful of unknown and known (Elon Musk) actors. They make a tons of money. Some lucky investors make a lot of money. A lot of idiots get burned. Those "currencies" you named are not used as currencies by anyone, but simply as a) investment or b) way to scam others out of their money.
TheGigaChad 5y ago
No Coiner detected.
jl2718 5y ago
Cryptocurrencies feed on a cycle of fear and greed and deceit. The technology exists because people are scared of inflation and authoritarianism. Then there are ‘investors’ who see this fear as a trend that can be exploited for profit. Then there are the scammers who target the greedy. And then the authoritarians step in and stoke more fears while mostly failing to do anything about the scams. But it starts with that fear, and it would end if people weren’t scared. The scams are just a byproduct, and this happened in every major financial revolution. My favorite example is the financial history of the collapse of the French monarchy. Maybe there will be enduring fiction written about cryptocurrency scammers with personifications like “The Merchant of Venice”.
eschaton 5y ago
People wondering why I say this need to read “The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism” by David Golumbia and “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” by David Gerard. This stuff is based on crackpot economics so it’s inherently a scam.

Pray tell, in what way are bitcoin, or ether for example, or several other major currencies without central control scams as designed? Or hell, even dogecoin, whose creator explicitly, openly created as a joke, without ever having control of its later price rises. I know this site is militantly anti-cryptocurrency much of the time but some of these comments like yours just delve into the idiotically, crudely simplistic in their dismissiveness.

ostenning 5y ago
Agreed with the anti crypto sentiment on hn. Not unjustifiable though - the space is actually filled with scams
- krageon 5y ago
  It absolutely is, but claiming every single entity in the space is a scam (as the root post is doing) is disingenuous and doesn't help anyone.
  - decremental 5y ago
    Well, it certainly doesn't help anyone who has sank money into crypto. Whether it hurts anyone who hasn't or might be tempted to is a different matter.
    - krageon 5y ago
      Perhaps you feel like speaking an outright lie to "protect" folks is totally fine, but I do not. We're just going to have to disagree.
  - ostenning 5y ago
    True, I think there are some promising aspects to crypto, once you weed out the get rich quick scams and the crypto bros
Traubenfuchs 5y ago
All crypto is controlled by a handful of unknown and known (Elon Musk) actors. They make a tons of money. Some lucky investors make a lot of money. A lot of idiots get burned. Those "currencies" you named are not used as currencies by anyone, but simply as a) investment or b) way to scam others out of their money.

TheGigaChad 5y ago

No Coiner detected.

jl2718 5y ago

Cryptocurrencies feed on a cycle of fear and greed and deceit. The technology exists because people are scared of inflation and authoritarianism. Then there are ‘investors’ who see this fear as a trend that can be exploited for profit. Then there are the scammers who target the greedy. And then the authoritarians step in and stoke more fears while mostly failing to do anything about the scams. But it starts with that fear, and it would end if people weren’t scared. The scams are just a byproduct, and this happened in every major financial revolution. My favorite example is the financial history of the collapse of the French monarchy. Maybe there will be enduring fiction written about cryptocurrency scammers with personifications like “The Merchant of Venice”.

eschaton 5y ago

People wondering why I say this need to read “The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism” by David Golumbia and “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” by David Gerard. This stuff is based on crackpot economics so it’s inherently a scam.