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Of course there will be people who try to scam others into it. But how is this different from anything else in life? The world of investment is susceptible to s

Of course there will be people who try to scam others into it. But how is this different from anything else in life? The world of investment is susceptible to scammers who prey on people's emotions. This is not crypto or capitalism, this just human nature and we've learned to spot it unless we're blinded by something else, and if not, then shit happens, life is not fair. > The number of people in crypto who believe in a libertarian, anarcho-capitalist world are on the order of 0.01% Where do you get your numbers? > And that’s because that is how crypto is actually marketed to the masses. Again, I don't see anyone "marketing" for it. People should understand what they're working with before selling their houses and "investing it" in bitcoin ffs. If they do that then they're dumb!

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> how is this different from anything else in life? There is a high concentration of scamming around cryptos. There are the obvious thefts and frauds. But a good fraction of crypto businesses make their money pushing tokens in a manner remarkably similar to pump and dumps. That said, for the reasons described here (crypto being a wealth transfer to the wealthy), I think it is here to stay.
qeternity 5y ago
> Of course there will be people who try to scam others into it. But how is this different from anything else in life? Because unlike everything else, crypto has been designed from the ground up such that society is unable to rectify the bad elements. > Again, I don't see anyone "marketing" for it. People should understand what they're working with before selling their houses and "investing it" in bitcoin ffs. If they do that then they're dumb! Aaaand there it is. A slightly longer form of “DYOR”. If you go around evangelizing something that turns out to be damaging, you’re not absolved of all responsibility simply because you add “not investment advice”. If people who promote crypto really didn’t intend it as investment advice, they wouldn’t say anything. The whole point is that maybe other people will pump your bags. And if it all goes sideways, then you can always point at “not investment advice” because the vast majority of promoters and traders don’t understand the first thing about what a blockchain is, much less “tokenomics” or smart contract code (and exploits). You may be an expert, and not in it to get rich quick. But you’re naive if you can’t see that the huge majority around you are in it for very different reasons.
Scarblac 5y ago
> But how is this different from anything else in life? In other things in life, there are things like consumer protection. You can tell your credit card agency to refund you, you can use the judicial system to sue scammers. If you lose login secrets to your bank account, you can call the bank, they know who you are, the problem can be solved. Crypto currency is designed from the ground up with the goal of eliminating all such centralized power and protection mechanisms. Anything that goes wrong is your fault and you have no recourse, and that is not a flaw that will be fixed, that is the most central thing in its design. Society has protections for the weak, crypto is designed to remove those protections.
- s7atic 5y ago
  > Crypto currency is designed from the ground up with the goal of eliminating all such centralized power and protection mechanisms. Anything that goes wrong is your fault and you have no recourse, and that is not a flaw that will be fixed, that is the most central thing in its design. This is hyperbolic. There are many insured custody services for cryptocurrencies, similar to fiat banks. Secure storage is a big topic in the crypto space, and it is certainly not a goal of cyptocurrencies to weaken protection mechanisms (centralized or otherwise).
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    Block size was a huge multi-year argument that split the BTC community. The current largest cryptocurrency is completely incapable of addressing small problems without enormous drama, let alone actually large problems. I have absolutely zero faith that the people in charge (unelected maintainers and miners) will be able to make appropriate policy changes over time.
    - spookthesunset 5y ago
      By design, it seems, Bitcoin was completely stillborn and unable to change. The entire thing incentives status quo.
      - 5y ago

JumpCrisscross 5y ago

> how is this different from anything else in life? There is a high concentration of scamming around cryptos. There are the obvious thefts and frauds. But a good fraction of crypto businesses make their money pushing tokens in a manner remarkably similar to pump and dumps. That said, for the reasons described here (crypto being a wealth transfer to the wealthy), I think it is here to stay.

qeternity 5y ago

> Of course there will be people who try to scam others into it. But how is this different from anything else in life? Because unlike everything else, crypto has been designed from the ground up such that society is unable to rectify the bad elements. > Again, I don't see anyone "marketing" for it. People should understand what they're working with before selling their houses and "investing it" in bitcoin ffs. If they do that then they're dumb! Aaaand there it is. A slightly longer form of “DYOR”. If you go around evangelizing something that turns out to be damaging, you’re not absolved of all responsibility simply because you add “not investment advice”. If people who promote crypto really didn’t intend it as investment advice, they wouldn’t say anything. The whole point is that maybe other people will pump your bags. And if it all goes sideways, then you can always point at “not investment advice” because the vast majority of promoters and traders don’t understand the first thing about what a blockchain is, much less “tokenomics” or smart contract code (and exploits). You may be an expert, and not in it to get rich quick. But you’re naive if you can’t see that the huge majority around you are in it for very different reasons.

Scarblac 5y ago

> But how is this different from anything else in life? In other things in life, there are things like consumer protection. You can tell your credit card agency to refund you, you can use the judicial system to sue scammers. If you lose login secrets to your bank account, you can call the bank, they know who you are, the problem can be solved. Crypto currency is designed from the ground up with the goal of eliminating all such centralized power and protection mechanisms. Anything that goes wrong is your fault and you have no recourse, and that is not a flaw that will be fixed, that is the most central thing in its design. Society has protections for the weak, crypto is designed to remove those protections.

s7atic 5y ago
> Crypto currency is designed from the ground up with the goal of eliminating all such centralized power and protection mechanisms. Anything that goes wrong is your fault and you have no recourse, and that is not a flaw that will be fixed, that is the most central thing in its design. This is hyperbolic. There are many insured custody services for cryptocurrencies, similar to fiat banks. Secure storage is a big topic in the crypto space, and it is certainly not a goal of cyptocurrencies to weaken protection mechanisms (centralized or otherwise).
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  Block size was a huge multi-year argument that split the BTC community. The current largest cryptocurrency is completely incapable of addressing small problems without enormous drama, let alone actually large problems. I have absolutely zero faith that the people in charge (unelected maintainers and miners) will be able to make appropriate policy changes over time.
  - spookthesunset 5y ago
    By design, it seems, Bitcoin was completely stillborn and unable to change. The entire thing incentives status quo.
    - 5y ago