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Dogecoin Co-Founder Calls Cryptocurrency a Scam to Help the Rich Get Richer
- JeremyBanks 5y agoWhen everybody jumps in this thread to tear him apart, please disclose your crypto holdings while you're at it. So many formerly-good people have been corrupted by crypto greed.
- jimbob45 5y agoZero holdings It’s also a scam to launder money, destroy the environment, and gateway the youth into losing their holdings through asset trading. I hope the US follows China’s example and bans it outright.
- neb_b 5y agoIt also helps citizens in authoritarian regimes transfer money in a way that can't be stopped.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> helps citizens in authoritarian regimes transfer money in a way that can't be stopped Who do you think, in authoritarian countries, has most of the money? The poor Venezuelans saving with Bitcoin benefit exists, but let’s call a spade a spade. It’s principally used for graft and sanctions/tax evasion by these countries’ elites.
- neb_b 5y ago> It’s principally used to facilitate graft and sanctions/tax evasion by these countries’ elites. It's quite a leap to say crypto is "principally used" for that. Bitcoin is seeing adoption for remittance payments in the poorest countries in our world. Crypto is also allowing people to donate to activists in countries that deem these people "extremist groups" [0] [0] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-donors-use-cryptocurrency-due-crackdown-2021-06-02/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-dono...
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> quite a leap to say crypto is "principally used" for that Not broadly. But within authoritarian countries, almost certainly yes. You need to have wealth before losing it to becomes a problem. (For an analogy, look up how hard cash is distributed and used in authoritarian regimes. Hint: the poor Venezuelans have a tougher time getting U.S. dollars, too.)
- neb_b 5y agoDo you have a source for that?
- Johnyma22 5y agoThe US Gov holds ~$4Bn in Bitcoin alone. The Chinese Government ~$11Bn. Are they using these funds to undo the damage? That would feel like an obvious option.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- sumnole 5y agoIf one truly believed crypto is valuable tech, I would expect them to be holding crypto.
- distances 5y agoI disagree. Almost by definition any beneficial aspect of crypto would be something else than speculation, so holding coins doesn't have anything to do with the usefulness of the technology.
- solarkraft 5y agoThe technology is independent from the economics of one specific blockchain. If you like the blockchain technology you can generally use it without any investment into tokens on any of the popular chain. Unless you want to use it for economic endeavors of course, but even then you don’t really need to permanently hold that much. If you’re holding it because you think other people think the technology will make other people think (…) it’ll eventually be used for real payments increasing its price: That’s speculation.
- rualca 5y agoWhy is this message being downvoted, particularly without pointing anything wrong with the point that was made? Edit: and of course this question is being downvoted as well.
- xwdv 5y agoI guarantee it is being downvoted by people with significant holdings in crypto. I've upvoted it.
- carlsborg 5y agoHe is quoted as saying "I gave away and/or sold all the crypto I had back in 2015 after being laid off and scared about my dwindling savings at the time, for about enough in total to buy a used Honda Civic.” [1] And if he invested during recent dev changes that Musk was tweeting about, that investment would be way underwater. [1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/founder-of-8-4b-dogecoin-sold-everything-in-2015-for-a-used-honda-civic https://cointelegraph.com/news/founder-of-8-4b-dogecoin-sold...
- sascha_sl 5y agoCryptocurrency has a habit of punishing those that actually use it for its described purpose. I'm still occasionally being made fun of for spending the equivalent of about a million dollars right now on a video game in ~2010, but I have zero regrets, back then people were excited about crypto as a usable currency and not as a hold for all eternity asset because eventually we'd get back to the "usable currency" stage. I also mined those coins myself.
- technofiend 5y agoI donated some fractional Bitcoin to a homeless shelter in Florida and a few people ate peanut butter sandwiches that would be worth thousands today. No regrets.
- clintonb 5y agoThat’s a different person.
- tristanj 5y agoDupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27841947 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27841947
- phasnox 5y agoThis is true for almost every project but Bitcoin.
- kzrdude 5y agoI have no coin in the game, and I'm happy to read his story. However, don't we all, if we buy into the stock market, buy into shady businesses, tax evaders and corruption? So if the common knowledge investment tip is to buy into the stock market (through stock funds or whatever), maybe it should also include cryptocurrencies? I mean, in terms of what's a sound investment strategy for your savings.
- xwdv 5y agoNo? Stocks are backed by business activity but crypto is pure ponzi scheme speculation where the only way to get rich is to sell to a bigger loser.
- cryptica 5y agoStocks pretend to be backed by real business activity. Without being propped up by central banks, there is no guarantee they would be profitable. They might be destroying value, not creating it.
- JKCalhoun 5y agoWhether you agree or disagree, the Feds tend to step in when the stock market drops — not so crypto.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jfengel 5y agoQuantitative easing has made stocks more profitable than they really should be, perhaps by a factor of two or three (as measured by the ratio of stock price to profits). But there actually is an underlying value there, and in the long term it tends to revert closer to that mean. It does seem overpriced right now and overdue for a correction, though it can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. Still, don't confuse the real merit with the hype. They both exist. It's less clear whether that exists at all for crypto.
- scarmig 5y agoCrypto-lottery tickets, not cryptocurrencies. To a first order approximation, the only people using cryptocurrency as an actual currency are scammers, who promptly sell it once acquired because it's not primarily a currency. It's just an incredibly volatile, highly speculative asset.
- MilnerRoute 5y agoBloomberg actually ran a headline last week that said "Crypto Scammers Rip Off Billions as Pump-and-Dump Schemes Go Digital." https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-08/crypto-scams-rug-pulls-bitcoin-hacks-billions-lost-when-shit-coins-go-to-zero https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-08/crypto-sc... From their article: "Tokensniffer, aptly named for Shit Coins, claims to have tracked 42,071 tokens and 2,250 scams or hacks. That was as of June 16. More than 200 supposed stings were logged by users during the first two weeks of June alone..."
- aazaa 5y ago> Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, he wrote that cryptocurrency is “an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.” The thread doesn't prove any of the claims in the first tweet: 1. Inherently right-wing, hypercapitalistic. What's the source? Whitepaper? Source code? 2. Built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents. Again, what's the source for this claim of what motivated Satoshi? Look through the the Bitcoin Talk forum. You'll find nothing of the sort. 3. Tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity. He's just described blue chip stocks. Paying attention to notable people is all well and good. But they, like everyone else, have the same standards for evidence as the rest of us.
- cloudhead 5y agoCrypto hasn’t become anything. It’s a technology like any other, that can be used for good or bad. If you don’t see potential in the tech, fine. If you do, then what other people are doing shouldn’t matter.
- crystaln 5y agoWhy would anyone listen to the creator of a simple fork of Bitcoin as an art project? The guy did something interesting and fun. He’s not a though leader in crypto. That said most of crypto is a scam, just like most of dotcom 1.0 in 2000 was crap. The parallels are a near dead match, speaking from someone who was there. The vibe was the same. Was the internet a scam?