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3. Hacker News comments have been vehemently anti-cryptocurrency for a decade. I remember being shocked how out of touch with actual hackers this place is. Rem

3. Hacker News comments have been vehemently anti-cryptocurrency for a decade. I remember being shocked how out of touch with actual hackers this place is. Reminds me of punks who'd shop at Hot Topic.

edgyquant 5y ago
1. We still don’t have any proof crypto isn’t just a huge ponzi-like scheme. In fact a lot of them have been shown to basically be just that. 2. There is nothing wrong with “punks” shopping at hot topic, whatever you mean by punk.
- exdsq 5y ago
  > 1. We still don’t have any proof crypto isn’t just a huge ponzi-like scheme. In fact a lot of them have been shown to basically be just that. What would that proof need to look like?
  - hannasanarion 5y ago
    A successful venture using cryptocurrencies for anything other than speculation would be a good start.
    - exdsq 5y ago
      What about https://www.valiu.com/en https://www.valiu.com/en?
      - hannasanarion 5y ago
        It's just another speculation scheme. "Protect your money from inflation" means "make a bet that our token's price will go up". If you want to safeguard your savings against inflation, the way to do it is to invest it in vehicles that are backed by something, like corporate stocks, government bonds, real estate, or commodity money, not a vacuous line on a digital ledger supported by nothing but people's hope that it'll be worth more tomorrow. Valiu's claim that they're backed by USD is dubious at best. Tether was running a similar scheme, we now know that they only have 2.9% of the money that they claim to have in reserve, the rest having been traded away to mysterious LLCs in the Caymans, and many of their coins printed out of thin air.
- R0b0t1 5y ago
  1. Its continued success is proof enough, as people conduct legitimate business with it. Separate BTC/ETH/XMR/etc from random shitcoins and NFTs.
  - hannasanarion 5y ago
    The only "legitimate business" anybody's done with crypto is buying lots of it and hoping the value keeps going up. Nobody is actually using BTC/ETH/XMR/etc to do business or conduct commerce, it's all just speculation. There is no compelling reason to believe that cryptocurrencies are anything other than digital beanie-babies. At least beanie-babies had inherent value as a toy.
    - Viliam1234 5y ago
      > The only "legitimate business" anybody's done with crypto is buying lots of it and hoping the value keeps going up. Yes, and HN kept telling everyone for years not to do that. And the value kept going up. I wish I had a bitcoin for every "don't buy bitcoin" article that hit HN frontpage...
      - hannasanarion 5y ago
        Beannie baby prices were pretty high in '99 too. Speculation is not business, high prices are not proof of utility, and the purpose of currency is not to hodl.
yann2 5y ago
Actual punks or just punks?
hannasanarion 5y ago
"actual hackers" use cryptocurrencies because they are easy to steal and launder. Despite the name, most of the people on Hacker News are not interested in the criminal part of "hacking".

edgyquant 5y ago

1. We still don’t have any proof crypto isn’t just a huge ponzi-like scheme. In fact a lot of them have been shown to basically be just that. 2. There is nothing wrong with “punks” shopping at hot topic, whatever you mean by punk.

exdsq 5y ago
> 1. We still don’t have any proof crypto isn’t just a huge ponzi-like scheme. In fact a lot of them have been shown to basically be just that. What would that proof need to look like?
- hannasanarion 5y ago
  A successful venture using cryptocurrencies for anything other than speculation would be a good start.
  - exdsq 5y ago
    What about https://www.valiu.com/en https://www.valiu.com/en?
    - hannasanarion 5y ago
      It's just another speculation scheme. "Protect your money from inflation" means "make a bet that our token's price will go up". If you want to safeguard your savings against inflation, the way to do it is to invest it in vehicles that are backed by something, like corporate stocks, government bonds, real estate, or commodity money, not a vacuous line on a digital ledger supported by nothing but people's hope that it'll be worth more tomorrow. Valiu's claim that they're backed by USD is dubious at best. Tether was running a similar scheme, we now know that they only have 2.9% of the money that they claim to have in reserve, the rest having been traded away to mysterious LLCs in the Caymans, and many of their coins printed out of thin air.
R0b0t1 5y ago
1. Its continued success is proof enough, as people conduct legitimate business with it. Separate BTC/ETH/XMR/etc from random shitcoins and NFTs.
- hannasanarion 5y ago
  The only "legitimate business" anybody's done with crypto is buying lots of it and hoping the value keeps going up. Nobody is actually using BTC/ETH/XMR/etc to do business or conduct commerce, it's all just speculation. There is no compelling reason to believe that cryptocurrencies are anything other than digital beanie-babies. At least beanie-babies had inherent value as a toy.
  - Viliam1234 5y ago
    > The only "legitimate business" anybody's done with crypto is buying lots of it and hoping the value keeps going up. Yes, and HN kept telling everyone for years not to do that. And the value kept going up. I wish I had a bitcoin for every "don't buy bitcoin" article that hit HN frontpage...
    - hannasanarion 5y ago
      Beannie baby prices were pretty high in '99 too. Speculation is not business, high prices are not proof of utility, and the purpose of currency is not to hodl.

yann2 5y ago

Actual punks or just punks?

hannasanarion 5y ago

"actual hackers" use cryptocurrencies because they are easy to steal and launder. Despite the name, most of the people on Hacker News are not interested in the criminal part of "hacking".