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I wouldn't be so sure that the (original) Bitcoin people are running a pump-and-dump scam - there is very little evidence either way. And there are plenty of pe

I wouldn't be so sure that the (original) Bitcoin people are running a pump-and-dump scam - there is very little evidence either way. And there are plenty of people who genuinely seem to believe that Twitter causes and/or wins revolutions: love of technology, libertarianism and something we'll call optimism do occur together, and cypherpunks are not the least vulnerable.

tptacek 15y ago
To be clear: I'm not saying the original design was a scam. Only its realization as a real system people can interact with and spend money on. This whole system is morally no different than Zynga tomorrow setting up a system to trade options on Farmville tomatoes.
- JoachimSchipper 15y ago
  To be clear: I think that some people really do believe that Bitcoin is going to overthrow the monetary system and free us all from the evil government. I also think that quite a few more people believe that Bitcoin can only go up (designed for deflation, right?) "Bitcoin is a scam" is simply not enough to explain stuff from the Bitcoin bulletin to open source GPU mining software - hard work by obviously capable people, and not even remotely the most effective way to become rich. Mind you, I think the "true believers" are incorrect, sometimes naive and occasionally downright stupid; but declaring them "evil" leaves quite a few unanswered questions. [EDIT: Even if the speculators are probably in the majority.] (Also, I wouldn't be surprised if EVE had a foostone contract future market...) EDIT: also, there was nothing wrong with the system design. A bit uninspired, maybe; current research involves zero-knowledge exchanges and the like.
  - Steko 15y ago
    The people that recommended Madoff's fund to their family and friends were probably well intentioned too. And the fund probably wasn't a Ponzi scheme from the beginning either but in the end a scam is a scam.

tptacek 15y ago

To be clear: I'm not saying the original design was a scam. Only its realization as a real system people can interact with and spend money on. This whole system is morally no different than Zynga tomorrow setting up a system to trade options on Farmville tomatoes.

JoachimSchipper 15y ago
To be clear: I think that some people really do believe that Bitcoin is going to overthrow the monetary system and free us all from the evil government. I also think that quite a few more people believe that Bitcoin can only go up (designed for deflation, right?) "Bitcoin is a scam" is simply not enough to explain stuff from the Bitcoin bulletin to open source GPU mining software - hard work by obviously capable people, and not even remotely the most effective way to become rich. Mind you, I think the "true believers" are incorrect, sometimes naive and occasionally downright stupid; but declaring them "evil" leaves quite a few unanswered questions. [EDIT: Even if the speculators are probably in the majority.] (Also, I wouldn't be surprised if EVE had a foostone contract future market...) EDIT: also, there was nothing wrong with the system design. A bit uninspired, maybe; current research involves zero-knowledge exchanges and the like.
- Steko 15y ago
  The people that recommended Madoff's fund to their family and friends were probably well intentioned too. And the fund probably wasn't a Ponzi scheme from the beginning either but in the end a scam is a scam.