4 ms·

I think in 2012 the tech community's sentiment was actually that Bitcoin was really cool and definitely useful, since it was new and did things in a practical a

by lucb1e 5y ago

I think in 2012 the tech community's sentiment was actually that Bitcoin was really cool and definitely useful, since it was new and did things in a practical application that we hadn't seen before. It's interesting that hindsight clouds that, it has been viewed negatively for years now but it's not that old yet. (Either way, your main point stands of course.)

hnxs 5y ago
nope, I remember starting my first tech job in 2013, and the only people in tech who cared about it were libertarians, which was a very small subgroup of tech
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  It's still heavily dominated by Libertarians. They want an anarchist revolution, without the effort of actually organizing and sustaining it.
Beltalowda 5y ago
> I think in 2012 the tech community's sentiment was actually that Bitcoin was really cool and definitely useful I don't think there was ever really a consensus on this. Lots of people (myself included, but also quite a few friends) always thought Bitcoin was just kinda useless. It's just that in 2012 there were comparatively low stakes (i.e. no massive energy use, not yet massive amounts of people pouring money in it, no massive amounts of "crypto snakeoil") that it just wasn't worth commenting on.
- billiam 5y ago
  Not totally useless. Some of us imagined it would keep some annoying people busy for a while. Seriously, what will we think about it 5 years from now?
  - nso 5y ago
    My bet and hope is "good riddance"
- chaxor 5y ago
  I find this exceedingly hard to believe. Around 2009-2010, btc was definitelynot an "asset" (like the bafoons try to treat it now). It *was a currency*. Many still believe in the idea that (certain, less well know) crypto can be used as a real currency, but unfortunately the public severely tainted it with ideas of 'being an asset'. This comment reads as someone who is more aligned with the public's (HN) perception of modern crypto, rather than the use of it pre-2010.
  - Beltalowda 5y ago
    Okay, sure, but I don't see how this relates to the fact there was never consensus or broad agreement on Bitcoin in the tech community in general?
  - thayne 5y ago
    I understand what you're trying to say, but I'm really curious about how you define "asset" to not include currency.
    - thanksgiving 5y ago
      I think the idea of “hodl” bitcoin wasn’t there. One thing that changed in my perspective is that bitcoin transactions were always destined to be more expensive than I had dreamed. In my mind, I thought transactions would be fast and free of cost. In reality, there are reportedly fewer than ten thousand full nodes. Everyone thinks of bitcoin in terms of “how many USD is it?” I don’t know what the solution is but as long as we think of bitcoin as a perverted asset like housing - apparently people once again believe we will not allow housing prices to fall to any significant degree - there is no reason to use bitcoin as a currency. With so much speculation, the price is too volatile. I don’t know what the solution is but I believe transaction costs should be minimal if not zero. I don’t know how we will achieve this but apparently there are other projects that try to get much closer to zero transaction fees. I think that is the future
ziml77 5y ago
The sentiment I knew at the time was a mix of excitement at the cool new tech, skepticism of the usefulness of it (my camp), and drooling over using the GPU you already had to make easy money.
_jal 5y ago
I was on the mailing list the day the paper was released, and played around with the original PoC. Lots of us thought bitcoin was dumb back then. Lots of us still do.
- gjs278 5y ago
nsajko 5y ago
I recently learned that proof of work was actually invented long before Bitcoin to combat spam, but the idea didn't take off, sadly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash https://scottpeterjohnson.github.io/hashwall/dist/index.html https://scottpeterjohnson.github.io/hashwall/dist/index.html
- Sebb767 5y ago
  Our luckily, given the way it worked out with crypto.
jdub 5y ago
There were plenty of us who knew – and said – that "cryptocurrency" was borne of technical, political, economic, societal ignorance when it started. Now it's just more obviously terrible.

by lucb1e 5y ago

hnxs 5y ago

nope, I remember starting my first tech job in 2013, and the only people in tech who cared about it were libertarians, which was a very small subgroup of tech

eyelidlessness 5y ago
It's still heavily dominated by Libertarians. They want an anarchist revolution, without the effort of actually organizing and sustaining it.

Beltalowda 5y ago

> I think in 2012 the tech community's sentiment was actually that Bitcoin was really cool and definitely useful I don't think there was ever really a consensus on this. Lots of people (myself included, but also quite a few friends) always thought Bitcoin was just kinda useless. It's just that in 2012 there were comparatively low stakes (i.e. no massive energy use, not yet massive amounts of people pouring money in it, no massive amounts of "crypto snakeoil") that it just wasn't worth commenting on.

billiam 5y ago
Not totally useless. Some of us imagined it would keep some annoying people busy for a while. Seriously, what will we think about it 5 years from now?
- nso 5y ago
  My bet and hope is "good riddance"
chaxor 5y ago
I find this exceedingly hard to believe. Around 2009-2010, btc was definitelynot an "asset" (like the bafoons try to treat it now). It *was a currency*. Many still believe in the idea that (certain, less well know) crypto can be used as a real currency, but unfortunately the public severely tainted it with ideas of 'being an asset'. This comment reads as someone who is more aligned with the public's (HN) perception of modern crypto, rather than the use of it pre-2010.
- Beltalowda 5y ago
  Okay, sure, but I don't see how this relates to the fact there was never consensus or broad agreement on Bitcoin in the tech community in general?
- thayne 5y ago
  I understand what you're trying to say, but I'm really curious about how you define "asset" to not include currency.
  - thanksgiving 5y ago
    I think the idea of “hodl” bitcoin wasn’t there. One thing that changed in my perspective is that bitcoin transactions were always destined to be more expensive than I had dreamed. In my mind, I thought transactions would be fast and free of cost. In reality, there are reportedly fewer than ten thousand full nodes. Everyone thinks of bitcoin in terms of “how many USD is it?” I don’t know what the solution is but as long as we think of bitcoin as a perverted asset like housing - apparently people once again believe we will not allow housing prices to fall to any significant degree - there is no reason to use bitcoin as a currency. With so much speculation, the price is too volatile. I don’t know what the solution is but I believe transaction costs should be minimal if not zero. I don’t know how we will achieve this but apparently there are other projects that try to get much closer to zero transaction fees. I think that is the future

ziml77 5y ago

The sentiment I knew at the time was a mix of excitement at the cool new tech, skepticism of the usefulness of it (my camp), and drooling over using the GPU you already had to make easy money.

_jal 5y ago

I was on the mailing list the day the paper was released, and played around with the original PoC. Lots of us thought bitcoin was dumb back then. Lots of us still do.

gjs278 5y ago

nsajko 5y ago

I recently learned that proof of work was actually invented long before Bitcoin to combat spam, but the idea didn't take off, sadly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash https://scottpeterjohnson.github.io/hashwall/dist/index.html https://scottpeterjohnson.github.io/hashwall/dist/index.html

Sebb767 5y ago
Our luckily, given the way it worked out with crypto.

jdub 5y ago

There were plenty of us who knew – and said – that "cryptocurrency" was borne of technical, political, economic, societal ignorance when it started. Now it's just more obviously terrible.