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I find the sheer volume of anger and hatred surrounding this and other related announcements completely unhinged. Why are so many people threatened by services

I find the sheer volume of anger and hatred surrounding this and other related announcements completely unhinged. Why are so many people threatened by services that give their users options?

eclipxe 5y ago
HN hates everything.
- knownjorbist 5y ago
  It's wild, considering the cryptopunk thing is happening _now_, not in the 90s.
  - o_____________o 5y ago
    The tech world is full of dreamers and know-it-alls. Proto-HN Slashdot is a great historical document of our malignant naysaying.
- stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
  It would be great to have a place to have engaging discussion regarding Y-Combinator-backed startups that good hackers would find interesting.
infamouscow 5y ago
Because if Bitcoin specifically takes off it will force governments to balanced budgets, exposing a lot of hidden corruption. Detractors cherry-pick concerns about energy usage, but never show the energy usage of the existing system for comparison.
- tehnub 5y ago
  You’re suggesting that these HN readers are criticizing crypto because they’re trying to keep government corruption under the rug?
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  I really never know how to read comments like this anymore. Are you serious? Are you joking?
- quaunaut 5y ago
  Are you for real? Crypto right now, while being used by under 1% of population use, uses 40% of the energy of the global banking system[1]. In other words, if it were to increase to even 10% of the population using it, it would use over 4x the energy of the global banking system. If that increased to 50%, it would be 20x. This would be somewhat mitigated in the case of Proof of Stake, but would simultaneously give major players in the market complete control of said market. Y'know, like a government. 1. Research report from Galaxy Digital, a decidedly pro-crypto source, page 8: https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2 https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2
  - infamouscow 5y ago
    That report says the data used for the banking system is derived from a computer model because they lack sufficient empirical evidence.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
root_axis 5y ago
Is your honest interpretation of cryptocurrency critics that they feel "threatened by services that give their users options"?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
izzydata 5y ago
Groupthink has decided that crypto is evil and killing the planet and any opinion to the contrary is wrongthink. This is the world we live in now.
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
I feel like I am engaging with a bad faith critique for the purposes of good faith discussion, which is a mistake, but OK, here goes: Some businesses in the UK have banks that say they will close their accounts if they accept cryptocurrency payments. Mine does! I would without hesitation lose my business bank account if I did, because I am a trifling small customer. Stripe was safe and reputable, but now it is a place where you can accept cryptocurrencies. Edit: see note below. I'm not currently clearing payments via Stripe for my own business, but the way I understand it, it's now likely to mean increased scrutiny from my bank about those payments when I do. I'm not sure if it has rolled out in the UK yet. But if it has, will my bank be clearly informed when a payout was *not* the result of a cryptocurrency transaction? I've not read that far yet. Either way it's reputational damage hassle people do not need. And before you ask: I am of course comfortable with that bank policy. Because cryptocurrency is consistently crime-adjacent and fraud-adjacent. And it's not like banks are that well-equipped at dealing with old-fashioned frauds that have been around a century, let alone new frauds that have been around mere days. -- Edit to add: apparently this document is not meant to communicate that cryptocurrency payments can be accepted. Which is not what the screenshots in the page do, IMO. Though the fact that Stripe will allow NFT exchanges is more than enough to create reputational risk. I still expect to have more difficulty when I add Stripe payments.
- danuker 5y ago
  > Because cryptocurrency is consistently crime-adjacent and fraud-adjacent. So are banks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#Notable_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#Notable_cases
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    That's as may be. But I have to deal with my bank, don't I? And there is regulation to protect my business.
    - rosndo 5y ago
      Actually not really, I’ve switched banks used by my UK based business a couple of times. It has never been difficult. I would certainly want to switch banks if I started hearing complaints about me using Stripe.

I find the sheer volume of anger and hatred surrounding this and other related announcements completely unhinged. Why are so many people threatened by services that give their users options?

eclipxe 5y ago

HN hates everything.

knownjorbist 5y ago
It's wild, considering the cryptopunk thing is happening _now_, not in the 90s.
- o_____________o 5y ago
  The tech world is full of dreamers and know-it-alls. Proto-HN Slashdot is a great historical document of our malignant naysaying.
stimpson_j_cat 5y ago
It would be great to have a place to have engaging discussion regarding Y-Combinator-backed startups that good hackers would find interesting.

infamouscow 5y ago

Because if Bitcoin specifically takes off it will force governments to balanced budgets, exposing a lot of hidden corruption. Detractors cherry-pick concerns about energy usage, but never show the energy usage of the existing system for comparison.

tehnub 5y ago
You’re suggesting that these HN readers are criticizing crypto because they’re trying to keep government corruption under the rug?
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
I really never know how to read comments like this anymore. Are you serious? Are you joking?
quaunaut 5y ago
Are you for real? Crypto right now, while being used by under 1% of population use, uses 40% of the energy of the global banking system[1]. In other words, if it were to increase to even 10% of the population using it, it would use over 4x the energy of the global banking system. If that increased to 50%, it would be 20x. This would be somewhat mitigated in the case of Proof of Stake, but would simultaneously give major players in the market complete control of said market. Y'know, like a government. 1. Research report from Galaxy Digital, a decidedly pro-crypto source, page 8: https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2 https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2
- infamouscow 5y ago
  That report says the data used for the banking system is derived from a computer model because they lack sufficient empirical evidence.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

root_axis 5y ago

Is your honest interpretation of cryptocurrency critics that they feel "threatened by services that give their users options"?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

izzydata 5y ago

Groupthink has decided that crypto is evil and killing the planet and any opinion to the contrary is wrongthink. This is the world we live in now.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

I feel like I am engaging with a bad faith critique for the purposes of good faith discussion, which is a mistake, but OK, here goes: Some businesses in the UK have banks that say they will close their accounts if they accept cryptocurrency payments. Mine does! I would without hesitation lose my business bank account if I did, because I am a trifling small customer. Stripe was safe and reputable, but now it is a place where you can accept cryptocurrencies. Edit: see note below. I'm not currently clearing payments via Stripe for my own business, but the way I understand it, it's now likely to mean increased scrutiny from my bank about those payments when I do. I'm not sure if it has rolled out in the UK yet. But if it has, will my bank be clearly informed when a payout was *not* the result of a cryptocurrency transaction? I've not read that far yet. Either way it's reputational damage hassle people do not need. And before you ask: I am of course comfortable with that bank policy. Because cryptocurrency is consistently crime-adjacent and fraud-adjacent. And it's not like banks are that well-equipped at dealing with old-fashioned frauds that have been around a century, let alone new frauds that have been around mere days. -- Edit to add: apparently this document is not meant to communicate that cryptocurrency payments can be accepted. Which is not what the screenshots in the page do, IMO. Though the fact that Stripe will allow NFT exchanges is more than enough to create reputational risk. I still expect to have more difficulty when I add Stripe payments.

danuker 5y ago
> Because cryptocurrency is consistently crime-adjacent and fraud-adjacent. So are banks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#Notable_cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering#Notable_cases
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  That's as may be. But I have to deal with my bank, don't I? And there is regulation to protect my business.
  - rosndo 5y ago
    Actually not really, I’ve switched banks used by my UK based business a couple of times. It has never been difficult. I would certainly want to switch banks if I started hearing complaints about me using Stripe.