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HN has hated Bitcoin since before there was any reason to hate it. In the very early days there was a positive attitude. However, since the price started to rea

HN has hated Bitcoin since before there was any reason to hate it. In the very early days there was a positive attitude. However, since the price started to reach double digits, the attitude became sharply negative and that has stuck for the last 10 years. Some HN thought leaders declared Bitcoin a tulip bubble when the price was 1000x smaller than it is now. There are legitimate criticisms of cryptocurrency but the attitude here is more of a hardened loathing punctuated with a minority of more open minded people.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> Some HN thought leaders declared Bitcoin a tulip bubble when the price was 1000x smaller than it is now. I don't know that I understand the point you're making. The fundamentals of Bitcoin haven't changed, and it is worse than a tulip bubble.
- cinntaile 5y ago
  There has only been one tulip mania. Bitcoin on the other hand has gone through a few boom and bust cycles by now. This implies that it's probably not very helpful to compare the two.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    Growing tulips REMOVES carbon from the atmosphere.
    - cinntaile 5y ago
      Haha yeah I guess that's true, but I would be surprised if it's a net positive once you factor in transport to the customer. I guess we need a Proof of Carbon Removal consensus algorithm based coin ;)
pfraze 5y ago
Extreme libertarianism is divisive, and that was the culture of Bitcoin fans from the early days. It created a negative first impression for people who don’t agree politically.
cesarb 5y ago
> In the very early days there was a positive attitude. However, since the price started to reach double digits, the attitude became sharply negative From an ecologic point of view, this makes sense. The amount of electric power used by the Bitcoin network tends towards the amount of electric power one can buy with the block reward and fees. While the Bitcoin price was in the single digits, this was not an issue, since even with the higher block reward back then, the amount of electricity one could buy with it was low. Once the Bitcoin price started climbing higher and higher, however, the total amount of power used by Bitcoin miners became significant. The utility of Bitcoin is the same no matter its price; but its negative environmental cost is proportional to its price. It's natural that the attitude to it becomes negative once its downsides (proportional to its price) increase while its upsides stay the same (though one could argue that its upsides also have reduced with higher prices).

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

> Some HN thought leaders declared Bitcoin a tulip bubble when the price was 1000x smaller than it is now. I don't know that I understand the point you're making. The fundamentals of Bitcoin haven't changed, and it is worse than a tulip bubble.

cinntaile 5y ago
There has only been one tulip mania. Bitcoin on the other hand has gone through a few boom and bust cycles by now. This implies that it's probably not very helpful to compare the two.
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  Growing tulips REMOVES carbon from the atmosphere.
  - cinntaile 5y ago
    Haha yeah I guess that's true, but I would be surprised if it's a net positive once you factor in transport to the customer. I guess we need a Proof of Carbon Removal consensus algorithm based coin ;)

pfraze 5y ago

Extreme libertarianism is divisive, and that was the culture of Bitcoin fans from the early days. It created a negative first impression for people who don’t agree politically.

cesarb 5y ago

> In the very early days there was a positive attitude. However, since the price started to reach double digits, the attitude became sharply negative From an ecologic point of view, this makes sense. The amount of electric power used by the Bitcoin network tends towards the amount of electric power one can buy with the block reward and fees. While the Bitcoin price was in the single digits, this was not an issue, since even with the higher block reward back then, the amount of electricity one could buy with it was low. Once the Bitcoin price started climbing higher and higher, however, the total amount of power used by Bitcoin miners became significant. The utility of Bitcoin is the same no matter its price; but its negative environmental cost is proportional to its price. It's natural that the attitude to it becomes negative once its downsides (proportional to its price) increase while its upsides stay the same (though one could argue that its upsides also have reduced with higher prices).