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Oh boy oh boy that thread had lots of ETH and sETH and oETH und BTC and what not. No wonder that it's hard for some people to see the Ponzi schemes, pyramid sc

Oh boy oh boy that thread had lots of ETH and sETH and oETH und BTC and what not. No wonder that it's hard for some people to see the Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and what else those things are called. Regulations anyone? Or do we now just see people loosing their money?

zamalek 4y ago
Crypto has become a gacha game. So many currencies that you lose contact with how much money you put in in the first place.
YeBanKo 4y ago
With regulations people will be loosing their money anyway, but with confidence, because they will have a sense of some legitimacy. The only regulations crypto needs is how to call things. Just like whatever Tesla has should not be called Autopilot, crypto prophets should not be allowed to call it investment. Call it gambling and off you go.
ImaCake 4y ago
My inability to understand these financial instruments without hours of study is why I never put money into anything other than a couple of major currencies for funsies. Vanguard ETFs, mortgages, and bank accounts make sense. So I keep serious money in those.
- dehrmann 4y ago
  > bank accounts I'd argue it's hard to understand the higher-order effects of fractional reserve banking. The accounts are at least backed by a government and have over 100 years of lessons baked into them, so that's something.
Taniwha 4y ago
it was never really 'money', or even 'theirs' - just a consensual delusion that's falling apart
- ALittleLight 4y ago
  Well, at some level people paid fiat to get in and they are losing that.
dehrmann 4y ago
> No wonder that it's hard for some people to see the Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and what else those things are called. On the other hand, it's quite easy. After the third flavor of ETH and nested contracts, I thought to myself "fuck, that's complicated." Then just follow Buffett's advice of not investing in things you don't understand.
- nicbou 4y ago
  I always thought that for something meant as a currency, it sure is hard to understand, even for a passively interested, financially literate computer scientist.
  - SrslyJosh 4y ago
    A currency is only useful if you can actually buy things you need with it, and that means (among other things) you need its value to be relatively stable. Everyone (or almost everyone) pushing cryptocurrency is, in one way or another, a speculator, so their incentives are not aligned at all with people who might actually want to use it as a currency.
    - nicbou 4y ago
      Even if you could do that, the barriers are insane compared to cash and cards. Just the security practices required to avoid fraud are absurd, but since scammers can irreversibly empty your wallet, they're required. There's no credit card company to call, no fraud detection, no withdrawal limits, no way to lock your stolen card. The same applies to personal information. Lose your key, lose your money. It requires the sort of data security and redundancy discipline that few people outside of tech are capable of.
      - Tostino 4y ago
        Few inside are capable of it for years on end without a mistake.
justbored123 4y ago

zamalek 4y ago

Crypto has become a gacha game. So many currencies that you lose contact with how much money you put in in the first place.

YeBanKo 4y ago

With regulations people will be loosing their money anyway, but with confidence, because they will have a sense of some legitimacy. The only regulations crypto needs is how to call things. Just like whatever Tesla has should not be called Autopilot, crypto prophets should not be allowed to call it investment. Call it gambling and off you go.

ImaCake 4y ago

My inability to understand these financial instruments without hours of study is why I never put money into anything other than a couple of major currencies for funsies. Vanguard ETFs, mortgages, and bank accounts make sense. So I keep serious money in those.

dehrmann 4y ago
> bank accounts I'd argue it's hard to understand the higher-order effects of fractional reserve banking. The accounts are at least backed by a government and have over 100 years of lessons baked into them, so that's something.

Taniwha 4y ago

it was never really 'money', or even 'theirs' - just a consensual delusion that's falling apart

ALittleLight 4y ago
Well, at some level people paid fiat to get in and they are losing that.

dehrmann 4y ago

> No wonder that it's hard for some people to see the Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and what else those things are called. On the other hand, it's quite easy. After the third flavor of ETH and nested contracts, I thought to myself "fuck, that's complicated." Then just follow Buffett's advice of not investing in things you don't understand.

nicbou 4y ago
I always thought that for something meant as a currency, it sure is hard to understand, even for a passively interested, financially literate computer scientist.
- SrslyJosh 4y ago
  A currency is only useful if you can actually buy things you need with it, and that means (among other things) you need its value to be relatively stable. Everyone (or almost everyone) pushing cryptocurrency is, in one way or another, a speculator, so their incentives are not aligned at all with people who might actually want to use it as a currency.
  - nicbou 4y ago
    Even if you could do that, the barriers are insane compared to cash and cards. Just the security practices required to avoid fraud are absurd, but since scammers can irreversibly empty your wallet, they're required. There's no credit card company to call, no fraud detection, no withdrawal limits, no way to lock your stolen card. The same applies to personal information. Lose your key, lose your money. It requires the sort of data security and redundancy discipline that few people outside of tech are capable of.
    - Tostino 4y ago
      Few inside are capable of it for years on end without a mistake.

justbored123 4y ago