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I have dedicated the majority of my professional career to crypto. I am deeply passionate about the industry and its potential to disrupt the global financial s

I have dedicated the majority of my professional career to crypto. I am deeply passionate about the industry and its potential to disrupt the global financial system, and IMO it has already in significant and profound ways. Whether you agree or not, it has certainly brought the discussion of fiat currencies, central banks, and the philosophy of monetary systems from the backwater of forgotten academics to a real debate in the public sphere. I work in this industry because it combined my libertarian beliefs with my software skillset. I work with a lot of like-minded people, and the atmosphere is very freedom-oriented and open to debate compared to the average tech company. The 2018-2020 bear market was a true test of die hard crypto employees. Bitcoin went to $3k as the tech industry boomed. So many talented people capitulated and went to FAANG pa$ture$ but those of us who stuck it out also got paid. I can’t really give you advice other than, if the industry and / or company disagrees with your moral beliefs, you should find another line of work. Similarly I don’t work in adtech or social media because I find it distasteful. You can’t earn a paycheck that makes up for a dissonance in your sense of self. I agree there are more scams than most in crypto, but I don’t work for scams. I greatly enjoy the technology and the freedom it enables. YMMV

Jistern 4y ago
- syzygyhack 4y ago
  When you have nothing to contribute, say nothing.
  - can16358p 4y ago
    - Jistern 4y ago
- onetom 4y ago
  And you sound like a robot, giving the same canned response to others' comments. I suspect, your definition "crypto" is not the same as the definition of OP. Can you elaborate more, why do you think it's a fad? Have you tried to write, deploy or at least use any Ethereum contacts? Do you know how Merkle trees work or at least what are they useful for? How about elliptic curves? I worked on this off-chain technology a few years ago: https://github.com/enumatech/sprites/tree/master/examples/paywall https://github.com/enumatech/sprites/tree/master/examples/pa...
  - Jistern 4y ago
foepys 4y ago
What we are seeing is the cryptocurrency market reinventing all the mechanisms the "traditional" banking industry has been using for decades. There is no disruption when the whole thing is doing exactly the same just unregulated combined with extremely high risk. Cryptocurrencies will always have the problem of interacting with the real world, where people are not bound by smart contracts and do not behave "rationally". Not everything is codifyable, especially not people. > The 2018-2020 bear market was a true test of die hard crypto employees. Bitcoin went to $3k as the tech industry boomed. So many talented people capitulated and went to FAANG pa$ture$ but those of us who stuck it out also got paid. Only if they sold and this money came from other people who put it into this negative sum game. Remember that the true winners of it all are the electricity providers that are delivering the power to drive mining all those proof of work coins. The losers are the people who put in their money last and are left holding the bags.
- olalonde 4y ago
  To a libertarian, disconnecting money from the government is a major goal. Traditional banking does not achieve this. I believe you do not understand the libertarian viewpoint.
hikingsimulator 4y ago
Take it from someone who has worked in economics and finance. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are mostly considered speculative assets or derivatives with a nifty digital signature. It will not "disrupt" the industry, it will make it a bit more diversified -- possibly. Talks of ideology aside, the conversation on fiat, central banking, etc. in the public consciousness predates the rise of crypto by a lot. If we can call it "public consciousness." The idea of crypto as a game changer has long sinked in the harbor. What has sailed is that it is a new notch in the portfolio belt of institutional investors and banks. A cursory glance at who invests or has invested in cryto companies is telling.
kortilla 4y ago
> it has certainly brought the discussion of fiat currencies, central banks, and the philosophy of monetary systems from the backwater of forgotten academics to a real debate in the public sphere No it didn’t. This topic comes up all of the time in different contexts. Interest rate decisions, dropping the gold standard, switching to the Euro, running a constant deficit, etc all bring up these exact same topics. It may seem like crypto brought those topics up, but that’s just because you haven’t been around long enough to remember the 2008 financial crisis and the discussion of the bailouts, or more recently the discussions around the debt crisis in Europe with Greece, etc.

Jistern 4y ago

syzygyhack 4y ago
When you have nothing to contribute, say nothing.
- can16358p 4y ago
  - Jistern 4y ago
onetom 4y ago
And you sound like a robot, giving the same canned response to others' comments. I suspect, your definition "crypto" is not the same as the definition of OP. Can you elaborate more, why do you think it's a fad? Have you tried to write, deploy or at least use any Ethereum contacts? Do you know how Merkle trees work or at least what are they useful for? How about elliptic curves? I worked on this off-chain technology a few years ago: https://github.com/enumatech/sprites/tree/master/examples/paywall https://github.com/enumatech/sprites/tree/master/examples/pa...
- Jistern 4y ago

foepys 4y ago

What we are seeing is the cryptocurrency market reinventing all the mechanisms the "traditional" banking industry has been using for decades. There is no disruption when the whole thing is doing exactly the same just unregulated combined with extremely high risk. Cryptocurrencies will always have the problem of interacting with the real world, where people are not bound by smart contracts and do not behave "rationally". Not everything is codifyable, especially not people. > The 2018-2020 bear market was a true test of die hard crypto employees. Bitcoin went to $3k as the tech industry boomed. So many talented people capitulated and went to FAANG pa$ture$ but those of us who stuck it out also got paid. Only if they sold and this money came from other people who put it into this negative sum game. Remember that the true winners of it all are the electricity providers that are delivering the power to drive mining all those proof of work coins. The losers are the people who put in their money last and are left holding the bags.

olalonde 4y ago
To a libertarian, disconnecting money from the government is a major goal. Traditional banking does not achieve this. I believe you do not understand the libertarian viewpoint.

hikingsimulator 4y ago

Take it from someone who has worked in economics and finance. Cryptocurrencies and tokens are mostly considered speculative assets or derivatives with a nifty digital signature. It will not "disrupt" the industry, it will make it a bit more diversified -- possibly. Talks of ideology aside, the conversation on fiat, central banking, etc. in the public consciousness predates the rise of crypto by a lot. If we can call it "public consciousness." The idea of crypto as a game changer has long sinked in the harbor. What has sailed is that it is a new notch in the portfolio belt of institutional investors and banks. A cursory glance at who invests or has invested in cryto companies is telling.

kortilla 4y ago

> it has certainly brought the discussion of fiat currencies, central banks, and the philosophy of monetary systems from the backwater of forgotten academics to a real debate in the public sphere No it didn’t. This topic comes up all of the time in different contexts. Interest rate decisions, dropping the gold standard, switching to the Euro, running a constant deficit, etc all bring up these exact same topics. It may seem like crypto brought those topics up, but that’s just because you haven’t been around long enough to remember the 2008 financial crisis and the discussion of the bailouts, or more recently the discussions around the debt crisis in Europe with Greece, etc.