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Any project that financially rewards its creators feels like a cash grab to me. The handful of projects that are built from scratch [1] and don't involve any IC

by tromp 4y ago

Any project that financially rewards its creators feels like a cash grab to me. The handful of projects that are built from scratch [1] and don't involve any ICO/premine/instamine/devtax, which includes Bitcoin itself, are in principle legit. [1] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1geg5HHgDO-ht0u6CSTHplJudr9kSGQYAoJvaKnfRhI4/edit#gid=0 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1geg5HHgDO-ht0u6CSTHp...

AlexandrB 4y ago
They're still potentially subject to pump-and-dump dynamics though. The capital cost of doing the pump is just > $0. I do agree that these are at least more honest than projects where founders/VCs already own tons of pre-mined tokens.
cwkoss 4y ago
> Any project that financially rewards its creators feels like a cash grab to me. Are all non-crypto startup businesses 'cash grabs' in your opinion? Does that make them scams?
- tromp 4y ago
  No, they're not. But they're not advertising themselves as public goods the way cryptocurrencies do. A "people's currency" should not concentrate wealth beyond what pre-exists in the fiat realm.
  - cwkoss 4y ago
    I think a very large proportion of startups overstate societal benefit...
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  I think it's a mistake to compare crypto tokens to stocks. Stocks represent fractional ownership of an organization with assets and cash flow. Crypto tokens only represent ownership of... themselves. The closest analog is the commodity market (gold, oil, etc.). And indeed, if someone discovered an easily mineable "new gold", hoarded a bunch of it, then hyped it up on the market so they could dump their reserves at inflated prices I would call that scammy. Edit: Actually we don't have to imagine this scenario. The diamond cartel[1] does something very similar already and yes, it's a scam. [1] https://are.berkeley.edu/~sberto/debers.pdf https://are.berkeley.edu/~sberto/debers.pdf
jabits 4y ago
That is literally every equity IPO.

by tromp 4y ago

AlexandrB 4y ago

They're still potentially subject to pump-and-dump dynamics though. The capital cost of doing the pump is just > $0. I do agree that these are at least more honest than projects where founders/VCs already own tons of pre-mined tokens.

cwkoss 4y ago

> Any project that financially rewards its creators feels like a cash grab to me. Are all non-crypto startup businesses 'cash grabs' in your opinion? Does that make them scams?

tromp 4y ago
No, they're not. But they're not advertising themselves as public goods the way cryptocurrencies do. A "people's currency" should not concentrate wealth beyond what pre-exists in the fiat realm.
- cwkoss 4y ago
  I think a very large proportion of startups overstate societal benefit...
AlexandrB 4y ago
I think it's a mistake to compare crypto tokens to stocks. Stocks represent fractional ownership of an organization with assets and cash flow. Crypto tokens only represent ownership of... themselves. The closest analog is the commodity market (gold, oil, etc.). And indeed, if someone discovered an easily mineable "new gold", hoarded a bunch of it, then hyped it up on the market so they could dump their reserves at inflated prices I would call that scammy. Edit: Actually we don't have to imagine this scenario. The diamond cartel[1] does something very similar already and yes, it's a scam. [1] https://are.berkeley.edu/~sberto/debers.pdf https://are.berkeley.edu/~sberto/debers.pdf

jabits 4y ago

That is literally every equity IPO.