4 ms·

If you own a large amount of a currency, you want to ensure that the currency in question is trusted, or otherwise that currency would end up losing its value.

If you own a large amount of a currency, you want to ensure that the currency in question is trusted, or otherwise that currency would end up losing its value. It is your greed that is guiding you, not your benevolence.

troutwine 4y ago
Eh, I think it’s naive to believe that greed is sufficient protection. Owning a bunch of ETH so you can set ETH on fire would be a waste of money, only so long as the person setting the fire didn’t value the mischief more than the ETH. I don’t see why nation states wouldn’t attack each other by burning down the crypto assets of citizens, either.
- mastazi 4y ago
  > I think it’s naive to believe that greed is sufficient protection. I never said that, I actually agree with you. I was just explaining GP's point to parent who in my opinion missed it.
  - troutwine 4y ago
    Ah, apologies. I read you as agreeing with and clarifying GP's argument.
falcolas 4y ago
One problem with this - speculative assets are at least partially valuable because of their volatility - their ability to appreciate quickly. Even if eth is untrusted for long term value, so long as it has the potential to make money for someone in the short term it's going to continue to get transactions. And, as always, sometimes folks just want to watch the world burn. It's a relatively low investment (~$50k) to become a validator, and the fine's only about $7k (.5 eth). Imagine the damage someone with a few million (say, some baby-boomer who just sold their California duplex) could do if they wanted to.
dmitriid 4y ago
> If you own a large amount of a currency, you rug pull, divest into hard cash at peak, <any of the dozens of ways people with large amounts of cryptocurrencies get rid of those>
lottin 4y ago
Google short selling.
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- mastazi 4y ago
  thanks, I work at a financial institution, so I "Googled" it a few times, short selling is based on borrowing the underlying securities - not owning them - or alternatively owning a(n often bespoke) derivative, related to those securities, which behaves as a short. If you own a security you are long, not short.
- johnthewise 4y ago
  If you hold eth, you are long eth.
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  - lottin 4y ago
    Not really, you can be long in one market, and short in the derivatives market, and your net position be short. You'd be holding eth, but you'd be short.
    - mastazi 4y ago
      not really, in that case you have two separate positions, one long and one short.
      - lottin 4y ago
        If you make money when the price goes down then your overall position is short. The point is that it can be profitable to crash the price even though you're holding the asset at the same time.

troutwine 4y ago

Eh, I think it’s naive to believe that greed is sufficient protection. Owning a bunch of ETH so you can set ETH on fire would be a waste of money, only so long as the person setting the fire didn’t value the mischief more than the ETH. I don’t see why nation states wouldn’t attack each other by burning down the crypto assets of citizens, either.

mastazi 4y ago
> I think it’s naive to believe that greed is sufficient protection. I never said that, I actually agree with you. I was just explaining GP's point to parent who in my opinion missed it.
- troutwine 4y ago
  Ah, apologies. I read you as agreeing with and clarifying GP's argument.

falcolas 4y ago

One problem with this - speculative assets are at least partially valuable because of their volatility - their ability to appreciate quickly. Even if eth is untrusted for long term value, so long as it has the potential to make money for someone in the short term it's going to continue to get transactions. And, as always, sometimes folks just want to watch the world burn. It's a relatively low investment (~$50k) to become a validator, and the fine's only about $7k (.5 eth). Imagine the damage someone with a few million (say, some baby-boomer who just sold their California duplex) could do if they wanted to.

dmitriid 4y ago

> If you own a large amount of a currency, you rug pull, divest into hard cash at peak, <any of the dozens of ways people with large amounts of cryptocurrencies get rid of those>

lottin 4y ago

Google short selling.

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mastazi 4y ago
thanks, I work at a financial institution, so I "Googled" it a few times, short selling is based on borrowing the underlying securities - not owning them - or alternatively owning a(n often bespoke) derivative, related to those securities, which behaves as a short. If you own a security you are long, not short.
johnthewise 4y ago
If you hold eth, you are long eth.
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  [deleted]
- lottin 4y ago
  Not really, you can be long in one market, and short in the derivatives market, and your net position be short. You'd be holding eth, but you'd be short.
  - mastazi 4y ago
    not really, in that case you have two separate positions, one long and one short.
    - lottin 4y ago
      If you make money when the price goes down then your overall position is short. The point is that it can be profitable to crash the price even though you're holding the asset at the same time.