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'Blockchain is bunk': Crypto critics find their voice

4 points by isaacfrond 4y ago

isaacfrond 4y ago
from the article: The first thing I always say is, “Tell me a use that isn't just broad-brush aspirational blather [like], ‘Hey, this is gonna make it so that when you buy your house, it's instantaneous. This is going to make it so that when you make a credit card transaction, it'll be safer than ever before.’” They just throw out anything. They say it's about financial inclusion, which is the worst of all — that it's going to solve the problem of the unbanked. That's how they loop people in. So what I say to them is, “Tell me a use.” Don’t tell me this is here to stay, just because a lot of criminals have begun using it and a lot of venture capitalists have gotten rich investing in it. Tell me why it's worth it.
rvz 4y ago
> “I was an internet evangelist,” he told Protocol. “I was out there talking about how incredible the internet was and how infinite the possibilities were.” You mean the Web? Which had the speculation fuelled run and after the crash, 90% of dotcom companies died with the remaining 10% still alive today? > I'm not a big regulations guy. But when it comes to finance, it's just not an area where you can let people run free. Yes you are, and he knows it will be regulated, and this whole post is completely alarmist ahead of the conference. > None of us are going to make any money by what we say in this conference. Maybe somebody is making money somehow, I don't know. Someone (especially the speakers at the last event of the conference) has a book to sell you and not disclosing that they have a competing interest against public chains because their company was killed by another Haskell-based blockchain project called Cardano. The only thing that is true is this: 90% of these crypto, blockchain startups and technologies are not going to survive and will wither away with the remaining 10% of them still surviving, compliant with regulations with no 'total collapse' or 'all of it burning in a fire' as the critics have hoped for years. The extreme crypto-critics hoping for all of it to 'collapse' are no better or just as delusional as the crypto maximalists who want 'all of them' to succeed. The truth is: Some of them will succeed, and most of them will not survive.

4 points by isaacfrond 4y ago

from the article: The first thing I always say is, “Tell me a use that isn't just broad-brush aspirational blather [like], ‘Hey, this is gonna make it so that when you buy your house, it's instantaneous. This is going to make it so that when you make a credit card transaction, it'll be safer than ever before.’” They just throw out anything. They say it's about financial inclusion, which is the worst of all — that it's going to solve the problem of the unbanked. That's how they loop people in. So what I say to them is, “Tell me a use.” Don’t tell me this is here to stay, just because a lot of criminals have begun using it and a lot of venture capitalists have gotten rich investing in it. Tell me why it's worth it.

rvz 4y ago

> “I was an internet evangelist,” he told Protocol. “I was out there talking about how incredible the internet was and how infinite the possibilities were.” You mean the Web? Which had the speculation fuelled run and after the crash, 90% of dotcom companies died with the remaining 10% still alive today? > I'm not a big regulations guy. But when it comes to finance, it's just not an area where you can let people run free. Yes you are, and he knows it will be regulated, and this whole post is completely alarmist ahead of the conference. > None of us are going to make any money by what we say in this conference. Maybe somebody is making money somehow, I don't know. Someone (especially the speakers at the last event of the conference) has a book to sell you and not disclosing that they have a competing interest against public chains because their company was killed by another Haskell-based blockchain project called Cardano. The only thing that is true is this: 90% of these crypto, blockchain startups and technologies are not going to survive and will wither away with the remaining 10% of them still surviving, compliant with regulations with no 'total collapse' or 'all of it burning in a fire' as the critics have hoped for years. The extreme crypto-critics hoping for all of it to 'collapse' are no better or just as delusional as the crypto maximalists who want 'all of them' to succeed. The truth is: Some of them will succeed, and most of them will not survive.