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It is one of the saddest aspects of my interest in crypto that I cannot share it with anyone in HN, because somehow the hive mind here has decided that it is be

It is one of the saddest aspects of my interest in crypto that I cannot share it with anyone in HN, because somehow the hive mind here has decided that it is beyond worthless. So I stick to reddit.

BLKNSLVR 4y ago
Fuck 'em :) I'm no Bitcoin maxi or "crypto will kill traditional finance in 5 years" type, or even really a get rich quick chaser (it'd be nice, but I've lived in reality for too long to expect anything like that) but I'm smart enough and humble enough to recognise it's a brand new thing (even 13 years later) that will grow and evolve to find its own niche or niches and then they will grow and evolve and fragment as all things do. Cryptocurrency isn't going away, and Bitcoin has the 'original' going for it, the Veblen good association unrelated to any other pro or con argument. Ethereum is the 'original' smart contract version of Bitcoin, already an evolution of function, and has an ecosystem of vast proportions that any other smart contract platforms are a long way away from reaching (although getting closer faster than Ethereum is moving away). It's interesting to watch and there are a lot of smart developers working on difficult problems in the space. I'll also admit that I'm not smart enough to understand the intricacies of things like ZK proofs, but I somewhat understand their applicability in the space and look forward with interest to seeing whats possible when such technologies are applied to cryptocurrencies in practise. I'm rambling, but I want you to feel comfortable sharing here. I want to harvest the down votes on behalf of all those chilled.
- kranke155 4y ago
  I agree with you. I actually think most of it is fraud, there are huge problems. But not being excited in it the least is so weird to me! This is exciting! This is tech!
bayindirh 4y ago
Well, I can't see the value of wasting so much energy for something looking for problems to solve. The idea is nice, but has no applications, esp. in Finance. Also the idea of replacing monetary systems built since the beginning of written history in a decade with cryptocurrencies is a bit naive. I'm a bit tired from discussing same things over and over, but at the end, banks gonna bank. OTOH, I'll not downvote/flag/harass/gatekeep for anyone sharing their views. Discussion is always good. This is how things move forward. So, go ahead, share on :)
- BLKNSLVR 4y ago
  > Well, I can't see the value of wasting so much energy for something looking for problems to solve. The energy is being paid for though, so it's competing in the same energy market as everything else. "Waste" becomes entirely subjective at that point. Also, Ethereum is now proof of stake, reducing it's power usage by something like 95%. PoS has its own pros and cons though. > Also the idea of replacing monetary systems built since the beginning of written history in a decade with cryptocurrencies is a bit naive. That's why I say it's still new despite being 13 years old. It's naive to think it's already failed when it's barely learnt to walk. Happy to be either totally ignored or told where I'm wrong.
  - bayindirh 4y ago
    > The energy is being paid for though, so it's competing in the same energy market as everything else. "Waste" becomes entirely subjective at that point. Actually, "I can do whatever do with electricity, because I pay for it", is a wrong perspective, esp. in today's energy climate. Let's put the fact that Bitcoin and Proof of Work systems are very energy inefficient as of today, and paying for it doesn't make this inefficiencies right. Today, supercomputer centers discuss about reducing capacity, or add downtimes. CERN is discussing about temporarily shutting down some experiments, incl. accelerator ring. Hotels in Europe is fixing (locking in fact) their rooms to 18 degrees Celcius, and turning off heating the second events/conferences end. Last, but not the least storefronts are turning off their extremely efficient LED lighting at nights, after stores close. In this climate, running a very inefficient network which uses equivalent energy to a small-mid European country "just because we pay for it" is wrong on many levels. I'm normally very lassiez-faire person, but in the face of this energy crisis, climate change and other existential threats looming, saying that "we can do that because we pay for it", really grinds my gears. It's just carelessness. I don't know when we have detached from ethics this far, and this is disturbing (AI has the same problem for different reasons, but let's not digress). Ethereum's Proof of Stake migration is something I support. I still don't believe in cryptocurrencies and all utopia surrounding it, but at least one step in a right direction. > It's naive to think it's already failed when it's barely learnt to walk. I don't think it's failed, but it has not won any battles either (yet alone the war). It's just another instrument which will be normalized under banks at most. I'm saying that it won't arrive where people dream, but somewhere else, and that place will be boring, if it ever arrives. Any people evangelizing cryptocurrencies are excited for small money (personal finance), any people evangelizing it for medium-sized money (hedge funds, etc.) are running Ponzi schemes. This is not a good outlook from my perspective.
lucozade 4y ago
> So I stick to reddit. Bless you. That made me laugh out loud.
- kranke155 4y ago
  Im not happy about it!

It is one of the saddest aspects of my interest in crypto that I cannot share it with anyone in HN, because somehow the hive mind here has decided that it is beyond worthless. So I stick to reddit.

BLKNSLVR 4y ago

Fuck 'em :) I'm no Bitcoin maxi or "crypto will kill traditional finance in 5 years" type, or even really a get rich quick chaser (it'd be nice, but I've lived in reality for too long to expect anything like that) but I'm smart enough and humble enough to recognise it's a brand new thing (even 13 years later) that will grow and evolve to find its own niche or niches and then they will grow and evolve and fragment as all things do. Cryptocurrency isn't going away, and Bitcoin has the 'original' going for it, the Veblen good association unrelated to any other pro or con argument. Ethereum is the 'original' smart contract version of Bitcoin, already an evolution of function, and has an ecosystem of vast proportions that any other smart contract platforms are a long way away from reaching (although getting closer faster than Ethereum is moving away). It's interesting to watch and there are a lot of smart developers working on difficult problems in the space. I'll also admit that I'm not smart enough to understand the intricacies of things like ZK proofs, but I somewhat understand their applicability in the space and look forward with interest to seeing whats possible when such technologies are applied to cryptocurrencies in practise. I'm rambling, but I want you to feel comfortable sharing here. I want to harvest the down votes on behalf of all those chilled.

kranke155 4y ago
I agree with you. I actually think most of it is fraud, there are huge problems. But not being excited in it the least is so weird to me! This is exciting! This is tech!

bayindirh 4y ago

Well, I can't see the value of wasting so much energy for something looking for problems to solve. The idea is nice, but has no applications, esp. in Finance. Also the idea of replacing monetary systems built since the beginning of written history in a decade with cryptocurrencies is a bit naive. I'm a bit tired from discussing same things over and over, but at the end, banks gonna bank. OTOH, I'll not downvote/flag/harass/gatekeep for anyone sharing their views. Discussion is always good. This is how things move forward. So, go ahead, share on :)

BLKNSLVR 4y ago
> Well, I can't see the value of wasting so much energy for something looking for problems to solve. The energy is being paid for though, so it's competing in the same energy market as everything else. "Waste" becomes entirely subjective at that point. Also, Ethereum is now proof of stake, reducing it's power usage by something like 95%. PoS has its own pros and cons though. > Also the idea of replacing monetary systems built since the beginning of written history in a decade with cryptocurrencies is a bit naive. That's why I say it's still new despite being 13 years old. It's naive to think it's already failed when it's barely learnt to walk. Happy to be either totally ignored or told where I'm wrong.
- bayindirh 4y ago
  > The energy is being paid for though, so it's competing in the same energy market as everything else. "Waste" becomes entirely subjective at that point. Actually, "I can do whatever do with electricity, because I pay for it", is a wrong perspective, esp. in today's energy climate. Let's put the fact that Bitcoin and Proof of Work systems are very energy inefficient as of today, and paying for it doesn't make this inefficiencies right. Today, supercomputer centers discuss about reducing capacity, or add downtimes. CERN is discussing about temporarily shutting down some experiments, incl. accelerator ring. Hotels in Europe is fixing (locking in fact) their rooms to 18 degrees Celcius, and turning off heating the second events/conferences end. Last, but not the least storefronts are turning off their extremely efficient LED lighting at nights, after stores close. In this climate, running a very inefficient network which uses equivalent energy to a small-mid European country "just because we pay for it" is wrong on many levels. I'm normally very lassiez-faire person, but in the face of this energy crisis, climate change and other existential threats looming, saying that "we can do that because we pay for it", really grinds my gears. It's just carelessness. I don't know when we have detached from ethics this far, and this is disturbing (AI has the same problem for different reasons, but let's not digress). Ethereum's Proof of Stake migration is something I support. I still don't believe in cryptocurrencies and all utopia surrounding it, but at least one step in a right direction. > It's naive to think it's already failed when it's barely learnt to walk. I don't think it's failed, but it has not won any battles either (yet alone the war). It's just another instrument which will be normalized under banks at most. I'm saying that it won't arrive where people dream, but somewhere else, and that place will be boring, if it ever arrives. Any people evangelizing cryptocurrencies are excited for small money (personal finance), any people evangelizing it for medium-sized money (hedge funds, etc.) are running Ponzi schemes. This is not a good outlook from my perspective.

lucozade 4y ago

> So I stick to reddit. Bless you. That made me laugh out loud.

kranke155 4y ago
Im not happy about it!