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I take issue with something about crypto "causes us to lose our minds?". Couple points: 1. At this stage of the game, there is not a lot new under the sun to d
by hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
I take issue with something about crypto "causes us to lose our minds?". Couple points:
1. At this stage of the game, there is not a lot new under the sun to discuss that is likely to alter people's opinions. I would say that I did think there were some good comments in some of the other posts about what constitutes a security by the legal definition, and helped me understand better the specific points of the SEC's argument. This story, though, is just about the SEC wanting to freeze Binance US's assets. To be frank, I don't think there is a lot of substantive things to discuss about this particular story.
2. I feel the need to roll my eyes whenever I see the "Well, it's well known HN hates crypto..." lamentations. I will only speak for myself, but I don't "hate crypto". On the contrary, I remember reading the Bitcoin whitepaper early on and thinking how brilliant it was. As time has gone on, however, I've simply come to the conclusion that most crypto technology has very little actual utility. I believe the primary thesis of crypto enthusiasts, that it can somehow "escape" the legal frameworks of human beings (the "code is the law" stuff), is just fundamentally wrong and misguided. I think things like NFTs are just dumb. All this coupled with the fact that the crypto "ecosystem" has drawn in the scummiest set of characters I can think of, and that I think its net utility over the past decade has been negative, just leads me to believe that most crypto technologies deserve to die. This isn't some irrational "I hate crypto" take. This is my (fair, in my opinion) assessment that crypto has little overall utility. I also think this is highlighted by the fact that the amount of real crypto utility that its backers can point to is extremely limited.
In general, I think the HN community is by-and-large quite rational when it comes to evaluating and discussing new technologies. I'm not saying it is always "right", and of course you always have fan boys on all sides, but I do think that reasonable, insightful comments about crypto still bubble to the top.
- TheOtherHobbes 3y agoWhich boils down to the fact that it's entirely rational to be negative about crypto. Crypto is interesting as a kind of libertarian pseudo-oppositional secular religion that flatters itself that it's edgy and non-conformist but is actually dead-centre mainstream in a capitalist culture with consistent shades of criminality dedicated to making money at any cost.
- sMarsIntruder 3y agoAnd that applies to everything except for Bitcoin. Otherwise we’re just telling fairytales.
- TeMPOraL 3y agoNo, the meme goes: "Even Bitcoin?" / "Especially Bitcoin". The tech is interesting, it was still embedded in and made to promote an ideology that's frankly just immature fantasy. You can't separate the symbol from the religion it was born in, and born to promote.
- redsky880 3y ago"entirely rational" is subjective, how can it be a fact?
- eek2121 3y agoAll I know is I gambled away more BTC than Elon Musk is worth in today's dollars, so there is that. Instead of being a trillionaire I am broke because of gambling.
- unyttigfjelltol 3y agoIt's a fallacy. The predisposition to gambling that led you to speculate in the first place in Bitcoin also caused you to lose the asset. You should consider these traits as a pair, and recognize that everyone has similar pairs of traits. I did not gamble and never had much Bitcoin to lose in the first place. Those opposite pairs of traits led to similar results. What would be rare and truly remarkable is to have precisely the right traits to the situation, at all the right times.
- Yeahsureok 3y ago> that it can somehow "escape" the legal frameworks of human beings And yet multibillion dollar companies whose entire business is illegally running hotels or taxis get nowhere near the vitriol? Airbnb clearly causes harm for locals in popular tourist cities.
- viro 3y agoSure, but Airbnb isn't trying to replace a core societal institution and subvert hundreds of years of financial law. While also if you're American violating the constitution...
- malermeister 3y agoLook, I hate crypto too, but I think housing still qualifies as a "core societal institution".
- viro 3y agoAirbnb is more hotels. But I can see how it muddies those waters.
- selcuka 3y agoThat is whataboutism. Two wrongs won't make a right.
- Daishiman 3y agoYou must not have been reading HN for the past two years then.
- TeMPOraL 3y agoMake it at least five; I've been calling Uber and AirBnB all kinds of things for at least as long, and I was neither the first nor the most vocal one here.
- Analemma_ 3y agoYes, Uber and Airbnb should not have been allowed to get away with it either. That doesn't mean we should allow new companies to run the same "break the law and try to grow as fast as possible so by the time the government catches up, you're already entrenched" playbook for the sake of foolish consistency; just the opposite: it increases the urgency with which companies trying to do that should be rapidly brought to heel. Which is exactly what is happening.