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I think it will be around for a long time to come in some form or another (especially Bitcoin and probably also Ethereum), but there are a lot of scams and grif

I think it will be around for a long time to come in some form or another (especially Bitcoin and probably also Ethereum), but there are a lot of scams and grifts in the space, and a lot of experimentation that has ultimately failed. Even just as a speculative bet that moves quicker than the stock market, it has value. Some people are seeing wealth they would never have had a chance at if they did it the traditional way of investing in stocks and bonds, and it's transforming their lives (and a bunch of other people, unfortunately, have lost money, sometimes a lot of money, on the other end as well). I joined a video game startup that ultimately failed and probably lost out on at least $100k or more on money I could have made during that time at a larger corporation, especially since I didn't have a 401k then (I got paid, but a lot less than I would have elsewhere). It was a speculative bet that I made and I failed. I don't really see how that's much different than someone making a poor bet on crypto (assuming they only spent what they could afford to lose, of course).

nullsmack 3y ago
The only money you can ever get out of crypto is other peoples money. Even when 'created' via mining, that has a real world cost in electricity and what not that you paid for. No money is ever created, even if 'price' goes up. If the 'price' goes up, and you cash out then that just means you got more of someone else's money than you otherwise would've. You can never separate crypto from scams and grift, because that's what it is fundamentally. A scam and a grift. I hope one day they are legally treated as such because of how harmful those things are.
- cableshaft 3y ago
  To the extent that your statement is true about crypto, this is also true about stocks or any other investment. Just look at this link on Quora asking about 'When someone makes money in the stock market, must someone else be losing money?'[1]. Almost every single answer there disagreeing with that question about stocks you could swap stocks for crypto and it'd apply equally. Also anything a business creates also has a real world cost as well. If not with your cash (but it often is, with subsidies, tax breaks, loopholes, or other things), then with the business' impact on the environment, their effects on laws that affect you (i.e. Disney extending copyright law), or just consuming resources that you could have consumed for less if they weren't creating a higher demand for them. If everything was in homeostasis, then not a big deal, but we haven't been anywhere near that for a long time. And yes, I'm aware bitcoin isn't great for the environment considering how much energy it currently consumes for mining. I don't like that either. That doesn't make it a scam or a grift though. [1] https://www.quora.com/If-someone-is-making-money-is-someone-losing-money https://www.quora.com/If-someone-is-making-money-is-someone-...
  - seventhtiger 3y ago
    Stocks are only zero-sum in the short term. It's true for day traders. In the long term stocks reflect true growth in the economy. Dividends are not zero-sum.

nullsmack 3y ago

The only money you can ever get out of crypto is other peoples money. Even when 'created' via mining, that has a real world cost in electricity and what not that you paid for. No money is ever created, even if 'price' goes up. If the 'price' goes up, and you cash out then that just means you got more of someone else's money than you otherwise would've. You can never separate crypto from scams and grift, because that's what it is fundamentally. A scam and a grift. I hope one day they are legally treated as such because of how harmful those things are.

cableshaft 3y ago
To the extent that your statement is true about crypto, this is also true about stocks or any other investment. Just look at this link on Quora asking about 'When someone makes money in the stock market, must someone else be losing money?'[1]. Almost every single answer there disagreeing with that question about stocks you could swap stocks for crypto and it'd apply equally. Also anything a business creates also has a real world cost as well. If not with your cash (but it often is, with subsidies, tax breaks, loopholes, or other things), then with the business' impact on the environment, their effects on laws that affect you (i.e. Disney extending copyright law), or just consuming resources that you could have consumed for less if they weren't creating a higher demand for them. If everything was in homeostasis, then not a big deal, but we haven't been anywhere near that for a long time. And yes, I'm aware bitcoin isn't great for the environment considering how much energy it currently consumes for mining. I don't like that either. That doesn't make it a scam or a grift though. [1] https://www.quora.com/If-someone-is-making-money-is-someone-losing-money https://www.quora.com/If-someone-is-making-money-is-someone-...
- seventhtiger 3y ago
  Stocks are only zero-sum in the short term. It's true for day traders. In the long term stocks reflect true growth in the economy. Dividends are not zero-sum.