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My understanding of crypto (having worked in the industry for years) is that it's not about decentralisation so much as it is about reliability and transparency

My understanding of crypto (having worked in the industry for years) is that it's not about decentralisation so much as it is about reliability and transparency. The decentralization aspect was mostly necessary in the early days to avoid being shut down by government. Now that crypto is widespread, it is not as important. What is important though are things that are missing from our current fiat monetary system; transparency and reliability. While the fiat monetary system appears to be very reliable for the individual, it is in fact extremely unreliable due to its lack of transparency. Governments can easily manipulate the supply (and therefore the true value) of currency behind the scenes without your knowledge and that is one of the primary mechanisms via which it steals wealth from individuals and deprive them of opportunities. Arguments against cryptocurrency are essentially saying that these individuals who are being robbed and deprived of opportunities don't matter because the system only needs to work for rich people and fool the poor into thinking that it doesn't harm them. Unfortunately, many poor people understand exactly how the system robs them. - It devalues our salary contracts via inflation of buying power. - Centralized currency creation centralizes opportunities due to the Cantillon Effect and this creates an asymmetric playing field which unfairly benefits corporations and large organizations. - Given that income tax is levied against each transfer between individuals, newly issued currency cannot travel very far from the government money printers as each hop away from the printers incurs a significant additional tax in the remaining untaxed amount which keeps shrinking. This exacerbates the Cantillon Effect and punishes regional areas and individuals who are far from the centers of money printing. It keeps all economic activity on a very short leash which is held tightly by the government.

dale_glass 3y ago
> My understanding of crypto (having worked in the industry for years) is that it's not about decentralisation so much as it is about reliability and transparency. None of those have panned out. Reliability and transparency aren't there either, because the state of crypto so far is that people keep on falling for scam after scam and getting screwed. No, just like with the original concept of "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", there's very few true believers that are into it for any such reasons like decentralization, reliability or transparency. The vast, vast majority just wants to get rich. It's that simple. The technical merits or characteristics of the underlying system are completely unimportant to the vast majority.
- jongjong 3y ago
  That's because quality projects are being suppressed. Governments have been working hard to destroy crypto's reputation by enabling scams. When I worked in crypto, the projects that were receiving EU government funding were usually scams or had a scam aspect to them. The agencies which were supposed to regulate the industry often turned a blind eye to obvious misconduct and suppressed small projects. Why did FTX get away with it for so long? You think the government had no idea? Even I suspected something fishy and I didn't even try to look. In any case, individuals should be allowed to choose their monetary system and not be coerced into a specific scam which is what the fiat system is. If people could choose who their scammer is, that is already progress from what we have now.
  - nullc 3y ago
    People made SEC and FTC complaints about both FTX and the Earn program at Gemini which received no attention. I think the theory that they're intentionally enabling scams though fails occam's razor. A simpler explanation is that they're lazy and dysfunctional, it's much much easier to prosecute a scam AFTER its vanished everyone money than before.
    - jongjong 3y ago
      It reminds me of Grey's law "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice." At that point you may as well admit the system is malicious by design as its complexity facilitates advanced incompetence.
      - nullc 3y ago
        Maybe, but are we worse off with enforcement bodies that fail to go after many things than with none at all? As far as the sponsorship. I think that is largely due to the general advantage scams have: Real systems have limits and honest people will be willing to admit to them. A scam can promise the moon because they're not beholden to the truth or reality. Parties who aren't thoughtful will flock to the scams that promise them all they want to hear: "Our blockchain is green, organic, whole food, and promotes equality for disenfranchised African dwarfs at unlimited scale!" --- "Sounds great, you rank 10/10 according to our metrics, here's a grant!"
AlexandrB 3y ago
> Governments can easily manipulate the supply (and therefore the true value) of currency behind the scenes without your knowledge Can you provide an example? Central bank fucking with interest rates or doing QE is broadcast widely to the public. If one believes such moves will de-value the currency, there are ways to hedge against that - including the old standby: gold. And what does "true value" mean in this case? The value of anything is what someone is willing to trade for it. There's no "true value" the government can set that won't show up in the market somewhere.
- jongjong 3y ago
  How about people who do not have capital and physically cannot trade against the government's inefficiencies? You're forgetting the majority of people. Myself included. The government has historically benefited those who understood the system, but it doesn't benefit them now. Quite the opposite. The system is now working against those who understand it most. That's why we're seeing a decline in the west.
- dboreham 3y ago
  > what does "true value" mean Obviously the number of big macs you can buy per unit currency.
deleted 3y ago
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dale_glass 3y ago

> My understanding of crypto (having worked in the industry for years) is that it's not about decentralisation so much as it is about reliability and transparency. None of those have panned out. Reliability and transparency aren't there either, because the state of crypto so far is that people keep on falling for scam after scam and getting screwed. No, just like with the original concept of "Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", there's very few true believers that are into it for any such reasons like decentralization, reliability or transparency. The vast, vast majority just wants to get rich. It's that simple. The technical merits or characteristics of the underlying system are completely unimportant to the vast majority.

jongjong 3y ago
That's because quality projects are being suppressed. Governments have been working hard to destroy crypto's reputation by enabling scams. When I worked in crypto, the projects that were receiving EU government funding were usually scams or had a scam aspect to them. The agencies which were supposed to regulate the industry often turned a blind eye to obvious misconduct and suppressed small projects. Why did FTX get away with it for so long? You think the government had no idea? Even I suspected something fishy and I didn't even try to look. In any case, individuals should be allowed to choose their monetary system and not be coerced into a specific scam which is what the fiat system is. If people could choose who their scammer is, that is already progress from what we have now.
- nullc 3y ago
  People made SEC and FTC complaints about both FTX and the Earn program at Gemini which received no attention. I think the theory that they're intentionally enabling scams though fails occam's razor. A simpler explanation is that they're lazy and dysfunctional, it's much much easier to prosecute a scam AFTER its vanished everyone money than before.
  - jongjong 3y ago
    It reminds me of Grey's law "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice." At that point you may as well admit the system is malicious by design as its complexity facilitates advanced incompetence.
    - nullc 3y ago
      Maybe, but are we worse off with enforcement bodies that fail to go after many things than with none at all? As far as the sponsorship. I think that is largely due to the general advantage scams have: Real systems have limits and honest people will be willing to admit to them. A scam can promise the moon because they're not beholden to the truth or reality. Parties who aren't thoughtful will flock to the scams that promise them all they want to hear: "Our blockchain is green, organic, whole food, and promotes equality for disenfranchised African dwarfs at unlimited scale!" --- "Sounds great, you rank 10/10 according to our metrics, here's a grant!"

AlexandrB 3y ago

> Governments can easily manipulate the supply (and therefore the true value) of currency behind the scenes without your knowledge Can you provide an example? Central bank fucking with interest rates or doing QE is broadcast widely to the public. If one believes such moves will de-value the currency, there are ways to hedge against that - including the old standby: gold. And what does "true value" mean in this case? The value of anything is what someone is willing to trade for it. There's no "true value" the government can set that won't show up in the market somewhere.

jongjong 3y ago
How about people who do not have capital and physically cannot trade against the government's inefficiencies? You're forgetting the majority of people. Myself included. The government has historically benefited those who understood the system, but it doesn't benefit them now. Quite the opposite. The system is now working against those who understand it most. That's why we're seeing a decline in the west.
dboreham 3y ago
> what does "true value" mean Obviously the number of big macs you can buy per unit currency.

deleted 3y ago

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