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Cryptocurrency is like taking the worst parts of today's capitalist system

125 pointsby terabytestalmost 4 years ago

12 comments

Zealotuxalmost 4 years ago
Already discussed: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27841947" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27841947</a>
tudorwalmost 4 years ago
Cryptocurrency discussions on HN often feel like 90&#x27;s me discussing how fax machines would be obsolete, not because the Internet offered a better solution at the time, digital signatures were not binding afaik so this was a real barrier, it was because I could see what was down the line, the progression, while sporadic was to a degree predictable, the first time I used video or played games on a phone, I knew other people would want this, same with the first online payment systems, to entertain the idea that the cryptocurrency world in it&#x27;s entirety is a worthless sham is to miss a lot of very interesting people doing a lot of very interesting work, I hope I&#x27;m around to see something worthy come out of the space, it would not surprise me if it takes another 10 years or 6 months.<p>Look at the history of railways and canals, no one was really disputing that they were game changers, yet the level of fraud, hype and failures is not dissimilar to what we see in this new world, it doesn&#x27;t automatically mean the idea itself is a dud.
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jstx1almost 4 years ago
He&#x27;s just right. I can&#x27;t object to using cryptocurrencies as a financial instrument to make money but all the arguments about technology, economics or freedom are not just wrong but very often the exact opposite is true.
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EL_Locoalmost 4 years ago
Imagine you had 5,000 online bookstores in 1997, and 99.9% of them had some self described great new tech but none of that tech was being used by any publisher, distributor, printer, author, etc. I did a lot of research on the top 50 cryptocurrencies and distributed ledgers, for quite some time now, and it&#x27;s appalling how only a handful (really, like 4) have real world use cases at a large scale and <i>might</i> have a future. Of course, what&#x27;s more appalling is how people will put their money on all the other 4996 crypto and think that because the price was speculated up, it must mean that the tech is good and will be used in the future.<p>edit: added the <i>might</i>
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ecocentrikalmost 4 years ago
One use case he forgot to mention was funneling dark money to political groups which I imagine is the primary way some far right organizations in the US and abroad are being financed.
imtringuedalmost 4 years ago
Yes, let them play with their magic internet money. Keep the USD and EUR out of this.
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whywhywhywhyalmost 4 years ago
I just really don&#x27;t understand how you can have grown up over the past 30 years and think the government will save you.<p>You&#x27;ve been forever priced out of owning a house, you probably would have been able to afford one 10 years ago if you hadn&#x27;t been taxed so high but you&#x27;re only now at the level where you have the deposit because of that but now the prices are so high your salary isn&#x27;t enough anyway.<p>Maybe I&#x27;m just one of those people who&#x27;s brain has been broken by Bitcoin, but I look at how hard the government fights to prevent me building savings, I look at how taxes are so aggressive they prevent working class from building wealth and becoming middle class, they prevent middle class from gaining any form of independence and the narrative from many people like this Twitter account is that the billionaires are to blame. I can&#x27;t be the only one who thinks, even if you could make them pay which I think is naive, that money would just still be sucked up into the government because they have zero accountability for spending and my taxes wouldn&#x27;t go down at all.<p>But finally we do have an escape hatch.
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char8almost 4 years ago
Then why can&#x27;t i stop working on it for free? I&#x27;ve never been so passionate about working on open source; it&#x27;s a compulsion at this point.
apialmost 4 years ago
I&#x27;ve called a lot of the present-day cryptocurrency ecosystem a &quot;parody of financial capitalism.&quot; It&#x27;s ironic to me because the whole movement started as a kind of cypherpunk revolt against financial capitalism, but ended up becoming it.<p>It&#x27;s the old &quot;never fight against&quot; principle. Fight against something as opposed to for something and you tend to mimic the thing you are fighting.
janandonlyalmost 4 years ago
It is sad how this person is giving off of &quot;cryptocurrency&quot; because the answer to most of his complaints is... a cryptocurrency, if not, THE only cryptocurrency worth mentioning here.. Which is Bitcoin of course.<p>&gt; <i>After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.</i><p>Nonsense, if I bought old-school gold or silver coins I could dodge taxes just as easily. &quot;Artificially enforced scarcity&quot; is the whole point of Bitcoin... If you like money that can be printed out of thin air, just used the Zimbabwe dollar ha ha.<p>&gt; <i>Despite claims of “decentralization”, the cryptocurrency industry is controlled by a powerful cartel of wealthy figures who, with time, have evolved to incorporate many of the same institutions tied to the existing centralized financial system they supposedly set out to replace.</i><p>Like I said, most &quot;crypto currencies&quot; are scams, Bitcoin does not have the stated above drawbacks.<p>&gt; <i>The cryptocurrency industry leverages a network of shady business connections, bought influencers and pay-for-play media outlets to perpetuate a cult-like “get rich quick” funnel designed to extract new money from the financially desperate and naive.</i><p>Same: Bitcoin does not have these drawbacks... other shady &quot;crypto&#x27;s&quot; unfortunately, do.<p>&gt; <i>Financial exploitation undoubtedly existed before cryptocurrency, but cryptocurrency is almost purpose built to make the funnel of profiteering more efficient for those at the top and less safeguarded for the vulnerable.</i><p>This is a Cold War propaganda tactic: he is saying the OPPOSITE of that is true... Bitcoin helps people who are to poor to have access to a bank account have access to something even better: sound and nonconfiscateable money, right on their mobile devices. Look at the new legislation in Paraguay.<p>&gt; <i>Cryptocurrency is like taking the worst parts of today&#x27;s capitalist system (eg. corruption, fraud, inequality) and using software to technically limit the use of interventions (eg. audits, regulation, taxation) which serve as protections or safety nets for the average person.</i><p>Again, Cold War tactics by spinning the truth upside down... How much more transparency and audit-ability then in a PUBLIC ledger (blockchain) could you possibly want? Again, this is standard in Bitcoin.<p>&gt; <i>Lose your savings account password? Your fault. Fall victim to a scam? Your fault. Billionaires manipulating markets? They’re geniuses. This is the type of dangerous “free for all” capitalism cryptocurrency was unfortunately architected to facilitate since its inception.</i><p>Again, Cold War &quot;spin the truth upside down&quot; tactics here. How many bankers, brokers and traders went to jail after 2008? I believe one guy, in Iceland... So the <i>old system</i> is shielding corruption, not the new system.<p>About losing acces to your bank account? Tell that to the people of Cyprus or Greece, where the government decided to do a &quot;haircut&quot; which is in Orwells street of language mis-use... It means they confiscate parts of your savings without you doing anything wrong at all!
jokoonalmost 4 years ago
&gt; After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalistic technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, diminished regulatory oversight and artificially enforced scarcity.<p>Yes, not even surprised.<p>The FBI is actively seeking experts who can trace transactions, I&#x27;m pretty sure BTC is actively being used to launder money. I really don&#x27;t see how BTC could be so high.
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aww_dangalmost 4 years ago
There wouldn&#x27;t be a need for alternatives if gov. regulators were doing such a marvelous job centrally planning economies.<p>I get it. People hate &quot;greedy capitalists&quot; and need someone to blame. The Monopoly Man trope is tired. I don&#x27;t understand the lack of focus on those who are currently manipulating markets.<p>The best part of crypotcurrency is that is entirely voluntary. You&#x27;re not coerced to participate. The author is free to not use it. Compare that to bailouts, bail-ins, &quot;economic stimulus&quot;, Cantillon effects and wholesale debasement of state issued currency.<p>Have problems with centralization and manipulation driven by popular exchanges? Why not examine the regulations prohibiting competition in this space instead of blaming a straw-man vision of capitalism? The author strikes out at capitalism, but in a laissez-faire system there would be greater competition, preventing these issues.
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