It’s been almost a decade since the original Bitcoin paper and we still haven’t seen any tangible real life applications in the world of blockchain except huge speculations which resulted in a trillion dollar unregulated industry.<p>Putting aside my skeptic view, I do see the value of decentralization in certain areas and we need to keep pushing the innovation in this space despite the recent fraudulent events.<p>I would like to hear what the community thinks about this. Is the whole thing been a Ponzi scheme to begin with from the beginning or do you think there’s a need for alternative economy / decentralized infrastructure to exist in the current world setup?<p>I am not looking for yes or no answers but more like rational arguments behind your opinions
In the past all my comments got downvoted and my karma got destroyed on this forum because of talking on crypto. Regarding crypto as a scammers tool I will just leave it here because it doesnt make sense to talk in this HN crowd about it as you get downvotes by default from sceptics:<p>"I was initially a crypto skeptic, but after studying some of the more interesting crypto projects, I have come to believe that crypto can enable the formation of useful businesses and technologies that heretofore could not be created."
The telephone, the internet, and crypto share one thing in common. Each technology improves on the next in terms of its ability to facilitate fraud.
As such, I was initially a crypto skeptic, but after studying some of the more interesting crypto projects, I have come to - Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) November 20,
You can buy a lot of things online with crypto nowadays. It’s not like there hasn’t been progress from the original use case of crypto - cash for the internet with near real time settlement.<p>A lot of the industries blockchain is trying to change I.e. fintech and bank settlements are well not exactly industries that want to change and are running on cobol.<p>XRP was supposedly trying to fix the nostros/vostros issue with international currency bank settlements and transfers.<p>There’s a lot in the works, but crypto is hard to grasp for the regular user outside of buying some coins in coin base and trying to profit.
I don't think bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. But if it becomes the "last man standing" in crypto, the scammers will just use it as the backbone for their scams, instead of promoting their own standalone coins. Smart contracts, NFTs etc. all grafted onto bitcoin just like the lightning network has been (I am not saying the lightning network is a scam, just an example of something complex grafted onto bitcoin).
The main question I have concerning the applications of Blockchain/DeFi is this:<p>- How to guarantee that you're not dealing with bad actors?<p>Lack of regulation seems to fuel scams and Ponzi schemes, but if we end-up with a highly state-regulated system, I don't see the benefit.<p>Also, what exactly is the pain point? What are we trying to achieve?