Both Dogecoin Creators are Now Criticizing Cryptocurrencies (twitter.com) 169
This week Dogecoin co-creator Jackson Palmer addressed the question of whether he'd return to cryptocurrency.
"My answer is a wholehearted 'no'," he confirmed, before launching into a scathing Tweet storm. "To avoid repeating myself I figure it might be worthwhile briefly explaining why hereâ¦" "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. 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.
"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. 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. Cryptocurrency is like taking the worst parts of today'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 applaud those with the energy to continue asking the hard questions and applying the lens of rigorous skepticism all technology should be subject to. New technology can make the world a better place, but not when decoupled from its inherent politics or societal consequences."
Insider points out this wasn't Palmer's first time speaking out against crypto. "When Dogecoin soared to $2 billion in 2018, he wrote an op-ed on Vice, saying 'something is very wrong.'" Palmer and his co-founder, Billy Markus, created Dogecoin in 2013 as a "joke" currency as alternative cryptocurrencies flooded the market, promising to be the next big thing... It is now valued at $25.8 billion, as of time of writing.
Palmer and Markus are no longer part of Dogecoin. Both left in 2015 after deciding that the cryptocurrency was not aligned with their values. Palmer's co-creator, Markus, retweeted Palmer's Twitter thread and responded with a GIF.
In a later tweet, Markus added that "I think his points are generally valid aside from the pointless American politics piece."
"My answer is a wholehearted 'no'," he confirmed, before launching into a scathing Tweet storm. "To avoid repeating myself I figure it might be worthwhile briefly explaining why hereâ¦" "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. 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.
"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. 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. Cryptocurrency is like taking the worst parts of today'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 applaud those with the energy to continue asking the hard questions and applying the lens of rigorous skepticism all technology should be subject to. New technology can make the world a better place, but not when decoupled from its inherent politics or societal consequences."
Insider points out this wasn't Palmer's first time speaking out against crypto. "When Dogecoin soared to $2 billion in 2018, he wrote an op-ed on Vice, saying 'something is very wrong.'" Palmer and his co-founder, Billy Markus, created Dogecoin in 2013 as a "joke" currency as alternative cryptocurrencies flooded the market, promising to be the next big thing... It is now valued at $25.8 billion, as of time of writing.
Palmer and Markus are no longer part of Dogecoin. Both left in 2015 after deciding that the cryptocurrency was not aligned with their values. Palmer's co-creator, Markus, retweeted Palmer's Twitter thread and responded with a GIF.
In a later tweet, Markus added that "I think his points are generally valid aside from the pointless American politics piece."
Smash the system!....later (Score:5, Insightful)
Twas ever thus (Score:5, Insightful)
Every revolutionary or hippie that tried to create an alternative culture came up against the immovable wall of human nature. People are people and the human brain will always revert to behaving in its evolved way given a (rather short) amount of time even with the best of intentions to try otherwise.
Re: (Score:3)
Why would individuals hoard money otherwise?
Money is a convenient means of exchange. There's few incentives to keep a large pile of it just laying around. Most of us transform money into something else - possessions, property, investments, etc.
There's even fewer incentives to switch from well known, traditional currencies to a new cryptocurrency, since a new cryptocurrency is less effective as
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin, yes. It didn't scale well enough so the Bitcoiners had to find some other way to promote it.
Re: (Score:2)
I think people make a mistake in thinking Crypto is always just Bitcoin.. Bitcoin is an idea, but only the starting point for Satoshi's vision it is not perfect, And is not sufficient, And requires refinements and evolutionary steps - being continually under development: the technology continues to be refined and get closer. The refinements to the technology come in the form of new coins such as 'Nano', which are not mere clones
and have scaleability improvements -- ultimately Bitcoin itself is
Re: (Score:2)
Oh you are an insufferable twit.
Re: (Score:2)
Stop that, you don't want to start thinking that way. Next you'll be questioning whether hyperinflation of fiat currencies might be related to problems other than the ability of governments to issue more money.
Re: (Score:2)
You betcha. The big selling point was extremely small transaction fees. Smash those fat cat bankers charging their exorbitant fees on every transaction!
How's that going anyway?
Re: (Score:2)
All it really did is somewhat democratize who receives the fees, at least in DEXs/AMMs. I mostly stay out of blockchain transactions because of the exorbitant fees. It's comical. Even blockchains like Stellar, which touts extremely low fees for transactions(truthfully), are plagued by projects that take fees that are equal to higher than traditional monetary exchanges. Because Stellar doesn't build in low/no cost onramping, offramping, and user applications, the projects that tak
Re: (Score:2)
I guess if by "democracy" you mean "the people willing to put in the most money."
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Wasn't the original idea of Crypto was to bring a decentralised coin system for making payments for ever day items
I thought we were trying to create a digital ponzi scheme that we could use to launder drug money while simultaneously exploiting late "investors"
They have been since the beginning (Score:5, Informative)
Re:They have been since the beginning (Score:5, Insightful)
Doge has a ~$23bn market cap. People keep pouring money into a joke cryptocurrency, which is just *chef kiss*. The entire crypto "market" is batshit crazy.
Re:They have been since the beginning (Score:5, Funny)
Doge has a ~$23bn market cap. People keep pouring money into a joke cryptocurrency, which is just *chef kiss*. The entire crypto "market" is batshit crazy.
Speaking of batshit crazy, try and look at the (post-pandemic?) US stock market with a straight face.
Might want to put down your coffee first. No sense in ruining a perfectly good screen.
Re: (Score:2)
The US in general had have a lot of economic issues growing up, particularly over the last ~6ys, but i've yet to see a -48% market swing in half a year like we're witnessing for cryptocurrencies right now.
Re: (Score:2)
Because the Fed won't let that happen to the stock market. And the markets will close if they swing too hard in one day.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Indeed! Regulation is good.
Re:They have been since the beginning (Score:4, Informative)
Re: They have been since the beginning (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Hilarious you still think that market is "regulated" when it's corruptly pumped and hanging over a cliff right now, poised to crash at any time.
No, what's hilarious is this statement coming from a crypto shill. Pot, met kettle.
The FUCK makes you ASS-U-ME I give a shit about crypto, its success or failure? From an investment standpoint, I can't even spell it, and never assumed it was a stable market. It's just hilarious to watch the stone throwers in glass houses talk highly about traditional markets as if they're rock solid and logical right now. You know damn well they aren't, and my point about impact, stands.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, it is not sensible. You cannot pick and choose how much the stock market falls. That is manipulation. Markets must be free to fall as much as investors sell their securities. I don't see any collars to the upside. Shouldn't there be a limit to how far the market can rise in a single day?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
The US in general had have a lot of economic issues growing up, particularly over the last ~6ys, but i've yet to see a -48% market swing in half a year like we're witnessing for cryptocurrencies right now.
Trying to flavor the corruption here? What's the point in that? Just because crypto is the king of obscene price swings doesn't mean the stock market isn't just as bad.
In fact, it's far worse considering the impact of a stock market crash. You've got a lot more invested in that market, than crypto. A HELL of a lot more.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, i didn't bring the comparison up.
Since we're at it though, i though the "currency" bit was kinda important in "cryptocurrencies". Ask yourself why people are "investing" on what's supposed to be a trading mechanism.
Re: They have been since the beginning (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Well, not quite. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of people trading options like it were a casino, but when you invest in the stock market you can at least evaluate fundamentals behind your investment.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, i didn't bring the comparison up.
Since we're at it though, i though the "currency" bit was kinda important in "cryptocurrencies". Ask yourself why people are "investing" on what's supposed to be a trading mechanism.
Because Greed knows how to greed, greed, and especially greed?
We act like that's a new thing. Ever hear of Gold Rush fever? People did a lot crazier shit that cryptocoin to try and get rich quick.
Not illogical (Score:2)
Doge has a ~$23bn market cap. People keep pouring money into a joke cryptocurrency, which is just *chef kiss*. The entire crypto "market" is batshit crazy.
Speaking of batshit crazy, try and look at the (post-pandemic?) US stock market with a straight face.
Might want to put down your coffee first. No sense in ruining a perfectly good screen.
Dude, there's no comparison between the US stock market swings and crypto. And there's a rationale for the current behavior exhibited by the stock market at this point (which is not post-pandemic yet).
The reason: TINA : there's no way but up. The US stock market is not just *us* but everyone in the world tied to it. The global economy is not going to die. It will adapt, and recover. This pandemic, as hard as it's been compared to other pandemics in living memory, it isn't a preamble to "The Walking Dead".
Re: (Score:2)
The stock market lost any connection with reality during the Dot Bomb and has never recovered since. It's pure speculation now, rarely if ever attached to any real-world phenomena except in the most tenuous of manners. By all the gods, just look at the supposed value of Apple and Tesla, larger than most of the actual manufacturers in their market segment *combined*. It's no better than currencies or even the trade in actual commodities, a few years ago speculators drove the price of rice through the roof
Re: (Score:2)
Doge has a ~$23bn market cap. People keep pouring money into a joke cryptocurrency, which is just *chef kiss*. The entire crypto "market" is batshit crazy.
Speaking of batshit crazy, try and look at the (post-pandemic?) US stock market with a straight face.
Might want to put down your coffee first. No sense in ruining a perfectly good screen.
Dude, there's no comparison between the US stock market swings and crypto. And there's a rationale for the current behavior exhibited by the stock market at this point (which is not post-pandemic yet).
Wrong. There is a perfect rationale that explains why the stock market doesn't reflect reality. At all. It's called several trillion dollars in fucking bailout money.
Had that NOT happened, millions of individuals would be bankrupt (and would have obviously pulled ALL stock investments out before that happened, causing even more instability), and every globally shuttered industry, from airlines to cruise lines, would have been dead long ago, along with millions of jobs. Throw in an endless stream of ince
Re: (Score:2)
Dude, there's no comparison between the US stock market swings and crypto.
Correct, crytpo's swings are more akin to gold, just amplified about a thousandfold.
Yep. Additionally, and incidentally that you mentioned gold, most crypto coins (BTC specifically) are acting as stores of value (like gold) rather than currency. Only ETH/LTC and truly fungible security coins like Monero (XMR) can act effectively like currency.
Nothing wrong with that, but it is amazing how many coin bros miss this important fact.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Regardless of the value of crypto in general, I think that makes it a surprisingly sane market.
I think we agree that if a thing is created with utmost seriousness, yet fails to be useful, the market should reject it, right? But by the same token if somebody makes something as a joke, yet it turns out to be useful anyway, the market should ignore its joke status and adopt it.
The fact that it has a weird name and logo and was created as a joke doesn't change that ultimately dogecoin is a bunch of technology t
Re:They have been since the beginning (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact that it has a weird name and logo and was created as a joke doesn't change that ultimately dogecoin is a bunch of technology that either does something useful, or doesn't.
Well, that's the thing, i'm not sure it does at all. In the particular case of Doge, for example, you can tie all recent value swings to Elon Musk tweets.
That's not currency, and not even a speculative asset. That's just gambling.
Re: (Score:2)
We in the Western, developed world are so spoiled with our bank accounts and our Visa's and MasterCards and PayPals. But a lot of people in the world don't have access to financial services like banking and credit, as we do. But, most people on the world have a mobile with at least sporadic Internet access. Even a crypto like Doge Coin is useful for those people as a medium of exchange.
There are of course many, many problems with Doge, mostly due to the fact that it was intended as a joke. But there are bet
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, you might want to go travelling sometime. Much of the developing world has pretty good systems for electronic transactions, and they often don't depend on VISA or Mastercard blessing you with credit.
Meanwhile, last time I was in the US (a few years ago due to the pandemic) people in Philadelphia thought tapping your credit card to pay for something was magic.
Re: (Score:2)
I have no idea, but Google says it's about 50$. This is expensive for small transactions, but very cheap for large transactions. Needless to say, BTC is not well suited for small payments.
There are better options for that. Most proof of stake crypto currencies, like Cardano have much, much lower transaction costs (a few cents). Nano is practically free.
Re: (Score:2)
No it's not. It's a temporary hold which does not get exchanged for anything other than actual currency. Even in 3rd world shitholes if you have mobile infrastructure you just trade the currency directly, or simply trade cash.
How can you trade the official currency without a bank account? You can't trade cash with someone that is not in close proximity. You are so dismissive but it's obvious you have no clue about what can be done with Crypto, such as Smart Contracts, and you are not willing to put in the effort to even understand my posts.
Re: (Score:2)
How can you trade the official currency without a bank account?
And how can you trade in cryptocurrencies without a bank account, exactly? It's not like you can pay for groceries in BTC.
Re: (Score:2)
That's just gambling
Oh I agree. I find it odd that a site that commonly calls Machine Learning, glorified if-then statements, doesn't see the exact same in this. Just glorified gambling.
Re: (Score:2)
Doge isn't useful.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think crypto in general worked the way its designers and early adopters wanted to, in general.
I think doge is interesting in that it's inflationary unlike most crypto coins, and that creates an incentive to use it as an actual coin.
Re: (Score:2)
Doge was never meant to be useful. You'd tip it to people for a forum post you liked or similar. Early on, you could mine out millions of DOGE in a single block. It's a deliberately bad Litecoin fork.
Re: (Score:2)
Doge has a ~$23bn market cap. People keep pouring money into a joke cryptocurrency, which is just *chef kiss*. The entire crypto "market" is batshit crazy.
Hoo boy, I strongly encourage you to never google the origins of shiba inu coin then. It’s guano all the way down.
Re: (Score:2)
It's just collecting trading cards without the overhead of actually having trading cards. If you collected sports cards, pokemon or beanie babies and told yourself you were going to get rich, well, now you can do the same thing and not have to dust the damn things.
It's not a coincidence one of the first big exchanges was Mt. Gox.
Re: (Score:2)
Difference is, trying to run the daily Bitcoin pump-and-dump schemes in Wall Street would land you in jail.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"We regret that a religion has formed around our piece of satirical performance art."
Re: (Score:2)
The creator of Dogecoin also infamously sold his millions of coins he had back when they were worth fractions of a penny to buy a used Honda Civic.
When I read those angry rants from him on Twitter, all I hear is the bitter words of a man who lost out on a fortune because he sold early.
I'm sure that he won't be the last person to do that with crypto.
Erh... yes? That's the whole point? (Score:3)
What else did you plan to accomplish with a currency that is designed to be devoid of any governmental oversight?
Re: (Score:2)
What else did you plan to accomplish with a currency that is designed to be devoid of any governmental oversight?
Well, have a way for you and I to have a currency which can't be tracked by a hostile government and isn't subject to debasement and inflation.
I'm not sure cryptos actually achieve those noble goals. And you certainly don't see headlines about people using crypto to actually buy stuff. All the news is about speculation and trading cryptocurrency purely for the sake of trading it.
This strikes me as similar to the stock market. Stocks have a simple, fundamental purpose: to let people easily invest in companie
Well there's a surprise (Score:5, Informative)
I expect prominent crypto promoters have their own and soft & hard ways to affect market shifts - tweets, shills / bots, compliant exchanges, journalists, even countries. And with so little regulation or oversight the people getting stiffed are the credulous idiots who "invest" in these magic beans.
Re: (Score:2)
I expect prominent crypto promoters have their own and soft & hard ways to affect market shifts...
Musk does this on a weekly basis, and he's not even subtle about it anymore.
That crypto kids will blindly throw money whenever Musk tweets a doge or laser eyes is already worrisome enough, but remember, Tesla keeps a sizable amount of cash reserves in Bitcoin. I really wonder why he hasn't been investigated on that end just yet.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Tesla keeps a sizable amount of cash reserves in Bitcoin.
Except they hold it, with money that needed to be invested anyhow. The idiots are buying with money they can't afford to lose, and expecting it to go up in a short period of time.
Re: (Score:2)
It should be obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that the price of bitcoin & other crypto currencies is heavily manipulated
Every market is manipulated in one way or another. Because every market has actors with different privileges. As a small-fish retail trader you are at the bottom of the food chain, since there are people that can trade faster than you, with access to more and better information and better tools. It's not an even playing field. This is why most retail trading accounts lose money. You should never be a trader unless you're a professional. If you're not a professional trader, you're a gambler.
Instead, you shou
Re: (Score:2)
Every market is manipulated in one way or another.
There's a difference between every market is manipulated, and every market is unregulated and allows for unrestricted manipulation.
Also why is it that every time I see that summary first line of a post saying some promotional dishonest garbage for crypto it ends up coming from you? Which coin are you heavily invested in causing you to promote it so much through dishonest bullshit?
Re: (Score:2)
There's a difference between every market is manipulated, and every market is unregulated and allows for unrestricted manipulation.
True. Just keep in mind that regulations don't only exist just to "protect" small investors. That's the narrative, of course. But, there are reasons why the rich are always getting richer and everyone else poorer.
Also why is it that every time I see that summary first line of a post saying some promotional dishonest garbage for crypto it ends up coming from you? Which coin are you heavily invested in causing you to promote it so much through dishonest bullshit?
What about my post is dishonest, promotional garbage?
I like responding to Crypto related topics because for many years I was like most people here on Slashdot, equating Crypto to Bitcoin and dismissing it as a useless technical experiment at best, a scam at worst. And now that I put in the effort to understand it, realize that Crypto is much more than just Bitcoin, and what you can actually do with it, I finally see the potential. I'm dumbfounded and angry at my own naivity, my ignorance and my lack of curiosity for so many years.
These days I'm a big fan of Cardano (research it!) and I just believe in the mission and the promise it brings. I hope that my posts will be able to gently nudge a few people away from the preconceived notions of crypto, and more towards curiosity. Is there something wrong with that?
Re: Well there's a surprise (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, Cardano and its proof-of-stake. That wonderful systems where the wealthiest get to decide which transactions are valid or not. Real promise.
Re: (Score:2)
It should be obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes that the price of bitcoin & other crypto currencies is heavily manipulated. The price soars and crashes by double digits almost on a weekly basis so anyone with advance knowledge of those shifts, or instigating them would be making hundreds of millions from the idiot saps "investing" in it.
I expect prominent crypto promoters have their own and soft & hard ways to affect market shifts - tweets, shills / bots, compliant exchanges, journalists, even countries. And with so little regulation or oversight the people getting stiffed are the credulous idiots who "invest" in these magic beans.
And it should have been obvious years ago.
Re: Well there's a surprise (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Joke? (Score:2)
I created a fully functioning and useful piece of software as a joke. Everyone should know it's a joke because the icon for it is something silly. Now I'm mad that people are using the fully functional software because everyone should have known it was just a joke.
Dogecoin functions as a cryptocurrency should, and there are people who want to use crypto for investment and transfer of money. Thus all that it requires to be popular is for word of it to get out. The very fact it was a "meme" contributed to
Re: (Score:2)
I am a very sarcastic person. I love to propose and play with really stupid ideas to see how far they can really go. Finding merits in stupid ideas is a good tool for me to apply towards better and smart ones.
However one of the lessons I have learned, was not to discuses my investigation into these stupid ideas, because undoubtedly someone will take the idea and only look at my good points for it (as the bad points should be obvious) and run with it. Often causing the stupid idea to be implemented. After
Re: (Score:2)
Dog-E-Coin
Dodg-E-Coin
Dodgy Coine
Dodgy:: Adj : dishonest or unreliable, of potentially dangerous low quality.
To Teh Moon HODL dIAMonDs Hanz Bro! (Score:2)
I still believe in the premise of crypto as a technology, yet this is on point. Want it or not, there will be a need for centralization to avoid the things outlined by these dudes.
But that's the thing: people attracted to crypto behave like risk addicts, with a mix of pretentious anarchist-slash-libertarian wannabe behavior. Everybody things they'll be like Mal from Firefly or Darryl when anarchy comes, but mo
What did you expect to happen? (Score:2)
It's just a scam, don't join (Score:3)
Fortunately, there is a very easy and perfect way to protect yourself: Don't play.
Re: (Score:2)
A coin is supposed to be worth $x, but $x is just what the last person buying one paid.
Are you sure? From what I understand about the origins of Bitcoin, there was absolutely no intent to peg Bitcoin to the Dollar, Euro, gold, or any other standard. This was considered a feature, not a bug, because those other currencies could inflate and Bitcoin, through it's algorithmic supply control, would be less likely to inflate.
A more accurate statement might be "A coin is supposed to be worth a mid-range 4-door sedan", or whatever it settles out to be once the currency becomes mainstream and demand s
Palmer wanted crypto to be usable as a currency (Score:2)
A currency's money supply has to be managed for it to stay useful as a medium of exchange. As soon as cryptos succeeded in limiting money supply, they stopped being currencies and began to be treated as storehouses of value. That's when the mustache-twirling hoarders that Palmer decries took over.
Meanwhile, the anonymity of cryptos appealed to money launderers, kidnappers, tax evaders, and purveyors of every kind of illicit goods - the only remaining users who treat it as currency because their use case can
Critcism (Score:3)
Bitcoin is cheap: It's worthless as a currency!
Bitcoin is expensive: It's a bubble!
Bitcoin prices are volatile: It's useless as a currency, it's too volatile!
Bitcoin prices are stable: It's dead! Nobody is buying!
Also, it's a scam, it's a plot by the CIA, it's a plot by Russia, it's bad for the environment, it's a socialist plot, it's a capitalist plot, it's an anarchist plot, it's only used for laundering drug money, it's only used by hedge funds....
Sounds awesome. I'm in!
Re: (Score:3)
LOL (Score:2)
Mad at myself that I didn't think of it first. "This is delicious on ice cream, and just look that shine!"
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin is cheap: It's worthless as a currency!
Bitcoin is expensive: It's a bubble!
Bitcoin prices are volatile: It's useless as a currency, it's too volatile!
Bitcoin prices are stable: It's dead! Nobody is buying!
The first mistake is evaluating bitcoin by its "price". Assuming the key is that it is a currency the real question is the volume of actual transactions going on in bitcoin.
What is the amount of good purchased with bitcoin? It certainly isn't huge. How about remittances? Money transfer was one of the big use cases. It turns out that, despite a lot of hype and years to make a difference, bitcoin in particular and crypto-currencies in general, have made practically no dent in the remittances market. How about
Tulips... (Score:3)
I'm not a fan of crypto currencies because it seems like it's the latest case of tulip mania. The people who got into crypto early on or ran early mining rigs when the computational complexity was low and the number of miners were few are going to yield high returns because they have the item that everyone else is clamoring to purchase. Later entrants to the market are just transferring their fiat currencies into crypto with the hope that they can in turn sell their crypto to someone else for a larger return. But, people who are trying to get rich quick off of this will eventually dump it to move on to the next thing and when they dump it the value will crash.
If people were simply using this as a different form of money then maybe it'd be ok. But, from an external viewpoint it is following the same pattern. In the 80's you had junk bonds (Savings and Loan Crises) that everyone was investing in which eventually crashed. In the 90's everyone was rushing to buy tech stocks and Beanie Babies. Tech stocks crashed, and people realized they were dumping money into small stuffed animals that held no intrinsic value on their own. In the early 2000's everyone was rushing to buy property because housing prices were spiking faster than inflation and other people were rushing to buy mortgage backed securities because they seemed to have a high rate of return. Well people defaulted on their loans, property prices crashed, and the mortgage backed securities tanked because they were tied to the properties.
You have tons of suburban moms who have been racing around selling each other essential oils, yoga pants, or vacation packages in pyramid market schemes. The early entrants to the market again make the money, while they late entrants are just dumping their money and efforts into the multi-level marketing schemes to make those early entrants money.
People just don't seem to learn...
Tard (Score:2)
The guys thesis is: "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."
It used to be that "liberal" and left-wing were synonyms, but no longer. Cryptocurrency is only right-wing in the sense that it believes that the government monopoly on the medium of exchange has been used in a corrupt and/or grossly incompetent way. Cr
How much money did each of them make? (Score:2)
Genuine question - did they end up profiting from the venture?
There's no easy way of knowing and rumours fly about that they made nothing from it or made shed loads of cash.
It's a tough moral question - if they both enriched themselves to a considerable degree, then, well, it's kinda hard to take their dismissal of cryptocurrencies at face value.
If neither profited, then fair game.
The sad thing is, the actual potential benefits of the technology or tech like it, are overlooked due to the sea of scum that su
Re: But if you lived in China.... (Score:3)
I'd probably store most of it in usdc/busd even if I needed crypto to hide assets. Bitcoin is for gambling, you don't gamble everything.
Re:But if you lived in China.... (Score:5, Informative)
If you live in China, it doesn't matter much. If i lived in china i'd still prefer them to freeze my digital yuan instead of "freezing" me when they find out i use crypto.
Granted, it might take them a bit more effort, sending some enforcers instead of pressing a few buttons, but that wont help me.
And no it doesn't matter if its illegal or not (no idea what the current state of that is), if the regime finds me in opposition i'll disapear. And no, not silently but with a lot of pulicity to show others what happens when you step out of the line.
Re: (Score:2)
When you are in China, you do as you are told by the government. You're being told not to use Bitcoin so there you have it.
Neither (Score:2)
I'll have mine in dollars or euros thanks. Assuming I could get away with it.
Re: Neither (Score:3)
How about - cash is not supposed to be an investment vehicle. Cash is supposed to be for liquidity and safety ie trading certainty for low and possibly negative returns.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: "artificially enforced scarcity" (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Being able to pay taxes in a certain currency, is in no way any backing for that currency.
Most modern currencies are not backed at all. Certainly not by the assets in said country.
Perhaps you want to research, what "backed" actually means.
Re: (Score:2)
Modern currencies are "backed" by the economies of the nations that issue them (you're right, not the taxes). Not backed as in you can go to the bank and exchange them for units of standardized labour or something, but effectively backed nevertheless.
If I decree that $1 of my currency is worth one gram of gold then I mine a bunch of gold, everything else being equal, my $1 will buy fewer big macs because 1 gram of gold buys fewer big macs.
If instead the gold supply stays fixed and the economy grows and prod
Re: (Score:2)
The dollar* of most countries is backed by both the assets of that country and the ability of the citizens to pay taxes
"Backed" is a bit strong. That the US government requires taxes to be paid in dollars guarantees there's a market. That dollars are the only legal tender in the US also tends to create a large and dependable market. Having those markets makes it safe to accept dollars because you have good reason to believe you can subsequently trade the dollars for things you value.
But don't fool yourself: the dollar isn't backed by anything other than people's trust they can trade dollars for valuable goods, and that trad
Re: (Score:3)
Economy is about moving money.
We often think about wise economic planning like how we deal with our own money. We keep a good amount of money in reserve for emergency, or to buy that big purchase. But that behavior on a large scale is in general bad for the economy.
We go into recession not because we don't have money, but because people and corporations are not moving it.
I buy a cup of coffee for a dollar. The Coffee shop buys 1/4 of a lb of coffee beans. the bean producer will buy say some boxes or bags
Re: (Score:3)
Of course not. They only reached this conclusion after becoming independently wealthy.
Re: (Score:2)
I would have removed "Right-Wing" as a factor.
They are actually a lot of Liberal "tax avoidance", "capitalist", "wealthy figures", "shady business" folks as well. Your economic stance on doing things, is actually a small part of ones political alignment. As well most business folks, would actually pay equally to both sides of the parties, (burning the candle at both ends) so what ever side wins, that party will be in their debt.
The Conservative "Right-Wing" party is also a group of people who hate anythi
Re: (Score:2)
Yet it is usually the right wing that wants to increase funding for the police with "law and order" pushing politicians. And this is the problem, police funding has increased faster then most any other local funding in many cases, starving other parts of the local government of that money. In America, on top of that, often the police have to raise some of the funds themselves through fines etc causing more conflict.
Re: (Score:2)
Asset forfeiture has become an enormous business for police departments. If they can link any crime with drug sales, no matter how tenuously, they'll grab everything of value they can and sell it to buy weapons or give themselves bonuses. If the person is found innocent it's now up to them to sue the new owner to get their property back, if it's even functional after the time spent in court defending themselves.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, that seems pure evil and against the Bill of Rights. There's also the small towns with speed traps and IIRC, one of the problems with the unrest in St Louis (or a suburb with a high black population) was similar, endless fines for small crimes that are usually ignored or worth a warning in most places.
I'm in BC, civil forfeiture seems to happen after a conviction and go through the courts and everything ends up in the Provinces general funds so excepting perhaps the parking people (municipal), no monet
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, my, so all those tough go-it-alone gun owners are going to defend their property and don't need the police? That's the dumbest thing I've seen in this thread so far, which is pretty impressive for a crypto article.
Re: (Score:2)
A lot of his points are valid, but the reality is, something like Bitcoin actually has real potential to replace currency in a way that will be much harder to manipulate and control.
No, it is just replacing who manipulates and controls it... making it very profitable for the people at the top.
Whales can, and do, manipulate the price of bitcoin through large transactions. The price variations between January 20 and now are a textbook example of whales playing pump and dump. The whales bought ~750K BTC between Jan 20 and February 21, then sold ~400K BTC between February 21 and June 21. The price of BTC didn't follow on the first large sale, dropped but recovered quickly on the second sal
Re: (Score:2)
That's not the point and ultimately won't matter when Bitcoin becomes the world's default currency. No one can take away your bitcoin.
A 51% attack can effectively block you from spending the content of your wallet, or double spend its own. There will be far more incentives to do so, should the pipe dream of it becoming the world's default currency was to come true. It's just good faith based at this point. The largest pool shrunk itself from 51% to 39.99% to inspire confidence in BTC.
No one can threaten your family if you don't give them all your money.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry at the stupidity/innocence of that statement. Oh noes, this man used a world readable ledger to transfer his assets to