Would it be possible to stop using crypto as a shorthand for cryptocurrency? It's already a term of art for the much older field of cryptography and things get confusing, especially as all the crypto(graphy) people I follow consider altcoins in general to be hype.
Not to mention it makes no sense, kryptós means "hidden" or "secret", which cryptocurrencies are not, the crypto- prefix comes solely from the underlying usage of cryptographic tools.
I tend to think you're right that it's time to just sigh, shake our collective head, roll our collective eyes, and give up fighting this battle, but the future I just described seems at least somewhat plausible to me.
About that, I think it won't be a flash in the pan. I think it's here to stay and people won't stop talking about cryptocurrencies.
Too late, the language has changed whether you like it or not.
https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/946630708805566464
It's amazing how many scams are in the cryptocurrency space. To some extent even I personally even view Ripple and all the other completely pre-mined or tokenized cryptocurrencies (i.e. 100% centralized systems) as a scam. There's no guarantee manipulation of the underlying technology isn't happening. Essentially, removing the advantage of cryptocurrencies.
To explain further, PoS blockrewards are settled as lotteries to stakeholders with each staked coin being granted a lottery ticket. Due to the all or nothing nature of newly printed coins from blockrewards, the wealthiest users will not just accumulate more newly printed coins on average but the statistical odds of them accumulating more of the future supply increases with time whereas poor users are entirely disqualified from thresholds required for "staking" and earning newly minted coins.
Twitter seems sadly popular among this crowd. Sadly because it lends itself to flamewars.
In general I give up after I get the first "you don't know what you're talking about" without any kind of actual argument behind it. Note that you find several of these in the comments of TFA:
>i find it deeply alarming everybody and their graindma has to write bad stuff about iota without beeing informed themselves enough.
>I learned a lot today, but not from this article. The comment section has some good information.
>you’re way too late for the fud party.
>Wow…another clear case of awesome journalism. Another case of the misinformed trying to mislead people with another mudslinging article.
>Just a question: does it ever occur to you to pick up the phone and may get in touch with someone who actually knows the topic at hand before writing this kind of garbage…say the IOTA…
Truly enlightening.
I love this comment too: https://medium.com/@dfalkman/i-think-this-article-sums-the-p...
>The bottom line is that IOTA is embarking on something new. Like a lot of things in crypto, it is theoretical and academic and working towards becoming practical. It is very early.
Then:
>We all rise together, so we should more encouraging of one another’s endeavors in crypto and blockchain. IMO these concerns would have been best voiced in the IOTA slack channel instead of on the interwebs for all to FUD about.
In other words: it's experimental academic endeavor but don't criticize it publicly because it hinders my ability to pump it.
There’s your tip-off for a scam: don’t ask questions, and be encouraging to each other, because it’s us against a skeptical world. Cults, penny stocks, Amway, and now crypto currency scams apparently: I’ve observed similar patterns in all. Not that we shouldn’t support each other in our mutual endeavors, but if that’s the only thing with any substance that you hear and money is on the line, run away.
Tip-off #2: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Enlighten me.” <crickets>
Learned that one from a biodiesel nut, a suburban boy with clean fingernails trying to convince this ex-mechanic who grew up on a farm that growing food crops for fuel is energy net positive, and otherwise a good idea. Not that his heavy financial investment in a local biodiesel company would color his opinion at all.
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_energy_balance), growing sugarcane for ethanol is 8x net energy positive.
Your nut isn't much of a nut.
OTOH, snarky or not, you bring up an interesting thought: there are probably millions of people that know (as in practical knowledge) how soybeans are grown, hence enabling millions to call “bullshit”. Had said nutter said “algae”, I would have to have taken his word until I could research further.
1. Token Economy is a weekly crypto newsletter run by two crypto VCs (https://tokeneconomy.co/). I think it is extremely good at separating the signal from the noise. Highly recommend.
2. Twitter is unfortunately indeed the easiest place to follow what's going on. Naval Ravikant, the founder of AngelList, recently published a list of the people he follows in the space (https://twitter.com/naval/lists/crypto/members). It has a large overlap with my own list, but neither he nor I endorse everyone's views that are on it. But it probably includes most of the active developers, VCs and thought leaders in the space.
While IOTA boosters probably have a story they believe that justifies the hype in their mind, just because it’s worth $6 billion in this market doesn’t mean they necessarily have a good one.
For what it’s worth, of all the crypto people I follow that I consider smart or savvy, none of them are IOTA bulls.
Also, the IOTA founder comes off as extremely immature on twitter each time someone trashes it. Even if all the criticism is FUD, his reaction alone is enough to keep me away.