As I said in the parent comment, I get the sentiment towards the shills/scammers/pumpers/etc, but the reality is that this is not really about them.
Can’t wait till this “currency” dies.
> Most fit the bitcoin bro mold. 18-39. Male.
So hang on, the “mold” is just “Male, 18-39”? I fall into that gender and age group, and I also dabbled with crypto for awhile (even CPU mined some way back when…). But I’ve never been a bitcoin bro, have never advocated for crypto, and all involvement was based on curiosity/interest in learning. I’ve actively discouraged the people I know from getting into the space.
Had I not sold awhile ago, would that make me worthy of the scorn/laughter being doled out here?
This whole mentality is pretty antithetical to what HN has historically been, and is pretty disappointing, especially here.
I think the crypto space has needed a dose of reality. I think the world would be better without it. It would make me happy to see the speculation and gambling and energy usage disappear. I wish “web 3” was focused on the real next generation of the Internet.
It does not make me happy to see people ruined because of it.
Whatever moral high ground some here feel they have as this unfolds is quickly lost when they take joy in the ruin of others.
> https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/11/16-of-ameri...
The SEC has been crying foul of crypto-scheme’s since at least 2013.
> https://www.sec.gov/files/ia_virtualcurrencies.pdf
Early journalistic opinion has had called out Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme years ago.
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/08/bitco...
Every major banker at Davos-, “ Bitcoin may be called a coin but it's not money. It's not a stable store of value," said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund.”
> https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/investing/davos-central-bank-...
Now why does that matter? Those are the people the general populace are exposed to the most. Not some peddler buying crypto ads on Twitch.TV for his new Buttcoin.
Whatever version of the truth they’ve been sold is apparently quite convincing, which does make me angry.
but thanks for coming clean about the root of your criticism. Honestly it's refreshing that it wasn't couched in some reductionist economic fundamental jargon.
btw btc 15,100% growth in that time period
Read: were hoping their laziness could be terminally subsidized by bigger fools' money (because the value they cashed out of the system was put in by others), presumably without being bothered that they condemn those bigger fools to additional meaningless wage slaving.
(With the added externality of an extra Sweden's worth of electricity.)
A country adopted crypto as their actual currency. Some retirement accounts started providing crypto as an investment option. Involvement in crypto does not automatically imply that involvement was just to “get rich quick”. For many people, it was a new investment that they didn’t really understand, similar to many of their existing investments that they didn’t really understand.
You seem to be implying that anyone involved should have known better, but this seems like a tenuous claim at best.
Do you feel the same about people losing their money in the stock market? Why or why not?
If a company goes public gets investors and then goes bankrupt because of illegal practices and it’s shown it duped investors there is recourse.
If a bank goes under the assets are FDIC insured.
If you “invest” in the next big revolutionary currency that will upend everything and it falls some 60 to 70% from its highs is it really a currency or a stock or a wildly speculative possibly ponzi-style scheme?
So yes folks should know the risks. There’s no historical precedent for any of this. It’s always been volatile and if you wanna stay in it know you might lose your shirt.
But investing for the long term is a function of time and compounding interest. On average the US stock indexes have returned some 8% or more, again on average, for the last day 50 years or something along those lines. Consistent investing day every month for years and years will see things grow. Buying when things go down and as they rise - dollar cost averaging — is a fine and prudent way to put money aside and see it grow. But to think folks could just “invest” in Bitcoin and become millionaires — maybe — but also don’t bet the farm on it if you’re a farmer.
Woah, you've jumped to something else entirely here. No, we shouldn't. Not what I was suggesting. Nor is coddling the opposite of ridiculing and openly sharing one's pleasure at the financial pain people are now going through, yes, by their own fault.
My issue was only with the schadenfreude.