The comments in this very post explain why. It's going on 13 years now and a lot of HN readers still know crypto is a scam. There is still a lot of brainwashing required.

Fixed your comment for you. You must be one of those "writers" the OP alluded to.

it's decentralization that is the scam, crypto being merely a downstream application of this unworkable ideological position which consists of elaborately ignoring the impossibility of creating a sustained "power vacuum"

Decentralization is a nonsensical semantic mirage, a claim that this act of agency occurs without an agent. There is always a selfish motive with first-mover advantage lurking at, or plotting to usurp, maximally influential clique at center of mass in every decentralization scheme. Satoshi 'disappeared' (and bitcoin ideologues strongly condemn attempts to identify him) because it is understood that his existence would fatally undermine the bitcoin origin fable of decentralization.

You'd think programmable money would interest this crowd. But they get blinded by how scammers use it, rather than looking at the tech itself.

I wouldn't bother trying to explain anything, they aren't interested. I'll probably get replies asking for a valid use case, but it's all been explained to them before and they just plug their ears and cry about it instead.

Absolutely. The HN that hates crypto would have shutdown email due to romance scams.

But they love the value of their startup(s) && SF housing when the speculation on assets benefits them directly.

Programmable money is here to stay. Just like email.

> But they love the value of their startup(s) && SF housing when the speculation on assets benefits them directly.

This is the crux of it. The average HNer either already is a beneficiary of the legacy financial system (i.e. wealth derived from investor-provided capital, be it through investment rounds or a "successful exit") or aspires to be one. They're coming from a place of privilege - and decentralized finance threatens that privilege.