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Like it or not, major figures in the financial industry saying “this is legit” helps bitcoin’s image which has knock-on effects. Bitcoin still struggles from th

Like it or not, major figures in the financial industry saying “this is legit” helps bitcoin’s image which has knock-on effects. Bitcoin still struggles from the “its only used to buy drugs” stigma even with some on here.

adamnemecek 9y ago
The point of crypto is making these figures irrelevant.
- matthewbauer 9y ago
  But you'll always have some figures that people look up to for advice, right? They won't change value but they will get people to speculate. Like it or not, most people buying and holding Bitcoin are speculating at this point in time.
  - adamnemecek 9y ago
    Right but I'm hoping that in the future these figures might have less conflict of interests.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- jsmthrowaway 9y ago
  ...and replacing them with cryptocurrency CEOs and HN and Reddit commenters whose economic experience is limited to googling the word “fiat” and talking points on free markets? Is that what you mean? Occasionally people are listened to because they have something to offer, like, say, running one of the world’s largest investment banks. His remarks immediately made Bloomberg, CNBC, and so on, which is just free PR. From the head of Morgan Stanley. Who in the current world, and not the glorious future one you want, commands respect and attention. Talk about biting the hand throwing your passion a bone. And what’s your plan to make Gorman and other investment banks irrelevant with cryptocurrency? You’re talking about something like, what? A third of the world economy? I made that number up, but it’s probably even more. Nobody will have financial planning services and investments in your cryptographic future? End capitalism? How should I explain what you want to the soybean farmer next door who needs an ag loan from one of those very banks to buffer crop loss from an imported Asian pest? The free market will figure it out, and the entire system of capital allocation we all know is fundamentally broken and useless? If only he mined Litecoin? The single biggest thing holding crypto back is tone deaf arrogance like this from its biggest proponents. Slow down, buddy, you’ve successfully monetized files of bits. Completely disrupting the entire world economy and making banks irrelevant is a wee bit far fetched and even if it isn’t, should be approached with a little more caution than a lot of crypto folks give it. You’re talking about the (imperfect) global system that feeds billions of people and keeps them alive. Show it some respect; only hundreds of thousands of people, nigh, millions, worked on it before the engineers with vim showed up and declared they know better. Cryptocurrency is good. Let’s be reasonable when discussing it.
  - shawnz 9y ago
    Bitcoin might not reach its full potential for another 500 years, for all we know. This generation of pundits' opinions matters just as much as the next.
  - deadmetheny 9y ago
    Shh, half the fun of cryptocurrency threads is watching its proponents re-learn every single harsh lesson banking and financial industries have learned over the past couple hundred years! It turns out a lot of regulations and whatnot involved with Fiat™ don't just exist for arbitrary reasons.
    - SCHiM 9y ago
      Sometimes, individual optimal moves lead to a suboptimal result. In the case of banking, perhaps even a local minium.
    - nathos 9y ago
      Obligatory link to https://twitter.com/shit_rbtc_says https://twitter.com/shit_rbtc_says
    - adamnemecek 9y ago
      Sure but it’s also naive to think that banks aren’t trying to fuck you over.
      - deadmetheny 9y ago
        Oh, absolutely they are. This is not to be construed as any sort of ringing endorsement of the banking system - I just don't think that rebuilding digital Beanie Babies from first principles and wasted electricity is a good solution to the problem.
      - jsmthrowaway 9y ago
        And surely, nobody in the basically unregulated cryptocurrency world has ever done that, right? Bad actors are bad actors, and it’s disingenuous to point at some and ignore others.
- optimuspaul 9y ago
  No, the point is to decentralize control.
  - UncleMeat 9y ago
    Which is why we created a system with enormous first mover advantage such that the people who joined first see 1000x or more returns on their investment, ensuring that the distribution of BTC is wildly unequal and why people who simply own BTC have literally zero say in its operation?
dogruck 9y ago
I read the article, and I think the headline is misleading. I'd say an accurate headline is, "Gorman says 'Bitcoin sure is sumthin.'"
qaq 9y ago
Well it's a half trillion + market not a bad niche to be in
allemagne 9y ago
I honestly think the "it's only used for speculation" stigma is worse. At least among HN users

adamnemecek 9y ago

The point of crypto is making these figures irrelevant.

matthewbauer 9y ago
But you'll always have some figures that people look up to for advice, right? They won't change value but they will get people to speculate. Like it or not, most people buying and holding Bitcoin are speculating at this point in time.
- adamnemecek 9y ago
  Right but I'm hoping that in the future these figures might have less conflict of interests.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
jsmthrowaway 9y ago
...and replacing them with cryptocurrency CEOs and HN and Reddit commenters whose economic experience is limited to googling the word “fiat” and talking points on free markets? Is that what you mean? Occasionally people are listened to because they have something to offer, like, say, running one of the world’s largest investment banks. His remarks immediately made Bloomberg, CNBC, and so on, which is just free PR. From the head of Morgan Stanley. Who in the current world, and not the glorious future one you want, commands respect and attention. Talk about biting the hand throwing your passion a bone. And what’s your plan to make Gorman and other investment banks irrelevant with cryptocurrency? You’re talking about something like, what? A third of the world economy? I made that number up, but it’s probably even more. Nobody will have financial planning services and investments in your cryptographic future? End capitalism? How should I explain what you want to the soybean farmer next door who needs an ag loan from one of those very banks to buffer crop loss from an imported Asian pest? The free market will figure it out, and the entire system of capital allocation we all know is fundamentally broken and useless? If only he mined Litecoin? The single biggest thing holding crypto back is tone deaf arrogance like this from its biggest proponents. Slow down, buddy, you’ve successfully monetized files of bits. Completely disrupting the entire world economy and making banks irrelevant is a wee bit far fetched and even if it isn’t, should be approached with a little more caution than a lot of crypto folks give it. You’re talking about the (imperfect) global system that feeds billions of people and keeps them alive. Show it some respect; only hundreds of thousands of people, nigh, millions, worked on it before the engineers with vim showed up and declared they know better. Cryptocurrency is good. Let’s be reasonable when discussing it.
- shawnz 9y ago
  Bitcoin might not reach its full potential for another 500 years, for all we know. This generation of pundits' opinions matters just as much as the next.
- deadmetheny 9y ago
  Shh, half the fun of cryptocurrency threads is watching its proponents re-learn every single harsh lesson banking and financial industries have learned over the past couple hundred years! It turns out a lot of regulations and whatnot involved with Fiat™ don't just exist for arbitrary reasons.
  - SCHiM 9y ago
    Sometimes, individual optimal moves lead to a suboptimal result. In the case of banking, perhaps even a local minium.
  - nathos 9y ago
    Obligatory link to https://twitter.com/shit_rbtc_says https://twitter.com/shit_rbtc_says
  - adamnemecek 9y ago
    Sure but it’s also naive to think that banks aren’t trying to fuck you over.
    - deadmetheny 9y ago
      Oh, absolutely they are. This is not to be construed as any sort of ringing endorsement of the banking system - I just don't think that rebuilding digital Beanie Babies from first principles and wasted electricity is a good solution to the problem.
    - jsmthrowaway 9y ago
      And surely, nobody in the basically unregulated cryptocurrency world has ever done that, right? Bad actors are bad actors, and it’s disingenuous to point at some and ignore others.
optimuspaul 9y ago
No, the point is to decentralize control.
- UncleMeat 9y ago
  Which is why we created a system with enormous first mover advantage such that the people who joined first see 1000x or more returns on their investment, ensuring that the distribution of BTC is wildly unequal and why people who simply own BTC have literally zero say in its operation?

dogruck 9y ago

I read the article, and I think the headline is misleading. I'd say an accurate headline is, "Gorman says 'Bitcoin sure is sumthin.'"

qaq 9y ago

Well it's a half trillion + market not a bad niche to be in

allemagne 9y ago

I honestly think the "it's only used for speculation" stigma is worse. At least among HN users