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> I dislike cryptocurrencies as much as the next guy Is this really the general sentiment on HN?

by patrickaljord 2y ago

tim333 2y ago
It probably is the general sentiment. Though I quite like them - it's like a new art form almost.
- portaouflop 2y ago
  It’s definitely interesting to follow! Like in this ancient Chinese curse: “may you live in interesting times”
wordofx 2y ago
It should be. It’s dumb as hell. Bitcoin and blockchain have no real use.
- yard2010 2y ago
  That sounds equally wrong as "crypto is everything, blockchain is the solution" sentiment
- dcreater 2y ago
  I used to be close minded as well before actually studying Bitcoin. There are plenty of bad actors in crypto but Bitcoin is at worst a very interesting experiment that can profoundly change the world for the better. Most is not all of the rest of crypto is basically hawk tuah coin with less obvious illegitimacy. In fact bitcoiners don't consider Bitcoin as "crypto"
- toenail 2y ago
  Bitcoin has lots of uses, you just haven't found one you need.
- dmichulke 2y ago
  There are probably a billion bitcoiners (direct or indirect owners) and you basically state that you're smarter than all of them. Just wow.
  - vichle 2y ago
    You don't need to be dumb to fall for a dumb idea. Also, the average person is smarter than about 4 billion people.
    - dmichulke 2y ago
      > You don't need to be dumb to fall for a dumb idea I get you can do something stupid in a rush but the longer you have time to reconsider, the higher the likelihood that you "didn't just fall for a dumb idea". Bitcoin is 15 years old. > Also, the average person is smarter than about 4 billion people. Bitcoiners are drawn from a normal distribution and not from the bottom part of the distribution, so that argument doesn't really work here.
      - kidintech 2y ago
        > Bitcoiners are drawn from a normal distribution and not from the bottom part of the distribution I think it's objective truth to note that "Bitcoiners" are predominantly comprised of: a) people conducting illegal affairs (don't read this as "illegal" in the sense of jaywalking) b) technically illiterate people, down on their luck and hoping to get rich quickly With those in mind, I would argue that "Bitcoiners" are instead drawn from the left side of most distributions.
        dmichulke 2y ago
        Do you have any facts to support your assumptions a) or b)?
  - malthaus 2y ago
    and the true believers of those are maybe 0.001%, the rest are just hoping for a quick buck by riding the wave cryptocurrencies are a failure and net negative, and the longer we hold on to believing they aren't, the more damage we are doing
- int_19h 2y ago
  The real use is black market transactions. Whether you find that a feature or a bug depends a lot on where you live.
  - genem9 2y ago
    We have USD for that …
    - int_19h 2y ago
      Now try sending some to, say, Iran.
- LoganDark 2y ago
  TBF Monero is pretty decent for buying drugs.

> I dislike cryptocurrencies as much as the next guy Is this really the general sentiment on HN?

tim333 2y ago

It probably is the general sentiment. Though I quite like them - it's like a new art form almost.

portaouflop 2y ago
It’s definitely interesting to follow! Like in this ancient Chinese curse: “may you live in interesting times”

wordofx 2y ago

It should be. It’s dumb as hell. Bitcoin and blockchain have no real use.

yard2010 2y ago
That sounds equally wrong as "crypto is everything, blockchain is the solution" sentiment
dcreater 2y ago
I used to be close minded as well before actually studying Bitcoin. There are plenty of bad actors in crypto but Bitcoin is at worst a very interesting experiment that can profoundly change the world for the better. Most is not all of the rest of crypto is basically hawk tuah coin with less obvious illegitimacy. In fact bitcoiners don't consider Bitcoin as "crypto"
toenail 2y ago
Bitcoin has lots of uses, you just haven't found one you need.
dmichulke 2y ago
There are probably a billion bitcoiners (direct or indirect owners) and you basically state that you're smarter than all of them. Just wow.
- vichle 2y ago
  You don't need to be dumb to fall for a dumb idea. Also, the average person is smarter than about 4 billion people.
  - dmichulke 2y ago
    > You don't need to be dumb to fall for a dumb idea I get you can do something stupid in a rush but the longer you have time to reconsider, the higher the likelihood that you "didn't just fall for a dumb idea". Bitcoin is 15 years old. > Also, the average person is smarter than about 4 billion people. Bitcoiners are drawn from a normal distribution and not from the bottom part of the distribution, so that argument doesn't really work here.
    - kidintech 2y ago
      > Bitcoiners are drawn from a normal distribution and not from the bottom part of the distribution I think it's objective truth to note that "Bitcoiners" are predominantly comprised of: a) people conducting illegal affairs (don't read this as "illegal" in the sense of jaywalking) b) technically illiterate people, down on their luck and hoping to get rich quickly With those in mind, I would argue that "Bitcoiners" are instead drawn from the left side of most distributions.
      - dmichulke 2y ago
        Do you have any facts to support your assumptions a) or b)?
- malthaus 2y ago
  and the true believers of those are maybe 0.001%, the rest are just hoping for a quick buck by riding the wave cryptocurrencies are a failure and net negative, and the longer we hold on to believing they aren't, the more damage we are doing
int_19h 2y ago
The real use is black market transactions. Whether you find that a feature or a bug depends a lot on where you live.
- genem9 2y ago
  We have USD for that …
  - int_19h 2y ago
    Now try sending some to, say, Iran.
LoganDark 2y ago
TBF Monero is pretty decent for buying drugs.