Why This Computer Scientist Says All Cryptocurrency Should “Die in a Fire”

[SunTrader]

And deep down, you know that this is crap. There is one thing to withstand volatility in your equity curve, but when you 10x your money and lost it again, you lost money, period.

But by the way guys, the money is not lost, it has been transfered to somebody else. Believe it or not, people are in fact trading this stuff and you can also short it or hedge your exposure with derivatives.

See my numerous posts saying it was an exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxample. Likely numerous more of my posts stating such to no avail.

 

[MrMuppet]

It has some value but the current valuation is a complete joke. I don't know a single person actually using it for transactions. All the interest I've heard is about speculation, that is it.
Of course the truth is most of the transactions are drug dealers and other illegal activities. That's great, it's awesome there's a venue for that but they only use it because they can't use fiat, not because they prefer crypto.

You used some arbitrary company to prove that companies aren't backed by anything. I can also pick thousands which have actual physical land, warehouses, equipment and whatever else to back the shares - physical things that you can touch, use and transfer to others.

It's awesome if cryptos can replace fiat eventually, I'd love to use my funds as I see fit instead of the now status quo of "please sir, can I some of my money" of government oversight.

See, this is what I mean. I always thought you were going down the rabbit hole to figure out what's really going on, so your argument that it's all just for illegal transactions is just sad. Don't just take on an opinion that has been formed by some monkeys or news headlines out of context.
In fact there's even less illicit trade in BTC (about 2%) vs. the USD (about 5%) and the BTC part is rather exact because every transaction is visible on chain.

I brought up Stigum because just like the world needs a market for USD lending and borrowing (Eurodollars) where the real interest rate is determined in absence of central bank intervention, the world needs a market for transactions without capital controls or barriers of entrance.

If you think it's just about fraudsters who cannot use fiat, think again: Is it possible to cover your margin by transferring any sizable amount of fiat and getting it credited to your account on a Saturday afternoon within 10minutes from anywhere in the world? Probably...well, I'd say 100% no.

Hammering that into your brain and correlating the stuff that is going on right now with the price of that utility helps you understand this market much better.

Again, your hypothetical company can be backed by the hardest asset there is out there but if nobody wants to buy the shares you won't make anything as an investor. Asset backing does not determine price, buying and selling does

 

[Frederick Foresight]

For those with comprehension problems here is the original post in question.

"LOL likely $2 trillion of mostly paper losses.

Buy something at 10, it goes to 100, comes back down to 10 and you sell breaking even. You didn't lose $90 of profit. Profit, if any, is only determined ......... once a trade is closed out."

"Buy something ...." Not I bought something. Difference ya know.

+ + +

And in regards to $2 trillion in losses claim. People bought and sold all along the path to cryptos reaching $2 trillion in valuation. Valuation, not profits. If everyone "knew" the top was in, could they all sell and grab that $2 trillion dollars before it vanished? Every single one of them and every single dollar of the $2 trillion? Obviously not.

Minds are fogged over in crypto bashing hysteria. I understand.

Sorry, your post doesn't make sense.

 

[The_Krakenite]

ETH is a base layer for almost 8000 smart contracts and protocolls which is like buying a piece of C++ to gamble on more people using it in the future than they are now.

This is what you can effectively call a name-brand (recognition) 'Moat'. Kinda like how McD's, Coke, and even over-priced exploitive slave-camp companies like Nike work. In the modern capitalistic society, people no more base on want & need. Manipulative advertising targets the consumer in order to get them to over-pay for something. The consumer gets TRICKED into thinking there is more value in an identical product just because of the name/trend.

Nike really stands out, as they not only manage to take advantage of China slave/child labour, but then they will market to the US consumer in disguise how they are really anti-oppressive and how you need to SUPPORT them because suddenly Black Lives Matter is a thing. Well didn't you know!?

When CEOs jump on any trending social media/justice-warrior trend, caveat emptor! And ask, why the hell they didn't care before if this was really a thing? Oh--!

The reality of the woke-train in America:

As for BTC, it also has first-mover advantage to go along with name-brand recognition.

At this point, even if Vitalik were to die, ETH most likely will still remain dominant in its following, and has continued to do so despite all the so-called Ethereum Killers that have popped up.

 

[d08]

For those with comprehension problems here is the original post in question.

"LOL likely $2 trillion of mostly paper losses.

Buy something at 10, it goes to 100, comes back down to 10 and you sell breaking even. You didn't lose $90 of profit. Profit, if any, is only determined ......... once a trade is closed out."

"Buy something ...." Not I bought something. Difference ya know.

+ + +

And in regards to $2 trillion in losses claim. People bought and sold all along the path to cryptos reaching $2 trillion in valuation. Valuation, not profits. If everyone "knew" the top was in, could they all sell and grab that $2 trillion dollars before it vanished? Every single one of them and every single dollar of the $2 trillion? Obviously not.

Minds are fogged over in crypto bashing hysteria. I understand.

To sum up your post - there's many different buyers and sellers at different price levels? Well OK...
So what about the ones buying in at or near the top, I'm sure there were many. Majority of buyers tend to join in at the later stages of a pump, I'm sure this one was no different. I know of a few who lost money with cryptos, I know none that made any.

 

[SunTrader]

To sum up your post - there's many different buyers and sellers at different price levels? Well OK...
So what about the ones buying in at or near the top, I'm sure there were many. Majority of buyers tend to join in at the later stages of a pump, I'm sure this one was no different. I know of a few who lost money with cryptos, I know none that made any.

Absolutely. 100's of millions, maybe even billions. They just didn't lose $2 trillion dollars, the equivalent of 10% of the U.S. economy lmao.

Many of Madoff's victims had both paper and actual realized gains .... until they didn't.

 

[themickey]

I know of a few who lost money with cryptos, I know none that made any

I've read numerous news bulletins of crypto being hacked, stolen, lost.
Security is a very large issue and governments won't guarantee safety of your accounts.

 

[johnarb]

Minds are fogged over in crypto bashing hysteria. I understand.

Crypto bull market is the most fun to trade...

The reality is that people who hate Bitcoin and cryptos hate themselves for missing out on the many opportunities over many years

We just finished a third bull/bear market cycle

On the next cycle, these same crypto-haters will miss out on the opportunities again

They'll wait for it to crash again then post their celebration posts and Monday night quarterbacking bullshits

It is what it is

 

[SunTrader]

"Paper wealth doesn't count".

That.

 

[d08]

Crypto bull market is the most fun to trade...

Ok, so it's a trade and not an investment. Got it. And finally I agree, it's something to get in and out of quickly, never hold.