Yes, I know that it still exist, and yes, decentralized currency which utilizes distributed, cryptographic validation is not actually a strictly bad idea, but…
Is the speculative investment scam, which crypto substantially represented, finally dead? Can we go back to buying gold bars and Pokemon cards?
I feel like it is, but I’m having a hard time putting my finger on why it lost its sheen. Maybe crypto scammers moved on to selling LLM “prompts?” Maybe the rug just got pulled enough times that everyone lost trust.
Well, the irony is hard to miss, right? Crypto was born out of this grand idea of decentralization, but then everyone just rushed over to these centralized exchanges. Kinda sounds like a death knell to me. Seems like the original spirit of crypto got lost in the rush for profits.
I do think the tech and the concept will keep evolving, and eventually, it’ll morph into something new, get a new name or something. Here’s hoping that when it does, people will get that it’s better to trust the collective ‘us’ instead of just a select few. After all, these are often the same folks messing things up. But, what can you do, huh?
Well, there just were no decentralized exchanges around in the early days. There are a few now, even though I am completely out of the loop nowadays. I think in the areas, where the tech behind crypto adds some value, it will just run in the background, so that users will not notice it at all.
Maybe people understood, that instead of freedom as advertised, crypto brings out even more oppressive forms of capitalism.
I’m not a crypto-bro, but how are they oppressed? It’s just a infinitely more volatile Gold replacement and you don’t have to sell on the big places
but I’m having a hard time putting my finger on why it lost its sheen.
One aspect might be, that the scam stories are much more popular and easier to circulate on social media than are actual usages. It’s a strong online virality bias. Scams and phishing also happen a lot in fiat and cash (albeit relatively lower), but since most of it is so secret and banks really don’t want to get bad media, then try to keep such things hidden.
Look at Monero (privacy coin) for example. There is no news on whales, scams etc. there, because it’s private so there is no attention given to that. That makes is easier to simply use it and not get an overly negative news bias.
At the same time, cryptos were successfully used during Ukraine for quick money Donations. This was also reported in news, but it doesn’t stick so long into the minds of the people as the controversial scams/ftx etc.
Finally, at least with Ethereum there is still around 10 years of development in front of it with exciting new capabilities. Until a few years from now, we’ll finally have a system with scalability ans high security as well.
However, until then ethereum will grow slowly.
Also, unfortunately I think the focus of many people has shifted from p2p currency and adoption to money making and investment - which isn’t too bad, but adoption still sucks and makes it less useful for now.
Weak hands got shaken out, and the economy is teetering on recession. When inflation stops and interest rates fall, and quantitative easing starts back up it’s gonna come roaring back. The SEC and CFTC aren’t trying to kill crypto, they are just trying to decide who’s jurisdiction it falls under. The crypto industry will benefit from regulation, it will get safer, and you’ll feel like an idiot for asking this question instead of buying while it’s cheap. Hit me up in 2025!
I am not sure if you are actually drinking the Kool-Aid or if this is some top tier shit posting. If it’s the latter, kudos to you!
I find it odd people who want their social media decentralised but are disgusted when money is decentralised.
This is a weird take and not the “gotcha” you might think it is.
Cryptos are a scam where nobody but very few at the top of the fraud actually win. While some crypto bros might be beyond help, they are actively endangering other people by trying to sell them their snake oil and drag them down with them. And the most tragic thing is, they stop applying any form of reason before making dangerous monetary decisions. People have and will continue to lose all their savings, so I would definitely agree with you that this shit is disgusting.
Decentralised social media on the other hand does not and can not endanger people’s lifes like that. Yes, social media has dangers in itself. But I’d wager those dangers are far less pronounced, despite having a share of wackos.
If you are into cryptos and don’t realise it is among the worst forms of gambling on it’s best days, maybe you should take a couple of steps back and reevaluate if you actually understand everything that’s going on, including the umcanny risks: Do you actually, for real, understand how it all works on the technological side or do you just pretend to or take someone’s word for it? Do you actually make your own decisions or are those influenced by forces outside of your control (e.g. “diamond hands”, “hodl” etc.)? Do you have a concrete and detailed financial plan that incorporates the worst scenarios as well ad exit strategies or is your “investment strategy” mostly determined by chance? How is your investment secured? Could you actually and factually sue in court and win in case bad actors try to prevent you from cashing out? How exactly is anything supposed to turn a profit and who’s pocket is that magical profit supposed to come out of? Is anyone standing to make a profit from you and can you guarantee it won’t happen? How?
Those are just a few (but not even all) considerations where cryptos usually should ring enormous alarm bells for anyone with a modicum of financial education. But not to crypto bros. To them all of this is weirdly enough just dandy and questioning anything is greatly discouraged. At some point they stop all critical thinking and just throw money into the fire, so some grifters can grift.
I’d personally rather use the money in cash to light a real fire. At least that will provide some warmth for a hot second.
Lol, somebody could write an opinion piece like this on decentralised social media and be just as wrong as you. Crypto is happily humming along and for some reason you are bitter that people like to use it.
I didn’t write my reply for you, but for the people not yet aware of the inherent dangers of an unregulated financial market such as cryptos.
You can continue LARPing on the internet that you are some sort of mastermind investor. If that makes you happy, it is your money. I am just asking you politely to not try and sell your financial and tech illiteracy to your friends and family, only for them to inevitably lose all the money they invested trusting you.
No one is claiming to be a mastermind except you declaring a thing you don’t like as bad because of vague reasons.
I am very much against scams, yes. They target vunerable people. How is that a bad thing?
If people are actually interested in decentralised technology to escape abusive corporations then your insults to cryptocurrency users and assumed bad intentions of cryptocurrency users are not very convincing arguments.
Contrary to what you keep claiming like a broken record, I am very much in favour of decentralisation. I am however against the enourmous amount of shitfuckery going on in the crypto space. And all I care about is warning people.
If you are of the opinion that cryptos - despite all rational - somehow have a future outside of a very few fringe use cases (e.g. black market transactions), then be my guest. You are mistaken, but I am also aware that there is no convincing crypto bros.
In well over a decade the crypto space has caused multiple economical desasters that left a lot of people destitute. It’s kinda weird to ignore this fact, but you do you. Maybe believing harder in cryptos and doubling down will help this time. Best of luck, you will need it!
Umm social media has literally led to genocide in Myanmar leading to a flood of refugees in my country…
Decentralised social media would be even worse because people can set up their own instance and spew hate with no moderation.
How many genocides has crypto caused?
People fled the war in Ukraine with their crypto intact because it’s borderless and empowers the public. Can’t say the same for the banksters you’re batting for.
Facebook infamously played a role in the genocide of the Rohingya. Please elaborate what the systematic persecution and murder of a group of people has to do with cryptos and this whole topic about their decline?
considering the comments, it’s right now the best time to buy some eth
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As an actual currency, it’s functionally useless. Even if every retailer on the planet were to accept it, the overhead for making the transaction is just a non-starter
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Because of that, it’s entirely just funny money. Even further, since it’s entirely a virtual asset, if the power goes out, your wallet goes with it
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The environmental impacts are horrifying. This fact alone means that it should all be eradicated. Destroying the planet for Internet funny money isn’t an acceptable proposition
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For a decentralized currency, people sure do love centralizing under large exchanges, and the massive losses, thefts, fraud, etc. have shown that no matter how “decentralized” it’s supposed to be, it’s still susceptible to the same bullshit as any other currency
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Its high profile association with grifters, scammers, malware, and dark web shenanigans has completely soured its image in the public mind
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It’s entirely a speculative investment scam now. There’s no way to decouple it from that.
Some of these points are not inherent properties of cryptos, like the environmental impact and the transaction overhead.
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