BridgetHas anyone got any examples of #crypto bros being cured?
Like finally figuring out that their whole web 3.0 thing is a scam that's directly contradictory in terms of practice vs principles?
Mr Tomato1/2 Would you actually care to have a real discussion about cryptocurrencies? If the entire space is decentralized token based networks is a scam who's doing the scamming? I think there are actually plenty of tokens which are in fact scams. But the Internet is full of websites that are scams. My email inbox is full of emails that are scams. That doesn't mean the web or email itself is a scam. There's also my phone with scam phone calls and text messages...
2/2 I feel like the same is true of the crypto ecosystem. There are scams but the technology itself is not a scam.
@MrTomato it kind of is. It isn't scalable, and it enables untraceable illicit activity if it is done properly.
They're all tied to crypto currencies which are a Ponzi.
There's no legitimate redeeming features.
Post 1 - I disagree that these networks aren't scalable. The latest generation blockchain networks are capable of 10k-100k transactions per second. It seems to me the Internet was the same story - you would never be able to do what we currently do with the Internet because it's bandwidth restrictions. The Internet itself has been a story of a technology that is never scaled, yet always scaling.
Post 2 - The Internet also allows all kinds of untraceable illicit activity. Child porn, software and music piracy, etc. But just because a technology can be used for these kinds of things does not, in my opinion, mean the technology are these things.
Post 3 - I also disagree that cryptocurrencies are, themselves, a ponzi scheme. Although you can create a ponzi scheme with cryptocurrencies. A ponzi scheme is when someone accepts money from people, tells them they'll get a return on their investments, then repays them with money from new investors.
Post 4 - There are companies in the crypto space that have behaved a bit like ponzi schemes in my mind. But these are just examples of companies running what are effectively ponzi schemes, not the technology actually being a ponzi scheme. For example I don't see anything with networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Compound, Uniswap, etc that resemble any kind of ponzi scheme.
Post 5 -You say there are no legitimate redeeming features. I see many. For example there are now financial protocols. Not financial firms or companies but protocols. So now I can borrow and lend, effectively having my own personal access to the money market, instead of having to go through a bank or broker to have access to money markets.
Post 6 - With decentralized exchanges financial assets can now be exchanged without having to trust or rely on a combination of government agencies and corporations to make sure an exchange functions properly and fairly.
Post 7 - Instead everyone, at least who knows what they're looking at, can audit these protocols. Everything is 100% transparent. Not just the code that runs these protocols but the liquidity, the funds and how they're circulating. A big issue with the 2008 financial crisis was that the financial system is fundamentally opaque and there's no easy way to look at it to see how everything is interconnected. Or if something fails how it will affect the rest of the financial system.
Post 8 of 9 This isn't the case though with a decentralized financial system. We can look at any smart contract and see how it's interconnected with any other ones. In a decentralized financial system this kind of 100% transparency and 100% auditability allows for any potential bottlenecks or pending disasters to be seen well before they happen.
Post 9 of 9 There's many more benefits of decentralized Blockchain networks I can see. But this is one of the most important things when I look at it - a financial system where everything is visible. No such thing as a financial protocol doing creative accounting or hiding something off the books.
@MrTomato it is a nonsense though, current levels of accountability are sufficient, you keep saying decentralisation, however it always ends up being the same rich people doing the controlling, only this time without regulation.
Post 1 I don't believe current levels of accountability are sufficient. If it were then the 2008-09 financial crisis would not have occurred. Dodd-Frank was passed so financial institutions had to meet strict requirements on the assets they hold and be subject to routine financial stress tests. But it didn't take very long for Republicans to repeal most of that when they could.
@MrTomato I'm talking about forensic accountability, not legislative.
Web 3.0 aims to completely eradicate forensic accountability. We're supposed to not elect idiots to get legitimate societal accountability.
@BridgetClinch Forensic accountability? Does that mean being able to look into a system and see whats happening? If so thats exactly what we get with a financial system built on a decentralized Blockchain network. Anyone can audit it. With the current financial system you have to trust a company's third party auditor is actually independent and doesn't have conflicts of interest. There's also not much of any way to audit the entire system to get a clear picture of what is and isn't happening.
@MrTomato it means being able to trace transactions to humans. Most crypto orgs want to make that impossible, it seems to be their reason for existing.
@BridgetClinch As things currently exist I think this is incredibly easy to do with crypto. Because everything is traceable and transparent. If I want to do anything with crypto I first have to go through a centralized exchange that collects my AML/KYC information to identify me. So everything I do in "crypto-land" can ultimately be traced back to my exchange wallet. If I really wanted to do some kind of financial transaction truly anonymously the best option I have is still just to use cash.
@BridgetClinch Though truth be told I do think I should have some kind of privacy with my financial affairs. But I don't see how it would be possible, at least not with crypto.