←back to thread

Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2B

(www.marketwatch.com)
189 points aorloff | 1 comments | 04 Jul 25 18:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.239s | source
Show context
Synaesthesia ◴[05 Jul 25 05:50 UTC] No.44470362[source]▶
I was also around when bitcoin just started out. Many people wanted it to be a global revolution in finance.

But instead it turned into a game of "hodl" to get rich.

Scams were openly perpetrated in the forums.

I became completely disillusioned. What exactly does bitcoin offer the world today?

replies(19): >>44470410 #>>44470421 #>>44470487 #>>44470582 #>>44470672 #>>44470694 #>>44470697 #>>44470917 #>>44470950 #>>44471011 #>>44471101 #>>44471102 #>>44471196 #>>44471293 #>>44471684 #>>44471894 #>>44472300 #>>44472570 #>>44474292 #
dovys ◴[05 Jul 25 06:02 UTC] No.44470410[source]▶
Speculation, get rich quick schemes and scams. They will exist no matter what. At least the barrier to entry to get scammed is higher with crypto than just online payments
replies(2): >>44470867 #>>44471912 #
Synaesthesia ◴[05 Jul 25 07:47 UTC] No.44470867[source]▶
No, scamming people is much easier with crypto. The transactions are irreversible, for one.
replies(2): >>44471132 #>>44472023 #
1. FabHK ◴[05 Jul 25 11:38 UTC] No.44472023[source]▶
Indeed. The Economist estimates the modern scam industry to be as large as the illicit drug trade by now, around $500 bn annually in revenue. Enabled in large part by crypto (pig butchering, ransomware, rug pulls were not a huge thing before crypto).