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I wasted years of my life in crypto

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681 points Anon84 | 6 comments | 07 Dec 25 12:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.018s | source | bottom
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spicyusername ◴[07 Dec 25 13:28 UTC] No.46181533[source]▶
I've never understood the initial arguments about Bitcoin, no matter how many times they've been explained to me.

The block chain is, and always was, an extremely inconvenient database. How anyone, especially many intelligent people, thought it was realistic to graft a currency on top of such a unwieldy piece of technology is beyond me. Maybe it goes to show how few people understand economics and anthropology and how dunning-krueger can happen to anyone.

Now the uninformed gambling on futuristic sounding hokum? THAT is easy to understand.

That being said, I'm sorry the author had to go through this experience, the road of life is often filled with unexpected twists and turns.

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ryandvm ◴[07 Dec 25 19:07 UTC] No.46184155[source]▶
Crypto makes perfect sense if you just understand it's for doing illegal stuff.

No moral judgement, but the only viable use case for the blockchain is doing things with money that the authorities don't want you to do.

Other than that, no, there is no use for a distributed database because doing financial transactions with people you can't even trust to abide by the law is generally a bad idea.

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bdangubic ◴[07 Dec 25 23:03 UTC] No.46186275[source]▶
I am a dual citizen. I wanted to buy a condo near my parents where I spend my summers with my family. I have never in my entire life felt like a criminal more than trying to buy something, with the money I made with my wife, going through regular financial system. after weeks of feeling like a criminal over coffee with my cousin who owns the company that was selling me the condo I was like “can I just fucking give you two bitcoins on a thumbdrive…”

I would never own a crypto but working with the current financial system can make you feel like a criminal more than crypto at times… :)

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1. hirsin ◴[08 Dec 25 05:12 UTC] No.46188616[source]▶
What made you feel like a criminal? Buying a home is fairly straightforward and has almost no state verification of any piece of it, at least in the US.

Was it something the state enforced, or something being done by the agents of the transaction (ie the mortgage company)?

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2. lazide ◴[08 Dec 25 07:20 UTC] No.46189363[source]▶
That is because you’re working in the same financial system.

Now try buying some property in South America. Or Eastern Europe. Or Asia.

Be prepared for a similar experience OP documents.

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3. mothballed ◴[08 Dec 25 14:16 UTC] No.46192463[source]▶
It's incredibly common in Argentina to buy a property with a suitcase of cash. In fact I think it's about the only way it's done. Argentina has a tax on bank transfers, plus by various measures the tax on profit of business can be above 100% so no one actually uses the traditional finance system for more than a minority fraction of their use.
4. scotty79 ◴[08 Dec 25 15:54 UTC] No.46193762[source]▶
Just owning this much money feels criminal. Suddenly a lot of institutions start asking questions about where they came from.
5. paddleon ◴[08 Dec 25 16:20 UTC] No.46194146[source]▶
> Buying a home is fairly straightforward and has almost no state verification of any piece of it, at least in the US.

you mean the purchase deed isn't registered anyplace?

or you mean that the mortgage company didn't do a credit/background check on the buyer before granting the mortgage? Which includes some level of providing a state-backed identity card?

Or do you mean it's easy to buy a house for cash without hassle in the US? Just a suitcase of $100 bills? I'm assuming you've tried this recently?? (and the house cost more than 150K?

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6. hirsin ◴[08 Dec 25 17:41 UTC] No.46195252[source]▶
Only one of those things is a state enforced requirement (the deed) and everything else are system requirements that do not get solved with bitcoin. What mortgage company is going to loan you a million dollars ("in btc" whatever) without figuring out if you're a good risk? That's not the currency of choice making you get cross examined, it's the nature of the thing you are trying to do.

Maybe the suitcase of anonymous cash bit is easier but only because you're doing that to dodge taxes... In which case feeling like a criminal might be a bit on point.