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    I wasted years of my life in crypto

    (twitter.com)
    681 points Anon84 | 29 comments | 07 Dec 25 12:57 UTC | HN request time: 1.106s | source | bottom
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    reenorap ◴[08 Dec 25 15:28 UTC] No.46193336[source]▶
    I worked at a crypto exchange and after I came to the conclusion that 99% of crypto was scams and rugpulls, I sold all my crypto and vowed to have nothing to do with it. It's more of a religion than a financial instrument and absolutely nothing has shown to me that crypto is anything more than a speculative gamble, basically tulips with the religious promise of a better world. The number of employees that lost money on rugpulls while I was there, but "still believed in crypto" was staggering.
    replies(9): >>46193437 #>>46193642 #>>46193767 #>>46193826 #>>46193945 #>>46194644 #>>46194858 #>>46196203 #>>46201109 #
    1. earnesti ◴[08 Dec 25 16:06 UTC] No.46193945[source]▶
    I've never understood crypto, however I'm long term Bitcoin fan and user, and don't consider it "crypto". I think Bitcoin is pretty much opposite what the typical crypto project is.
    replies(5): >>46194369 #>>46194475 #>>46194513 #>>46194765 #>>46195188 #
    2. jadbox ◴[08 Dec 25 16:36 UTC] No.46194369[source]▶
    I worked in crypto for five years, and this resonates. Sure, you can make money hustling some hype coin, but chances are you are more likely to lose money/time in the process. Outside of very specific supply chain blockchains, 99% of the actual value I see in order of value: 1) Stablecoins [faster than ACH!], 2) Bitcoin, and in certain places, 3) Ethereum has its uses.

    Even Bitcoin though is not a panacea though, as without REAL transactional use-cases, it is also prone to sudden major drops. Until people in your home state can buy a car, house, and groceries using bitcoin directly (WITHOUT a Visa bridge), the real value will be highly subjective to the whims of the market.

    replies(1): >>46195357 #
    3. alternatex ◴[08 Dec 25 16:44 UTC] No.46194475[source]▶
    How is it opposite. In my mind they all fall under the same libertarian fantasy umbrella.

    The post mentioned the idea of casually sending a billion dollars. Was that ever possible with Bitcoin? AFAIK it's less ergonomic to send money using Bitcoin than it is using traditional banking.

    replies(1): >>46194732 #
    4. kanbankaren ◴[08 Dec 25 16:47 UTC] No.46194513[source]▶
    It has proven neither to be a store of value nor medium of exchange though it is being used extensively for criminal activities.
    replies(2): >>46194713 #>>46195234 #
    5. jobs_throwaway ◴[08 Dec 25 17:00 UTC] No.46194713[source]▶
    How has it not been a store of value?
    replies(3): >>46194827 #>>46194929 #>>46195006 #
    6. efnx ◴[08 Dec 25 17:02 UTC] No.46194732[source]▶
    It pretty easy. I personally think it’s much easier than in traditional banking.

    The hard part is that for day to day things you still need an on ramp and off ramp, but that is changing as merchants accept crypto directly.

    replies(1): >>46196060 #
    7. TZubiri ◴[08 Dec 25 17:05 UTC] No.46194765[source]▶
    Ethereum seems useful as well. But that's about it
    replies(2): >>46194969 #>>46195012 #
    8. thefringthing ◴[08 Dec 25 17:10 UTC] No.46194827{3}[source]▶
    It's a store of value in the sense that it has a non-zero price at any given moment, but when people say that one of the functions of money is to be a store of value, they mean that its value must be reasonably stable so that its future usefulness is predictable.
    9. outside1234 ◴[08 Dec 25 17:19 UTC] No.46194929{3}[source]▶
    It has an extremely volatile profile. You might as well stick your money in the SP 500 and call it is a currency.
    replies(1): >>46195017 #
    10. amrocha ◴[08 Dec 25 17:23 UTC] No.46194969[source]▶
    Tell me a single useful real world use case that Ethereum is being used in today, a decade after its creation

    If I can solve that problem with another simpler, older technology it doesn’t count as useful. I don’t care if you can pay for things using ethereum when I can just use my credit card instead.

    replies(1): >>46215089 #
    11. VHRanger ◴[08 Dec 25 17:25 UTC] No.46195006{3}[source]▶
    A store of value is an asset with as close to 0% volatility in price as possible.

    Bitcoin is a speculative asset: it has very high price volatility. It is not a store of value in the proper term.

    replies(1): >>46195298 #
    12. theplatman ◴[08 Dec 25 17:25 UTC] No.46195012[source]▶
    the problem with ETH at its peak is that the gas fees made cost of doing anything real too costly

    if there was a real use case it would have manifested itself at this point

    i think the abstraction needs to be much higher to end user for this stuff to have value. having to manage your own wallet doesn't make sense.

    13. psunavy03 ◴[08 Dec 25 17:26 UTC] No.46195017{4}[source]▶
    Except the S&P 500 will give you a return. The stock market is not gambling, much as some people want it to be.
    replies(1): >>46195170 #
    14. lxgr ◴[08 Dec 25 17:37 UTC] No.46195170{5}[source]▶
    It does go down by double-digit percentages from time to time though, which is really inconvenient if you want to, say, buy a house today or tomorrow.

    There's a reason people still use USD, EUR etc. and not fractional ETFs to pay and get paid.

    replies(1): >>46196774 #
    15. ◴[08 Dec 25 17:38 UTC] No.46195188[source]▶
    16. atomic128 ◴[08 Dec 25 17:40 UTC] No.46195234[source]▶
    Monero is used for criminal activities, not Bitcoin. How do I know? I monitor crime, mostly but not exclusively drug crime, on Tor's hidden services: https://rnsaffn.com/zg4/ Monero is the cryptocurrency of choice.
    replies(3): >>46195353 #>>46195715 #>>46195870 #
    17. tgsovlerkhgsel ◴[08 Dec 25 17:45 UTC] No.46195298{4}[source]▶
    By that standard, over the past year, Bitcoin would be a better store of value than gold...
    replies(1): >>46195612 #
    18. lokar ◴[08 Dec 25 17:49 UTC] No.46195353{3}[source]▶
    Not all crime is drugs.

    Most of it is tax and sanctions evasion.

    19. kanbankaren ◴[08 Dec 25 18:09 UTC] No.46195612{5}[source]▶
    Over the past year,

    Bitcoin lost 10.8%

    Gold gained 60.0%

    replies(2): >>46196616 #>>46200226 #
    20. leftouterjoins ◴[08 Dec 25 18:18 UTC] No.46195715{3}[source]▶
    This is the same, nonsensical argument against monero that is used against end-to-end encrypted messaging. "app of choice for criminals" "makes enforcement harder" etc.

    It completely ignores the benefits of Monero. Crime exists. Its not going anywhere. It is not societies job to make the crime fighter's job a walk in the park. Crimninals use cars to commit crimes, we don't outlaw cars. They use masks, the store sells masks.

    The benefits of a global, decentralized and truly private and free medium of value exchange would be massive to the average person, but deterimental to those in power so they must use FUD to squash it.

    21. rjdj377dhabsn ◴[08 Dec 25 18:31 UTC] No.46195870{3}[source]▶
    What is that hidden service scanner showing with regards to monero?
    replies(1): >>46196175 #
    22. daveguy ◴[08 Dec 25 18:46 UTC] No.46196060{3}[source]▶
    Messing with crypto is in no way easier than traditional banking. And traditional banking has guarantees that crypto does not.
    replies(1): >>46220471 #
    23. atomic128 ◴[08 Dec 25 18:56 UTC] No.46196175{4}[source]▶
    The majority of the criminal activity on the Tor darknet is mediated by hidden services listed by that scanner. You can visit those services (using the .onion URLs) and see that Monero (XMR) is the preferred cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is sometimes used for hosting, etc., but Monero exists to avoid Bitcoin's security weaknesses and the criminals are well aware of this advantage.
    24. tgsovlerkhgsel ◴[08 Dec 25 19:37 UTC] No.46196616{6}[source]▶
    qed
    25. psunavy03 ◴[08 Dec 25 19:53 UTC] No.46196774{6}[source]▶
    And when it goes down the answer is to buy the dip. If you have funds needed for other things, they should be in lower-risk investments. As people get older, they should be moving large amounts of equities into bonds to lock in their gains.

    There is a reason people still have things like checking and savings accounts and CDs.

    replies(1): >>46196898 #
    26. lxgr ◴[08 Dec 25 20:03 UTC] No.46196898{7}[source]▶
    > If you have funds needed for other things, they should be in lower-risk investments.

    That’s exactly my point.

    27. listenallyall ◴[09 Dec 25 01:28 UTC] No.46200226{6}[source]▶
    > A store of value is an asset with as close to 0% volatility in price as possible.

    You just proved his point. In this example, bitcoin's volatility is closer to zero than gold's. Thus, by the quoted definition of "store of value", then in this particular time frame (it would be very different going back 5, 10, 15 years), bitcoin is the better store of value.

    28. TZubiri ◴[10 Dec 25 07:29 UTC] No.46215089{3}[source]▶
    Tether
    29. efnx ◴[10 Dec 25 17:19 UTC] No.46220471{4}[source]▶
    Sending funds overseas is much easier with crypto than with traditional banking.

    For the most part all I need is an address. That’s it. Then it takes a couple minutes to transfer - done!