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xerxespoy | 5 years ago
It's like using the term "COBOL" when you mean "programming languages", and then criticising COBOL's modern utility in that context. The parent comment was about crypto (short for "cryptocurrencies") in general, not Bitcoin, which is 12-year old technology, and broadly not fairly comparable to current cryptocurrencies or their applications.
You are as correct that you can't do much with a Bitcoin as you are that you can't do much with COBOL. This doesn't however mean that programming sucks.
If you're interested to learn about the space and what's going on in it, visit https://coingecko.com, select "developer", and sort the list by "Commits past 4 weeks".
This is a list of currently actively developed projects. Click a few and visit their websites. For example, SC, 4th in the list, is a incentivised and decentralised cloud, which is up and working right now. You can earn money from spare storage.
There are many such projects pushing various different boundaries of technology. I too find it baffling how uneducated and "luddite" many on HN are regarding blockchain and cryptocurrencies. There's a whole world of activity going on, and many here are missing out.
Closi|5 years ago
Ah, people who disagree are uneducated on it. Nice! I actually understand the technology, but my view is as follows:
* As an investment I take the Warren Buffet approach - I will only invest in things where I can see fundamentals. Bitcoin has no fundamentals. There is no utility and it generates no income, therefore it is purely speculative. If people want to invest in pure speculation then go ahead.
* As a currency: I can't spend any of them anywhere I want to spend money without an intermediary, so it's a poor currency.
My main view on how Bitcoin (as an example) has sustained financial growth is: The price rises, people invest money because they see growth, this drives a higher price, people invest more money because they see growth, this pushes the price up, and so on and so on. The problem is that these sort of structures don't last for ever, and they are reliant on attracting new people at the 'bottom' to push more revenue into the ecosystem so that people who joined earlier can get more money. People who are 'in' are incentivised to promote it and get more people to join, because it pushes the price up further and new money is constantly needed to keep the growth going. Does this money making structure remind anyone of anything else?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAcJIU9VBhc
xerxespoy|5 years ago
Most people claiming to understand the technology clearly have little grasp of its wider implications.
Its honestly a bit tiresome to reply to people who say, after 12 years consistent value increase, and a trillion-dollar market cap that its somehow a useless ponzi.
If it is, it's the most successful and self-sustaining ever, and for that alone could well deserve merit even ignoring anything else...
Edit to add: [0] - Warren Buffet first expressed negative sentiment on Bitcoin in March 2014 (https://coindesk.com/warren-buffet-bitcoin-currency ). The price in March 2014 was ~$550. Assuming a 5% portfolio position in Bitcoin held until now, equates to a 4x overwhelm of the entire portfolio at the time of entry (an 80x increase in value of the Bitcoin portion).
delaaxe|5 years ago
MrMan|5 years ago
xerxespoy|5 years ago
There are also various decentralised exchanges that handle pegged-fiat crypto currencies for price-exposure.
But after a while you may regret doing that, as much of this tech is in very early stages, and as such the value of the coins are low versus their longterm potential. If you believed in Sia/SC longterm, it might be better to hold the SC and convert to dollars later.
For an example of why this may be the case, look up bitcoin pizza guy.
(And obviously none of this is intended as investment advice, always do your own research, etc.)
qqii|5 years ago
deeeeplearning|5 years ago