Comment on Meta shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to explore adding Bitcoin to the company's treasury, with less than 1% voting in favor of the measure

• markovs_gun@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Idk. I’ve been reading about Bitcoin since the very beginning and while I don’t think it’s necessarily a “scam” the whole project was based on a flawed hyper-libertarian economic theory that inflationary currency is inherently evil and that the ideal currency has a fixed quantity, requires effort to produce, and becomes rarer over time. From that standpoint, I feel like Bitcoin has failed in its original mission. You simply cannot use it as a day to day currency and everyone is just using it to gamble essentially. I do agree that if crypto had been an outright scam from the beginning, Satoshi would have rugpulled already, though.

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• utopiah@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I agree and in fact I feel the same with AI.

  Fundamental cryptocurrency is fascinating. It is mathematically sound, just like cryptography in general (computational complexity, one way functions, etc) and it had the theoretical potential to change existing political and economical structures. Unfortunately (arguably) the very foundation it is based on, namely mining for greed, brought a different community who inexorably modified not the technology itself but its usages. What was initially a potential infrastructure for exchange of value became a way to speculate, buy and sell goods and services banned, ransomware, scam payments, etc).

  AI also is fascinating as a research fields. It asks deep question with complex answers. Research for centuries about it lead to not just interesting philosophical questions, like what it’s like to be think, to be human, and mathematics used in all walks of life, like in logistics for your parcel to get delivered this morning. Yet… gradually the field, or at least its commercialization, got captured by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, regulators, who main interest was greed. This in turn changed what was until then open to something closed, something small to something required gigantic infrastructure capturing resources hitherto used for farming, polluting due to lack of proper permit for temporary electricity sources, etc. The pinnacle right now being regulation to ban regulation on AI in the US.

  So… yes, technology itself can be fascinating, useful, even important and yet how we collectively, as a society, decide to use it remains what matters, the actual impact of an idea rather than its idealization.

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  • Gsus4@mander.xyz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I can’t get past the adjustable difficulty lottery system they use for mining blocks every 10m… :/ there has to be a better way.

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    • untakenusername@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      there’s better methods than how Bitcoin works (PoW) like Proof of Stake, but that has its own problems, like bringing more centralization to the network. Like how with bitcoin if a miner controls more than half of the global hash rates, they can mint more money than should be, in a currency with PoS they could just buy half of the coins and do it

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  • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The purpose of a system is what it does. Crypto is used to bypass regulations, generally for illegal or immoral things. Its also been used as a ponzi scheme over and over, I guess we call them rug pulls now but its the same bullshit.

    Crypto is for gamblers or drug addicts, generally. Sometimes they are both. Sort of reminds me of the mortgage crisis in 2008 with people saying it wasnt the system just people abusing it. The system was built and modified to enable abuse.

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    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Crypto is not used to bypass regulations. Failure to regulate is on the state, not the crypto. It is easier to regulate crypto because of the public multiple ledger system that is the Blockchain, allowing you to trace tokens all the way back to their conception.

      The purpose of Crypto is that it removes the need for a bank for transactions and holding of nonphysical currency. Adoption rate proportional to total population is what gives them stability and makes them less susceptible to scams or pump and dumps.

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      • hark@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Crypto is not used to bypass regulations.

        From the very beginning it was sold as a way to work outside the existing banking system and all it did was recreate the earlier days of banking with little-to-no regulation.

        It is easier to regulate crypto because of the public multiple ledger system that is the Blockchain, allowing you to trace tokens all the way back to their conception.

        The key to regulation is enforcement. While some regulation was put on the books, the government has been very lax with enforcement. Obvious pump and dump schemes, which would be illegal with securities, are left completely alone with crypto. Ridiculous amounts of leverage has been used to pump up the value of bitcoin, including fraudulent printing (see Tether). Also, while the bitcoin ledger is public, you can shuffle and obscure entry and exit points enough to make it anonymous.

        The purpose of Crypto is that it removes the need for a bank for transactions and holding of nonphysical currency. Adoption rate proportional to total population is what gives them stability and makes them less susceptible to scams or pump and dumps.

        It removes the bank and introduces mining consensus. In the case of bitcoin, this consensus is slow and costly so people have built more centralized networks on top of it. Those are your new banks right there. Plus there is the issue of mining pools becoming too large and thus having more say in the consensus. Now talk about Proof of Stake and you’ll find it’s just a system where the more you hold, the more power you have (i.e. like the rich who hold more money).

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    • utopiah@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The purpose of a system is what it does.

      Right, reminds me of the hacker mindset or more recently the workshop I did on “Future wheel foresight” with Karin Hannes. One can try their best to predict how an invention might be used but in practice it goes beyond what its inventors want it to be, it is truly about how what “it” does through actual usage.

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• JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  In what way is Bitcoin not fundamentally a scam? There are multiple interpretations of “Bitcoin is a scam” you can take, and honestly with most of them I think it’s been true the whole time.

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  • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Bitcoin is not directly a scam. Rather it is a vector for scams. It makes scamming just a bit easier until regulations catch up.

    Now, the various meme coins are directly scams. You are guaranteed to lose money buying into them.

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  • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s not a scam. It’s also not immune from valid criticism, but people who call it a scam don’t understand it well enough to make those criticisms.

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    • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I think you’re doing a disservice by saying everyone who calls it a scam doesn’t understand it well enough. It’s not like everyone saying it is a scam are doing it for the same reason. There’s a variety of reasons people have for doing it.

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      • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        People can all have different reasons for a thing and yet all still come to the wrong conclusion. Bitcoin just doesn’t meet the criteria for a scam. It’s one thing to not like or trust it for legitimate reasons. It’s another thing to denounce the thing you don’t like or trust with an invalid accusation.

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  • MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It would be better to state how it is a scam

    Apart from that, well no big company or country profits from it. You’re not paying someone that’s actively trying to fuck you over. You’re not paying to fund a capitalistic villain that wants all the world money. You’re paying for an, at least the original goal was, uncensurable means of payment that’s decentralized and doesn’t rely on a government or a company.

    A pseudonymous and trustless way of paying people. Believe in the maths, not a regulated entity that might seize your money at any time.

    It’s the cypherpunk’s wet dream and I view it as such.

    Most people only view it as investment and “ponzi scheme” because they don’t care about this. They don’t care about not giving too much power to a few individuals and don’t hate banks.

    Any country can just print money and make what you have worthless, and it’s often done in poor countries as a way to wipe debts or similar bs. Crypto can shield them against that, which is probably the reason why it’s more used in those kind of countries (or in countries with oppressive governments)

    Bitcoin is one of the cleanest cryptos. It’s old, doesn’t work that well, but it’s not owned by anyone and it has a strong identity

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    • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that the proof of work aspect encourages miners to keep adding more hash rate to the network so long as it is profitable to do so and not whether the network actually needs it. It takes crazy amounts of energy for simple transactions.

      Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that proof of stake algorithms (like Ether) is just a plot for the rich to get richer and favor early adopters who have more coins.

      Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that it’s controlled by technology and not laws and can’t be fixed. Someone stealing it is more likely to get away with it because it’s not like a company can just revert fraud.

      Someone can say crypto “is a scam” because it doesn’t hold value. Stocks do hold value because you own a portion of that company and if they don’t reinvest their profits you get dividends. Money does hold value because even in the absence of a gold standard we’ve been using it long enough that it’s so ingrained in everything and everyone agrees it has value. Money has value in that the massive amount of financial regulations surrounding it creates a more stable value. Not everyone agrees crypto has value. Crypto is hardly regulated. Crypto wildly fluctuates in price.

      Someone could say crypto “is a scam” because it is often used in scams and makes it easier for scammers to be anonymous and lock down funds they steal.

      These are all the ways I could think of off the top of my head. I don’t because agree with all of them, and some I think are more valid arguments than others. The last one being the weakest since it feels odd to say scam instead of a trap or something.

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      • MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that the proof of work aspect encourages miners to keep adding more hash rate to the network so long as it is profitable to do so and not whether the network actually needs it. It takes crazy amounts of energy for simple transactions.

        I don’t see how it makes it a scam. But anyways, by definition, a bigger hash rate is always good.

        Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that proof of stake algorithms (like Ether) is just a plot for the rich to get richer and favor early adopters who have more coins.

        You mean just like stocks, and banks, and real estate, and investing? Doesn’t make it a scam either. Find better algorithms. Crypto works because people use it. If something is better for everyone, it’ll end up gaining traction.

        Someone could say crypto “is a scam” in that it’s controlled by technology and not laws and can’t be fixed. Someone stealing it is more likely to get away with it because it’s not like a company can just revert fraud.

        I could see a valid reason in this but when you get into crypto, you know what to expect. I feel like I have been personally scammed by the banking system and PayPal through abusive reversals, which funnily enough, is fraud caused by the anti fraud system. Many people abuse this stuff.

        For the crypto value thing. Well yea. Not everyone agrees it has value, but that stands for pretty much everything. You could draw a parallel with art. Most people don’t give a fuck about your black and blue painting that apparently costs millions. People might also not care about a blue spider hat. It doesn’t make it a scam in any way. If people pay, then it has value to them. No one forced them to buy crypto. They’re not a great value store, they’re a risky investment and usage product, just like stocks. It doesn’t make it a scam.

        Someone could say crypto “is a scam” because it is often used in scams and makes it easier for scammers to be anonymous and lock down funds they steal.

        Not a scam but it would be a valid reason to hate it. Cash is the same. Government seizing crypto because it was linked at some point to a scam even though you’re not linked to it is a scam imo.

        I’m not really convinced by any of these reasons. They’re valid reason not to like crypto, but none of them makes it a scam.

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    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      What putting money into crypto does is empower early bitcoin speculators

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      • MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Your statement is technically true for everything you buy. You make the market price go up, so every owner benefits from it if they intend to sell at some point

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      • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Right, but definitely not a ponzi scheme. Also, proof of stake is also definitely not a ponzi scheme.

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    • MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      For example, I mainly hold crypto that I’ll be using for payments, or those I deem technologically interesting.

      I’ve already made many crypto payments, know how they pretty much work, and prefer using them than paying by card, because fuck the banking system and those greedy visa/mastercard that takes huge cuts from payments. Also, anonymity benefit: don’t always want my name to be known, for example when donating to an individual or particular cause

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      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        They extra costs of creditcards is why I use a modern bankcard, but the US is really behind on that so for some things I need to use my CC

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      • boonhet@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I do hope you’re being real careful with your opsec if anonymity is important to you. Generally speaking, more people will know who paid who with crypto compared to bank transfers. Chains like Monero are an exception of course and yes, there are ways to anonymize other wallets too, but it requires a great deal of care, more than I personally trust myself.

        You’ve got a valid point for the card payments where there are huge fees the merchant has to pay (nearly 2% for many I think), but bank transfers are infinitely cheaper (free) and instant, compared to paying gas fees and waiting. Obviously this is not true for all banking systems yet, but it’s getting there.

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  • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In what way is it?

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    • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I think you may have misunderstood. I’m saying people call it a scam for a variety of reasons, so when someone says it isn’t a scam, I’m asking which way of calling it a scam are they saying it’s not a scam in relation to.

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      • Ulrich@feddit.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I’m the way that none of those other ways are fundamental to it’s intended use by it’s creator as an actual currency.

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    • miridius@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Decentralised currencies are fundamentally too expensive to operate, while providing dangerously little safety and a far worse user experience than fiat.

      The scam part is the idea that any crypto coin is an asset with inherent value, when in fact the price is created entirely by new investment, in other words it’s just a ponzi scheme

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    • MajesticElevator@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      They believe shitcoins = the whole crypto economy

      The only thing they know are ERC20 tokens

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      • Honytawk@feddit.nl ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        web3isgoinggreat.com

        The entirety of blockchain is a scam. And especially Bitcoin.

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      • JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        No, I don’t. But I do find it humourous you moderate a community called “how to sell drugs online fast” lol. And I genuinely don’t mean that in some sort of “you’re biased” way, truly.

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• ToadOfHypnosis@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What any unregulated market becomes.

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  • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    A lot of scams are dependent on the presence of regulations.

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    • Honytawk@feddit.nl ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      But a lot more are dependent on the absence of them.

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      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        That is almost a fundamental statement, requiring logical proof.

        It’s like with a computer program that can contain vulnerabilities - fixing vulnerabilities might introduce new ones, and new functionality intended for security can contain new vulnerabilities in itself, possibly making the whole even less secure than without it.

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    • ToadOfHypnosis@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Regulations aren’t perfect, but the banking industry has gotten vastly more full of scans since congress repealed Glass Steagall. Regulations offer a structure to punish fraud and scamming. We need clear defined rules to at least attempt to control markets from their worst possible outcomes.

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      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Frankly movement is all that matters. Too deregulated looks like cryptocurrencies, too regulated looks like PSTN which every phreaker could own, because it relied upon laws for its defense, not technical robustness.

        There’s no system that remains working when just kept standing, all that matters is that we can quickly rebuild any part of it. Which is why modern legal systems and modern Web suck so much, they’ve lost that trait.

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