Comment on MIT Students Stole $25 Million In Seconds By Exploiting ETH Blockchain Bug, DOJ Says

• best_username_ever@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Your solution is to blame people who make mistakes, and reward companies who scam them. Real money is backed by governments and a justice system. The alternative is anarchy, and bitcoins show it really well.

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  • shortwavesurfer@monero.town ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah, we are going to have to agree to disagree there. What you call real money backed by the government and justice systems has always failed eventually. Because people manipulate it for personal gain. I wish you good luck manipulating Bitcoin since it hasn’t happened in the 14 years it’s existed. Lots have tried, all have failed.

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    • Ibaudia@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Never! Except with early pump-and-dumps, whale manipulation, spoofing, wash trading, Mt. Gox, or what’s happening with Tether.

      But besides all that stuff creating massively disruptive volatility on a slow as shit network, what’s not to love?

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      • shortwavesurfer@monero.town ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Exactly, companies and services have scammed users, but the core protocol is as good or better today than it was in 2010 and it has not been hacked. Trust me, many people would be extatic to see it happen. The fundamentals are rock solid.

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• Ibaudia@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  If I took $100 cash from you under false pretense, it would be a crime and I would be prosecuted for it. I would also have to expose myself by interacting with you. If I trick you with a fake login page and steal all your shit from your crypto wallet, then according to the blockchain that’s just fine, and I can do it completely anonymously from the other side of the planet with 0 hope for anyone to do anything about it. I had access to the tokens, so I can do anything I want with them and no one can stop me, reverse it, or even find me. That’s the issue.

  Every crypto bro I’ve talked to has said some version of “well don’t get scammed then”, which is such a fucking stupid and asinine answer. Every financial system has consumer protections except for crypto because they are 100% necessary for normal people to survive.

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  • qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Scammers have been doing that with cash, PayPal, gift cards and even regular bank transfers that are supposedly so safe.

    Crypto transactions being irreversible are no different than cash or gold transactions, you can’t magically revert giving someone cash once you realize they scammed you. Only thing you can do is report it to the police. Crypto works the same way, but for transparent coins like btc, or eth you at least have a proof that a transaction took place unlike cash.

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    • Ibaudia@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yes, exactly my point. It’s way harder to scam with physical stores of value like cash, because there aren’t layers of obfuscation like there can be with digital stores of value. That is why scamming is so much less common in meatspace compared to crypto, where every single interaction, even with a vendor or exchange, is a potential landmine you have to be cognizant of.

      With PayPal or bank transactions, those can be reversed and there are regulatory bodies to ensure consumer protections. Even with physical stores like cash, it is much easier to track someone and prosecute for illegal activity since they can’t hide behind crypto wallets.

      Every store of value has some form consumer protections and systems of accountability except for crypto, and as such scammers are empowered by it.

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      • qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        How is it harder to scam with cash? You come to my store to buy something, you hand me the bill, I take it and don’t give you anything in return. Even if you call the police it’s my word against yours, how will you prove that I took your money?

        Most scams are done irl with FIAT (fake bills, overpriced cooking pots, fake tech support, palm reading, IRS google play cards, nigerian princes, fake e-bay items, fake charge-backs for real e-bay items, uber ride cancels, uncancellable memberships, hidden costs…) at the end of the day you can’t protect everyone from everything, especially from their own gullibility. The design of crypto, when used properly, prevents all of the non-gullibility based scam types (chargebacks, cancels, hidden costs, automatic deductions etc.). For some people complete control over their money is a plus and some prefere to have it handled by banks and governments, maybe crypto just wasn’t made for the latter.

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      • rudyharrelson@kbin.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I'm curious if you would prefer crypto disappear entirely, or if you would prefer it be properly regulated so it has all the same, or greater, protections so that it can be part of the economy without being as risky for consumers.

        I can only assume the early internet had little to no consumer protections on purchases (compared to the protections they have today, that is), but I could be wrong on that. Laws and regulations tend to always lag behind technology.

        I like the idea of taking power away from big banks. Crypto is no silver bullet, but I'd like to think it could get there one day. But since capitalism always protects itself, I doubt any wealthy lobbies are going to be asking congress to pass common sense regulation for a currency that takes power away from institutional banks.

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