| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:52 - May 24 with 949 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:40 - May 24 by SuperKieranMcKenna |
“ It's been 13 years since BTC was created and there still isn't a viable use case for it's existence”
This.
It’s not viable as an alternative to gold as it’s too volatile (nor does it go up in times of financial crisis). It doesn’t hedge inflation, nor is it really tracking much differently from equities (particularly NASDAQ). I hold a very small speculative amount, but must admit I don’t really ever see it being more than that. |
Even gold has actual real world usages outside of jewellery. Crypto has almost none except to bypass regulations.
NFTs are even more stupid. |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:17 - May 24 with 919 views | wkj |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:52 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
Even gold has actual real world usages outside of jewellery. Crypto has almost none except to bypass regulations.
NFTs are even more stupid. |
Not strictly true - Crypto and NFT are very good for getting rid of excess coal or oil. |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:18 - May 24 with 923 views | Illinoisblue |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:37 - May 24 by J2BLUE |
Surprisingly enough...no |
Was just checking out the NBA’s “Top Shot” series of NFTs. It’s insane. They ‘mint’ thousands of NFTs of top players making shots that you can own. Who’s buying this stuff? Even if it’s fairly cheap you and thousand of others own the same image. Or you could just go to YouTube and watch actual video of the shot being made. |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:20 - May 24 with 913 views | J2BLUE |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:18 - May 24 by Illinoisblue |
Was just checking out the NBA’s “Top Shot” series of NFTs. It’s insane. They ‘mint’ thousands of NFTs of top players making shots that you can own. Who’s buying this stuff? Even if it’s fairly cheap you and thousand of others own the same image. Or you could just go to YouTube and watch actual video of the shot being made. |
Agree. I saw something about things like Pokemon cards going digital. That seems literally pointless as someone will post an image of one online and at that point what is the difference? |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:20 - May 24 with 910 views | wkj |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:18 - May 24 by Illinoisblue |
Was just checking out the NBA’s “Top Shot” series of NFTs. It’s insane. They ‘mint’ thousands of NFTs of top players making shots that you can own. Who’s buying this stuff? Even if it’s fairly cheap you and thousand of others own the same image. Or you could just go to YouTube and watch actual video of the shot being made. |
There in lies the first mistake - you don't own the image. You own an address that points to an image - in a way, it is like you don't own a house but you own the address associated with the house. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:28 - May 24 with 887 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:18 - May 24 by StokieBlue |
"The long-term future of Crypto is still to be decided. If you look at the stats of how many younger people own crypto, I am not sure they will let fade away as they mature."
It's been 13 years since BTC was created and there still isn't a viable use case for it's existence, in fact BTC is awful with regards to architecture and energy consumption. It's purely a speculative instrument which will never have real world applications.
Of the 1000's of other coins perhaps some will one day find a realistic use case but as it stands they are all instruments designed to make the creator very rich and the early adopter rich before they get out.
The pushed "real world" use cases of the ledger already have existing solutions that work fine. Sure they aren't decentralised but are many coins? None of them are evenly distributed and many are now reliant on underlying tech which looks a lot like good old relational databases.
In the end it won't be the younger people owning crypto who decide it's fate, it'll be the whales and the decisions of governments around regulation.
Good luck with your portfolio, you are most certainly correct that people should understand what they are speculating in and should also be aware of the tax responsibilities (places like Coinbase now report trades over certain thresholds).
SB |
13 years really is not a long time for new technology or approach to become embedded into the public psyche, it takes time for mass acceptance.
You say it'll be the governments and whales who make these decisions, completely agree though in time these will be the young of today who are in those in these positions of power.
BTC may not be the future of crypto, for some of the reasons you outline. There are better coins currently out there for environmental and social reasons and in 5 years' time, there could even better ones that the ones that currently exist. Time will tell. |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:30 - May 24 with 885 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:20 - May 24 by J2BLUE |
Agree. I saw something about things like Pokemon cards going digital. That seems literally pointless as someone will post an image of one online and at that point what is the difference? |
There are quite a few digital card games where you can pay for packs online to play with them online. In these games they are not used to speculative reasons but to actually play a game with. Usually third party sellers are banned for this sort of thing to try and reduce speculative markets.
If they are tied into something tangible (e.g. ability to play with them) then there is some value to them even if it's digital.
With NFTs they are purely speculative. They have no value outside of people deciding they have value outside of that particular blockchain. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:31 - May 24 with 882 views | itfc_bucks |
I'm relatively tech savvy, but it's always struck me that you're effectively buying something which has no tangible existence. Therefore, little, if any tangible value.
Think about it, physical money only has value because it is widely agreed that it does. This belief in money built up over millennia. BTC et al have tried to short-circuit this process by hundreds/thousands of years and until it's believed that it has intrinsic value by a wide audience, it simply wont and can't have long term value.
And for that reason, I'm out. |  | | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:31 - May 24 with 881 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:28 - May 24 by mutters |
13 years really is not a long time for new technology or approach to become embedded into the public psyche, it takes time for mass acceptance.
You say it'll be the governments and whales who make these decisions, completely agree though in time these will be the young of today who are in those in these positions of power.
BTC may not be the future of crypto, for some of the reasons you outline. There are better coins currently out there for environmental and social reasons and in 5 years' time, there could even better ones that the ones that currently exist. Time will tell. |
But what problem are they solving?
I keep hearing this, but I've never heard why you need blockchain to solve these issues. If it's decentralisation that's important then having power in the hands of whales and / or the Government seems like you've just created the same issue. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:34 - May 24 with 863 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 12:52 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
Even gold has actual real world usages outside of jewellery. Crypto has almost none except to bypass regulations.
NFTs are even more stupid. |
The concept of them is valid and already here. Anybody that buys a skin, a gun, a FIFA player etc for a game is buying a virtualised representation and not the real item.
As the world and society move more towards an augmented reality where people spend more and more time in virtualised environments their use and their value will be clearer. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:34 - May 24 with 864 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:20 - May 24 by wkj |
There in lies the first mistake - you don't own the image. You own an address that points to an image - in a way, it is like you don't own a house but you own the address associated with the house. |
And even then you own it on that platform. If the platform goes away you own... well you own nothing.
In this particular example they had to change their marketing after launch for saying you "owned" the shot as you obviously did not, NBA holds all the licenses for that.
This gets very fun when NFTs and other coins allow you certain rights like say access to discord. The contract is between the seller (who is originally selling the NFT) and the buyer.
But if they resell it, what happens with the contract? It doesn't get transferred, there's no legal means for that to happen.
It's all a complete mess whilst people slowly realise why we have regulation for this stuff in the first place. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:40 - May 24 with 849 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:34 - May 24 by mutters |
The concept of them is valid and already here. Anybody that buys a skin, a gun, a FIFA player etc for a game is buying a virtualised representation and not the real item.
As the world and society move more towards an augmented reality where people spend more and more time in virtualised environments their use and their value will be clearer. |
But you've just assigned value to those things. If it's in a game then it is usable in that game and nobody is under any illusion that without the game, that thing is worthless. That is very often not how NFTs are sold, and most NFTs are not being bought for their perceived usefulness but for speculative purposes.
And the fact is, none of those systems use blockchain. We've had in game items for absolutely years and years without blockchain being involved so as I said before, it's not bringing anything new to the table.
It's like how people talk about how it'll be great for the metaverse even though Second Life had all of this decades ago (and VR Chat does now) and again, no blockchain necessary. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:51 - May 24 with 818 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:31 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
But what problem are they solving?
I keep hearing this, but I've never heard why you need blockchain to solve these issues. If it's decentralisation that's important then having power in the hands of whales and / or the Government seems like you've just created the same issue. |
With new technology, not all the use cases are clear when it starts, it will evolve over time and people find a purpose for it IF it proves to have value.
However as a starter (remember blockchain technology and actual crypto coins are not synonymous)
- crypto provides the 2+ billion people in the world who do not have access or the ability to access bank accounts which the world currently discriminates against
- blockchain provides a centralised ledger as a single point of truth which so far has been proven very difficult to hack/fake, hence removing fraud
- crypto provides protection from inflation. living in a country where inflation is rampant it provides a safe hub for monetary assets
- supply chain management - a single point of truth not distributed behind each company's networks.. (this is blockchain tech advantage not crytpo)
- health care records (blockchain)
- insurance records..(blockchain )
etc..
Blockchain technology may be the winner here long term. Only time will tell. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:55 - May 24 with 807 views | monytowbray |
I have had so many HEY BRO LOOK CAPITALISM IS COLLAPSING AND UNETHICAL INVEST IN CRYPTO posts in my LinkedIn feed the last year, all from the late-to-the-party-so-become-an-influencer investors.
It's a cult at this point for those heavily invested, and a ponzi/pyramid scheme for anyone who's gone in a bit deeper than comfortable.
A lot more people are going to get hurt, crypto in it's current form has all the symptoms of the 8-track or the Minidisc. [Post edited 24 May 2022 13:57]
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:03 - May 24 with 792 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:40 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
But you've just assigned value to those things. If it's in a game then it is usable in that game and nobody is under any illusion that without the game, that thing is worthless. That is very often not how NFTs are sold, and most NFTs are not being bought for their perceived usefulness but for speculative purposes.
And the fact is, none of those systems use blockchain. We've had in game items for absolutely years and years without blockchain being involved so as I said before, it's not bringing anything new to the table.
It's like how people talk about how it'll be great for the metaverse even though Second Life had all of this decades ago (and VR Chat does now) and again, no blockchain necessary. |
The conversation here is not around the concept of NFT but its application of it. People are being sold a speculative investment, and like all things, it's up to them to decide whether it's right or wrong to undergo said investment. People need to understand that the current blockchain that they are buying an NFT may not exist. Early days for technology mean there will be casualties. Think of all the investors that bought internet stocks in the early 2000s only for them to be wiped out.
Some games utilise the use of blockchain, none of the big games as yet but it was used as an example of when you buy a virtualised item it is linked to that game. You are often not allowed to resell said item, though this has loosened up a little and there are websites where you can trade them. I can foresee a future where the blockchain is embedded more into games. I do know that EA has invested a lot of money in this area for example.
Funnily enough, you mention Second Life:
https://news.sky.com/story/metaverse-you-cant-walk-on-this-land-or-build-a-house
I was involved in SL back in 2000s and ran a number of projects building various virtual worlds for companies. This is defo history repeating itself as there was a huge land rush to purchase space on certain servers.
As the metaverse becomes more prevalent a stable platform will eventually emerge. When that is, nobody knows. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:07 - May 24 with 789 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:51 - May 24 by mutters |
With new technology, not all the use cases are clear when it starts, it will evolve over time and people find a purpose for it IF it proves to have value.
However as a starter (remember blockchain technology and actual crypto coins are not synonymous)
- crypto provides the 2+ billion people in the world who do not have access or the ability to access bank accounts which the world currently discriminates against
- blockchain provides a centralised ledger as a single point of truth which so far has been proven very difficult to hack/fake, hence removing fraud
- crypto provides protection from inflation. living in a country where inflation is rampant it provides a safe hub for monetary assets
- supply chain management - a single point of truth not distributed behind each company's networks.. (this is blockchain tech advantage not crytpo)
- health care records (blockchain)
- insurance records..(blockchain )
etc..
Blockchain technology may be the winner here long term. Only time will tell. |
People design technology to fill certain purposes. Not all will work, that's fine, but it's very weird to invent something and then try and assign a use case to it afterwards. Immutable ledgers have been around in different forms for years. Event Sourcing, for example, has been used in applications for a long time and doesn't require blockchain.
On some of your other points
- crypto provides the 2+ billion people in the world who do not have access or the ability to access bank accounts which the world currently discriminates against
I could be wrong here but I believe this is more to do with not actually having enough cash available to find a bank account useful rather than not being close enough to own / not being able to own one. Even then, why would you want to have your money in something that is unstable as main coins are? Just the other day a stable coin lost essentially all its value.
- blockchain provides a centralised ledger as a single point of truth which so far has been proven very difficult to hack/fake, hence removing fraud
Who decides what truth is? There have been hard forks off the most popular coins when issues have arose, usually decided on by a small group of people. If that's possible, you can quite literally rewrite truth.
- crypto provides protection from inflation. living in a country where inflation is rampant it provides a safe hub for monetary assets
Not sure I 100% agree on this. You could quite easily invest your money into a more stable currency and it works the same but I understand the sentiment. It also very much depends on what your investing your money into. Better hope there is no crash.
- supply chain management - a single point of truth not distributed behind each company's networks.. (this is blockchain tech advantage not crytpo)
There is no reason for blockchain to be involved here. A database can do this.
- health care records (blockchain)
Again, not sure what problem this is solving. We can already distribute these without blockchain. I'd argue putting these on the blockchain, where sensitive information cannot be removed, is a very dangerous idea. In fact we already have this problem with real life coins. What if someone decides to put some very horrible things on the blockchain? You can't remove them, they are there forever. GDPR becomes insanely difficult, if not impossible. Malicious actors can do some really awful things.
Maybe I'm just being a cynic but I've really not been convinced that blockchain has solved any problems which did not already decent solutions. They've not improved anything. [Post edited 24 May 2022 14:12]
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:10 - May 24 with 780 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:03 - May 24 by mutters |
The conversation here is not around the concept of NFT but its application of it. People are being sold a speculative investment, and like all things, it's up to them to decide whether it's right or wrong to undergo said investment. People need to understand that the current blockchain that they are buying an NFT may not exist. Early days for technology mean there will be casualties. Think of all the investors that bought internet stocks in the early 2000s only for them to be wiped out.
Some games utilise the use of blockchain, none of the big games as yet but it was used as an example of when you buy a virtualised item it is linked to that game. You are often not allowed to resell said item, though this has loosened up a little and there are websites where you can trade them. I can foresee a future where the blockchain is embedded more into games. I do know that EA has invested a lot of money in this area for example.
Funnily enough, you mention Second Life:
https://news.sky.com/story/metaverse-you-cant-walk-on-this-land-or-build-a-house
I was involved in SL back in 2000s and ran a number of projects building various virtual worlds for companies. This is defo history repeating itself as there was a huge land rush to purchase space on certain servers.
As the metaverse becomes more prevalent a stable platform will eventually emerge. When that is, nobody knows. |
But now you're talking about NFTs like they are investments again, and not anything useful. NFTs have done absolutely nothing in the space of digital items except introduce complexity where none was needed.
The idea of virtual space, where really the only scarcity is hosting, being sold from thousands of pounds is mental. It makes absolutely no sense. The fact that the "metaverse" will be in the hands of large corporations is scary enough.
Give me VR Chat over the Facebook variant any day. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:14 - May 24 with 772 views | Eireannach_gorm |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 11:55 - May 24 by The_Romford_Blue |
They’re not all a scam. There’s millions and millions of people in this country alone trading in crypto and/or NFTs with good intentions. There just are some opportunists who are running a scam involving crypto at the same time. Seems unfair to blame cryptocurrency as a whole for that.
My mate writes articles and reviews of the crypto world and is quite popular in that world. He’s got a couple of things worth 70k but has no intention of touching either at this point. To say it’s all a scam seems very much unfair. |
They are not all a scam but quite a lot are and the whole platform is very suspect. My brother is big into them but is quite smart with his dealings and like all these types of schemes was into them early so all the new arrivals are funding him.
Have a gander at this......
https://web3isgoinggreat.com/ |  | | |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:16 - May 24 with 771 views | Wonky |
Historians will look back in amazement at this nonsense. It's the future, it's blockchain. Yabba Yabba Yabba. Actually it's not new, it's as old as the hills, shysters and conmen getting to honest people to part with their money.
Yes, we've been here before, see South Sea Crisis, et all.
At least with the tulip one you owned some nice flowers. |  | | |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:40 - May 24 with 738 views | StokieBlue |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 13:28 - May 24 by mutters |
13 years really is not a long time for new technology or approach to become embedded into the public psyche, it takes time for mass acceptance.
You say it'll be the governments and whales who make these decisions, completely agree though in time these will be the young of today who are in those in these positions of power.
BTC may not be the future of crypto, for some of the reasons you outline. There are better coins currently out there for environmental and social reasons and in 5 years' time, there could even better ones that the ones that currently exist. Time will tell. |
As someone invested in the ecosystem I fully understand your support, however, you've still not outlined what problem it's solving which can't be done with existing technologies.
For instance, for the "public pysche", what is the difference between me waiving my phone at the till and money coming out of my account and waiving my phone at the till and fractions of BTC moving from my wallet?
In the end there is no functional difference and if there is no difference then what is in it for the public to move from the existing system (which is already much easier to use than crypto)? Outside the crypto sphere you'll be surprised how few actually care that their funds are stored in a centralised location and perhaps surprised how many would take the centralisation as a form of comfort given the government guarantees for money held in such a way.
Fully understand that without the push for a clear and relevant usage that the value of the money invested could easily fall and thus the push for real-world relevance and use cases.
SB |  |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:52 - May 24 with 723 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:07 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
People design technology to fill certain purposes. Not all will work, that's fine, but it's very weird to invent something and then try and assign a use case to it afterwards. Immutable ledgers have been around in different forms for years. Event Sourcing, for example, has been used in applications for a long time and doesn't require blockchain.
On some of your other points
- crypto provides the 2+ billion people in the world who do not have access or the ability to access bank accounts which the world currently discriminates against
I could be wrong here but I believe this is more to do with not actually having enough cash available to find a bank account useful rather than not being close enough to own / not being able to own one. Even then, why would you want to have your money in something that is unstable as main coins are? Just the other day a stable coin lost essentially all its value.
- blockchain provides a centralised ledger as a single point of truth which so far has been proven very difficult to hack/fake, hence removing fraud
Who decides what truth is? There have been hard forks off the most popular coins when issues have arose, usually decided on by a small group of people. If that's possible, you can quite literally rewrite truth.
- crypto provides protection from inflation. living in a country where inflation is rampant it provides a safe hub for monetary assets
Not sure I 100% agree on this. You could quite easily invest your money into a more stable currency and it works the same but I understand the sentiment. It also very much depends on what your investing your money into. Better hope there is no crash.
- supply chain management - a single point of truth not distributed behind each company's networks.. (this is blockchain tech advantage not crytpo)
There is no reason for blockchain to be involved here. A database can do this.
- health care records (blockchain)
Again, not sure what problem this is solving. We can already distribute these without blockchain. I'd argue putting these on the blockchain, where sensitive information cannot be removed, is a very dangerous idea. In fact we already have this problem with real life coins. What if someone decides to put some very horrible things on the blockchain? You can't remove them, they are there forever. GDPR becomes insanely difficult, if not impossible. Malicious actors can do some really awful things.
Maybe I'm just being a cynic but I've really not been convinced that blockchain has solved any problems which did not already decent solutions. They've not improved anything. [Post edited 24 May 2022 14:12]
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Definitely, a better way to have this conversation would be over a beer and have a proper chat over this, as there are lots of nuances to be discussed on both the pros and cons of blockchain. Going back and forth on a forum is not always the easiest!
Uber didn't need to exist as the taxi firms were working just fine.
Online food shopping didn't need to exist as people were quite happy to go to the supermarkets.
Netflix, Spotify, AirBnB.... the list is endless.
They are all disruptive technologies that changed the way society works or engages. Can you say that these examples have changed the world for better or worse? Highly subjective.
Blockchain is another. It provides a centralised location for the safe storage of transactional data, which in theory can not be corrupted, well it can but it will take almost an insurmountable amount of effort to corrupt all copies of the distributed ledgers. Using the examples below supply chain management, health care records, and even insurance records can be stored in a DB but these are nearly always stored in a company's network, hidden away not in a central location for the world to see (with the right privileges).
The 2 billion without access to bank accounts is often because of political means, being in a country so poor the systems doesn't exist for them, being unregistered, or living so remote it's not possible (think central Africa). Having access to a currency that allows them to engage is a game-changer. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:53 - May 24 with 714 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:10 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
But now you're talking about NFTs like they are investments again, and not anything useful. NFTs have done absolutely nothing in the space of digital items except introduce complexity where none was needed.
The idea of virtual space, where really the only scarcity is hosting, being sold from thousands of pounds is mental. It makes absolutely no sense. The fact that the "metaverse" will be in the hands of large corporations is scary enough.
Give me VR Chat over the Facebook variant any day. |
Sadly NFTs are being portrayed as investments at the moment misrepresenting their unlying value imo.
I wouldn't buy one with a bargepole at the moment. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 15:03 - May 24 with 703 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 14:40 - May 24 by StokieBlue |
As someone invested in the ecosystem I fully understand your support, however, you've still not outlined what problem it's solving which can't be done with existing technologies.
For instance, for the "public pysche", what is the difference between me waiving my phone at the till and money coming out of my account and waiving my phone at the till and fractions of BTC moving from my wallet?
In the end there is no functional difference and if there is no difference then what is in it for the public to move from the existing system (which is already much easier to use than crypto)? Outside the crypto sphere you'll be surprised how few actually care that their funds are stored in a centralised location and perhaps surprised how many would take the centralisation as a form of comfort given the government guarantees for money held in such a way.
Fully understand that without the push for a clear and relevant usage that the value of the money invested could easily fall and thus the push for real-world relevance and use cases.
SB |
The thing is have been as skeptical as most people in the past. I've been in and out of cryptos over the last 10+ years, been burnt a couple of times but have also seen the rewards. So as much as I am vested, I am vested with experience and knowledge that I have picked up along the way. Its no different to my stock market activities only being the lows are much lower and the highs are much higher if that makes sense.
What is the difference between paying with your phone or paying with cash? Or going somewhere and being able to pay in either dollars or local currency? Both really have the same concept (paying for something from a store of value).
Disruptive technologies well disrupt. You often don't see their value until they have done so. Uber is a great example. Everybody was ok with using local taxi firms (ok they had their annoyances by either turning up too early or too late). Uber and Lyft then came along and now people realise the old way was frankly bollox.
I am really not that much of an evangelist for blockchain or crypto as my last 300 posts today would make you believe. There is just a constant narrative that it's a scam and its bollox because somebody overheard Jeff down the pub say so! (Not yourself or Dan btw)
People love jumping on it because they dont understand it. That doesnt make it a scam.
I should probably do some work! | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 15:11 - May 24 with 697 views | DanTheMan |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 15:03 - May 24 by mutters |
The thing is have been as skeptical as most people in the past. I've been in and out of cryptos over the last 10+ years, been burnt a couple of times but have also seen the rewards. So as much as I am vested, I am vested with experience and knowledge that I have picked up along the way. Its no different to my stock market activities only being the lows are much lower and the highs are much higher if that makes sense.
What is the difference between paying with your phone or paying with cash? Or going somewhere and being able to pay in either dollars or local currency? Both really have the same concept (paying for something from a store of value).
Disruptive technologies well disrupt. You often don't see their value until they have done so. Uber is a great example. Everybody was ok with using local taxi firms (ok they had their annoyances by either turning up too early or too late). Uber and Lyft then came along and now people realise the old way was frankly bollox.
I am really not that much of an evangelist for blockchain or crypto as my last 300 posts today would make you believe. There is just a constant narrative that it's a scam and its bollox because somebody overheard Jeff down the pub say so! (Not yourself or Dan btw)
People love jumping on it because they dont understand it. That doesnt make it a scam.
I should probably do some work! |
One thing I would say on your points (i.e. Netflix, AirBnB etc.) is that each, whilst being disruptive, provided something that the current incarnation didn't which I think is the biggest difference.
For taxis, Uber when it first launched was cheaper (not so much now) and made it incredibly simple to use. Being able to request a rider without calling up or pre-booking made it very simple. In some cases it also meant you couldn't get ripped off as the routes were visible to both parties. There were some obvious issues with their company structure which have been addressed to some extent in particular regions
For Netflix it offered a much cheaper alternative to Sky and Virgin in the UK, or cable in the U.S. When it launched it had a lot of popular content and films, so there was obvious big advantages.
For Spotify, it was great for both music lowers and people who just enjoyed music but weren't "in" to it. For those who loved music, you could listen to almost anything at the price of less than an album a month in decent quality. For those people like myself who enjoy music but aren't super into it, I can pay and listen to bands I like without having to work out which album I would like to purchase. I've listened to much more music through Spotify than I ever did with physical copies.
Simply put, most disruptors in these industries offer real world advantages to consumers as to why you would use them over the pre-existing entities. I don't feel that applies in almost all examples of how blockchain, and in particular cryptocurrency. | |
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| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 15:52 - May 24 with 665 views | mutters |
| Youroccasional reminder that crypto/NFT's/etc are a scam.. on 15:11 - May 24 by DanTheMan |
One thing I would say on your points (i.e. Netflix, AirBnB etc.) is that each, whilst being disruptive, provided something that the current incarnation didn't which I think is the biggest difference.
For taxis, Uber when it first launched was cheaper (not so much now) and made it incredibly simple to use. Being able to request a rider without calling up or pre-booking made it very simple. In some cases it also meant you couldn't get ripped off as the routes were visible to both parties. There were some obvious issues with their company structure which have been addressed to some extent in particular regions
For Netflix it offered a much cheaper alternative to Sky and Virgin in the UK, or cable in the U.S. When it launched it had a lot of popular content and films, so there was obvious big advantages.
For Spotify, it was great for both music lowers and people who just enjoyed music but weren't "in" to it. For those who loved music, you could listen to almost anything at the price of less than an album a month in decent quality. For those people like myself who enjoy music but aren't super into it, I can pay and listen to bands I like without having to work out which album I would like to purchase. I've listened to much more music through Spotify than I ever did with physical copies.
Simply put, most disruptors in these industries offer real world advantages to consumers as to why you would use them over the pre-existing entities. I don't feel that applies in almost all examples of how blockchain, and in particular cryptocurrency. |
The benefits of the examples I gave are very clear now, not so much when they first started. There was a distrust of Uber IIRC (similar to when the internet came out, nobody wanted to make payments online as you would get scammed), Netflix had a hybrid model still sending out DVDs via post, which people slated due to the overdue fees if late sending back... plus also Netflix didn't have the breadth and wealth of content that it now has. Spotify again only gained mass acceptance once it gained momentum. Even the mighty Amazon lost countless amounts of money year after year after year before they turned a profit. However, i do accept that conceptually the value these companies offered was more visible than what the Blockchain currently offers. Probably because these companies were in fact companies and highly visible whereas blockchain is the underlying technology and cryto is an application that sits on the blockchain.
My point is that what is obvious now, certainly was not obvious then. The people behind the disruptive technologies are the futurologists who see the vision and Joe Public are often the last ones to realise its benefits.
That's my position on the whole Blockchain / Crypto, whilst I am bought into the ecosystem, and whilst I do personally see how it fits into the future I am not foolish enough to believe that it is written in stone and couldn't come apart. Some people simply dismiss it due to their lack of understanding or have heard something negative about it and presume it's a scam.
Many scams already occur within the modern banking / financial systems. | |
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