https://theconversation.com/impulsive-psychopaths-like-crypto-research-shows-how-dark-personality-traits-affect-bitcoin-enthusiasm-180782

  • SerLava [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    It's way worse.

    • Crypto is d r a m a t i c a l l y more volatile than actual money.
    • Predatory and wasteful as it is, trading stocks has an actual remnant of a useful function- it often (though less and less every year) invests money into something with at least some actual utility to humans.
    • Crypto is just a ponzi scheme. Every dollar someone makes is another dollar lost by someone else. And it's not the rich people losing -This one is crucial. The influx of working class victims of this crypto scheme has directly stolen their money- they can't simply "hold" until the number goes back up. They have bills to pay or they'll die. That's how deep pocketed motherfuckers pump money out of poor people.
    • You said not to mention the environmental concern, but holy God damn, it's so fucking bad. One Bitcoin transaction takes the same energy as a suburban house uses in two months. It's going to get us fucking killed

    It's like someone looked at the monetary system and thought, this is pretty evil but like, it's hardly even trying

    • MerryChristmas [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      You can definitely bring up environmental concerns! I agree with the stance that it's ecologically unsound, but I just don't think that the ecological arguments are going to be very convincing to a population that largely rejects climate science.

      Also, BTC is already pretty outmoded. There are more efficient ways of handling transactions with ETH these days - still needlessly destructive, but uh, I guess a little less so? I haven't looked at the numbers, but throw in some carbon offsets and most people (libs) will be satisfied. This is already exactly what is happening in the "activist investor" communities.

      I guess I am just cynical, but I think all of this blockchain stuff is inevitable. If capital wants it to happen then it is going to happen, and if that's the case, I'm just trying to figure out how it is going to impact me and my community. Apologies if it seemed like I was dismissing environmental concerns as that definitely wasn't my intention!

      • SerLava [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Those are good points, and don't worry it didn't really come across as dismissive of the environmental damage.

        I do know most of the newer cryptocurrencies are much less destructive that Bitcoin, but they're all still like, thousands of times worse than just, Visa.

        You're also right to notice that there are all these mother fucking billionaires peddling crypto and NFTs and shit. They will absolutely keep it afloat longer, but from what I've read they can't keep it going forever. It's still ultimately a pure speculative asset that has no underlying value other than the ponzi scheme itself.