• JoesFrackinJack [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    it's so tempting to want to believe you can somehow get ahead in america, you see people around you doing it and there is always something that's gonna be big next and just bet the house on it. i've seen a couple people first hand get taken by the crypto illusion and it's fuckin sad, like it's even worse than MLM type scams cause most at least have a physical product that has value (as small as it may be.) but so many people can hardly update Windows let along figure out what the difference between a cold or a hot wallet is in crypto... but it doesn't even matter cause they're convinced it's gonna be the next big thing, and they got in early. i know a dude who was financially focused essentially double down on the "dip" for some dogshit (THETA) crypto because the buzzwords surrounding the "technology" were good. there is millions of marks out there, and i truly hope it is actually slowing down now, cause it's certainly not stopping

    • TheWhiteVisitation [des/pair]
      ·
      3 years ago

      A lot of the people I know significantly underwater on their crypto investments are software engineers at elite firms. It has nothing to do with intelligence, just luck. Ideologically, a lot of Amerikans will never accept that.

      • SacredExcrement [any, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        It has nothing to do with intelligence, just luck.

        Speaking as someone who was very into financial instruments and crypto (yeah I know) back when I was a lib, it is almost entirely luck. You can know what theta decay is, what Delta and all the other metrics mean, do research on how the stock typically performs during the yearly period you're holding the options, look at preliminary results....and still be completely wrong because some firm decides to buy a ton of stock, rendering the work moot.

        Nobody knows if the market is going to go up, down, or in fucking circles, and crypto is even MORE volatile; the only reason people 'win' at it are because they happened to possess that insane luck or because they had enough cash they could keep guessing until they got it right

        • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Or they're Wall Street types who have insiders give them knowledge. While they certainly do know how stocks perform, the main reason why they get rich is mass insider trading and rigging the markets.

          • Steve2 [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            All the politicians routinely beating the market really shows you how this thing is a mugs game.

    • Steve2 [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      People very acutely feel the need to escape from alienation. Especially in this late stage where we live pretty comfortably all things considered, but we can see the vastest rug pull coming right for us called "western capitalism." The perfectly ironic thing is that there is an escape valve from alienation called socialist revolution. But Americans are so individualistic it seems to not occur to then to work together and defeat their actual material enemies.