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  • Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
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[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 40 points 6 months ago

Yeah, it's relatively easy to make good money in crypto if you understand investing. There are a lot of things that are illegal in regulated securities markets that are not yet illegal with crypto.

I intentionally don't invest in crypto, because it doesn't produce anything. Any money you make is just taken from another investor, usually because they don't know what they're doing. When you invest in a company, you make products and sell them to customers. Something is created and rarely are people cheated.

The people investing in crypto are intentionally cheating uninformed investors in a way that is not possible in regulated securities markets.

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

When you invest in a company, you make products and sell them to customers.

You mean, executives with "fiduciary responsibility" take extremely irresponsible actions to "maximize shareholder profits" and gut the company that produces those products such that the product is minimally viable, borderline shit, and might even kill the end user (Boeing, Tesla, GE, etc etc). Oh and jobs and the economy are on the line too, so that's great.

[-] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago

All of that is way more productive than crypto because something actually gets produced. Crypto is literally only gambling and scams, plus it's bad for the Earth. And I have nothing against gambling, it's the fact that vulnerable people lose tons of money thinking it's an investment.

Plus actual gambling is way more fun.

[-] piecat@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

You're not making the gambling more productive, you're making the production worse.

[-] Zacryon@lemmy.wtf 3 points 6 months ago

That's why you need to think about the company you're going to invest in.

Your critique is accurate for too many companies, yes. But by far not for all.

[-] lud@lemm.ee -4 points 6 months ago

intentionally don't invest in crypto, because it doesn't produce anything. Any money you make is just taken from another investor, usually because they don't know what they're doing. When you invest in a company, you make products and sell them to customers. Something is created and rarely are people cheated.

Isn't that the same as investing in any currency?

[-] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 1 points 6 months ago

No one is investing in regular currencies. You’re supposed to use it to buy stuff.

[-] lud@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

No, people absolutely do invest in currency. It's quite a big thing actually.

https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0412/the-basics-of-currency-trading.aspx

[-] Zacryon@lemmy.wtf 8 points 6 months ago

Forex traders are shocked.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town -5 points 6 months ago

See, the real crypto people are not in it for the number go up. They are in it for the technology and the human freedom that it can bring. So we don't like those people either.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Then it's weird how they keep telling me how much money they've made (and even sometimes ridiculing me for choosing not to participate).

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I mean, hell, I would like you to participate too. But I understand that may not be your thing. And that's okay. I don't want you to participate for some number go up mad gains stock casino thing. I want you to participate because I seriously believe that Monero can help move human freedom forward by eventually replacing government money.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

I don't have a problem with government money. If the government money no longer has value, I'm fucked regardless.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 2 points 6 months ago

I mean fair enough just that another money could get you out of that situation before it gets that bad. If nothing else than through bribes.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Good luck bribing someone with something that requires an electronics and communications infrastructure if things get that bad. I'd keep chickens if that was your worry.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 0 points 6 months ago
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

They can no longer be purchased.

Not exactly apocalypse-proof.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

While the ones that do exist still exist, and that's not to say that somebody couldn't create other things that were similar. Just as long as the private key is not peeled away, then you know it's actually got the value it says. And you don't need the internet to verify that.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Okay, so let's say the country's economy has collapsed. People are fleeing for the border. I go up to a border guard with one of those and hand it to him... do you really think he's going to believe that has value?

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 0 points 6 months ago

Really depends on the country. If you are fleeing somewhere like the United States, there's about a one in four chance that it would be recognized. If you're fleeing some other place that has had currency issues in the past, then it's probably quite a bit higher.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

there’s about a one in four chance that it would be recognized.

That is utter nonsense. You show me where you got that figure from.

Or do you just mean the Bitcoin symbol? Because I doubt someone would assume a metal coin had value just because it had a Bitcoin symbol on it.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

https://monero.town/comment/4613276

Edit: You are right. My bad. It's more like a one in five. Not a one in four.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I'm not sure what you think that proves about whether or not a border guard would accept a metal coin that the briber claims has a value in Bitcoin. The guard could have $100 million in a Bitcoin wallet and still say, "this is some kind of bullshit trick." Why wouldn't someone try to trick a border guard like that if they were desperate.

So basically, you'd have to hope this border guard would either be one of the very small number of people (hardly a quarter of Americans) who would look at a metal coin with a Bitcoin symbol on it and decide it has value to them.

Again, seems like chickens would be a better bet.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

Well, there aren't many of those around. So if it's recognized, then the person would know to look for a QR code on it. And if it has not been destroyed by peeling the hologram off, then they will know it's good. Seems like bribing a border guard with chickens would be kind of difficult. Just for the noise they would make and the space they would take up. You might be able to pass them an ounce of gold or something. That might be a possibility.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

So if it’s recognized

Yes, this is my point. It almost certainly won't be.

Seems like bribing a border guard with chickens would be kind of difficult.

Put chicken in car, drive to border, take out chicken, give to guard.

Just for the noise they would make and the space they would take up.

So this is a societal collapse where chickens are made illegal?

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

Hey, 1/5 to 1/4 arent terrible odds. Even if they haven't used it, there's a damn good chance they've heard of it. If they've heard of it, then they know it has value.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Again, your '1/5 to 1/4' is based on people who understand what Bitcoin is, not based on people who would see that coin and think it has value. Stop being dishonest.

You show me evidence that these metal coins, which, again, are no longer available for purchase, are something even most people who own Bitcoin know about and think has value.

Also, I'm guessing more than 1/4 of the people who are food insecure because society has collapsed know the value of a chicken.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

That 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 is the amount of people who have actively used crypto in some form. Everybody almost has heard about it and knows it has value, even if it's to give it to somebody else.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Yet again, that doesn't mean they think these metal coins have value.

Stop conflating the two. It's dishonest.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

The metal coin has a private key embedded underneath a hologram. The private key has never touched the internet. And so if you throw it away, that value is lost forever. So the metal coin in and of itself does have value. As long as you can physically see that the hologram has not been peeled away and the private key exposed, which would be a dead giveaway, that it has been swept and is no longer of any value.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

And you think you have a one in four chance of a border guard realizing that?

Because, again, if society is collapsing, food will be insecure, and far more than one in four people know you can eat a chicken. In fact, I would say four in four people know you can eat a chicken.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

Well, if the average intelligence level I see around me... They might not know a chicken is edible. LOL. However, only more serious note. It doesn't seem like it all goes down at once. I mean, people in Venezuela have issues for sure, but they just take their money as soon as they get it and put it into something else that will retain their value. So we won't go from an ordered stable society to Mad Max where everybody's stealing chickens from preppers in one day. It would take years to get there.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Ah, so this is a societal collapse where you have to bribe a border guard to get out of the country but where food is secure. I see. I'm pretty sure that's not how it works in Venezuela, so can you give an actual example of such a situation?

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

At least from what I understand, Cuba.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Can you provide an example of someone getting out of Cuba by bribing a guard with a metal coin representing a certain Bitcoin value?

Because, believe it or not, I've met plenty of Cubans who just got on an airplane.

[-] shortwavesurfer@monero.town 1 points 6 months ago

Admittedly, I have very little actual information on their situation, and it's more just hearsay. So if you've met them, then you would have more information than I do.

this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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