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I think the prevalence and scale of criminal activity through crypto was under appreciated in the mainstream.

Let’s be real, much of the market activity is money laundering, ransomware and other payoffs, and Chinese people bypassing currency controls.

It’s no coincidence that China cracked down on miners and the price dropped a few months ago. It’s plain as day now that with Russia being removed from the internet and most markets, buy-side demand for crypto is sinking.



It wasn’t so long ago we had some fans of crypto on HN, lots of stories how this or that scheme was going to work.

First movers want to sound and convince others they are right and “now” is the right time to step in.

Most of it can be debunked if you had a good economy course that tells you how value is created.


I think the early days were full of promise. Circa 2010-2015 crypto felt like Wired magazine in 1994 about the internet.

Unfortunately, reality is a harsh mistress.


Indeed. I also have no doubt some early adopters got real rich. But they were the top of the pyramid. The merry go round plays as long people keep joining. Looks like we hit some sort of limit at the bottom of the pyramid.

Now they might find some new investors, but it will only delay the inevitable.




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