• comrade_madoff
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    22 years ago

    A. I definitely have probably a more defined understanding of politics and their relation to economy than most people in the world as I’m a political scientist working towards a doctorate in system science, which by definition is the field of understanding structures of all systems. Please give me a book and I’ll try and find time to read it.

    B. I didn’t say no one could participate in crypto, I just was trying to point out it is a ponzi scheme. You can make money on a ponzi scheme, otherwise they wouldn’t exist, it just depends on how you enter the space.

    C. The reason financial crashes aren’t stopped by institutions in the past is that financial crashes created huge opportunities for the rich to purchase assets on discount so there is no incentive to stop them in capitalist systems.

    D. I invest in stocks, shit I’ve a few hundred dollars in Yuan, I am not saying don’t make money if you can. I am saying do not pretend it is anything other than a clever manipulation of finance, because it’s not. The second capitalist structures are no longer hegemonic, crypto finance should be targeted with prejudice.

    • @Bobbycostner@lemmygrad.ml
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      12 years ago

      Your only arguments that they are a Ponzi scheme are they are worth more over time which covers virtually everything that exists and that it isn’t real which covers all fiat currency. Having something against decentralised finance when centralised finance is such a con seems strange aswell.

      • comrade_madoff
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        2 years ago

        Here’s the definition of a ponzi scheme from Investor.gov: A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Ponzi schemes are named after Charles Ponzi. In the 1920s, Ponzi promised investors a 50% return within a few months for what he claimed was an investment in international mail coupons. Ponzi used funds from new investors to pay fake “returns” to earlier investors.

        Crypto is literally exactly that but with electronic payments. That’s it, there is no service, there is no asset, there is no ownership without access, there is no value outside YOUR ability to resell it at a profit. THAT is a PONZI SCHEME. There’s no commodity to be gained like a stock, no institutional backing with fucking guns like a fiat currency. If you made money using crypto, cool, I congratulate you.

        Regardless of whether you are benefiting or not doesn’t stop it from being a scam, and shit I’ll even contend it’s probably more ethical capital accumulation than grenading bank wagons like Stalin did.

        • @Bobbycostner@lemmygrad.ml
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          12 years ago

          Ponzi used funds from new investors to pay fake “returns” to earlier investors.

          Yeah the same as every trade of everything ever. New investors pay the ones selling. I’m fully aware of the terms origins.

          There’s no commodity to be gained like a stock

          Commodity definition “a raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee”

          So your Microsoft stock buys commodities does it?

          That’s it, there is no service

          This just shows you don’t understand crypto because many offer services. From logistics to inventory to banking to retail to so much more. You just don’t know enough to make a judgement so you just repeat the nonsense you’ve heard.

          • comrade_madoff
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            12 years ago

            Alright fine, you win. I obviously can’t win with some one who thinks all modes of trade are ponzi schemes.

            You’re right, I didn’t mean commodity, I meant ownership, thanks for pointing that out.

            What services are offered? Please give me examples, because the kinds of services I have seen advertised are all specifically only services because the crypto market exists in the first place, self servicing. Like acting as a 1 to 1 currency with stable coins, that still fail. Or coins that give you some kind of game asset that wouldn’t existed if the system wasn’t there in the first place. And honestly give me examples, I asked for a book or something to reference and it was totally ignored. I want to actually engage you on this, I don’t really give a shit if I’m wrong. I don’t have any crypto, I was interested in it and I read white papers for bitcoin and eth back in the day, and did some purchases and was utterly unconvinced, but please I insist actually give me a reference for me to address.

            • @Bobbycostner@lemmygrad.ml
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              12 years ago

              Alright fine, you win. I obviously can’t win with some one who thinks all modes of trade are ponzi schemes.

              Another disingenuous argument by you. I’m not the one who brought up Ponzi schemes. that’s your lazy argument. My point is if you wanted to you could call most things Ponzi schemes. Its not my fault you picked a lazy argument.

              What services are offered?

              VeChain is a blockchain platform designed to enhance supply chain management and business processes. Its goal is to streamline these processes and information flow for complex supply chains through the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT).

              XRP is used for bank to bank transfers saving time and money as no currency exchanges are needed.

              Amp/Flexa is a used to as a way to spend other cryptos alongside fiat and digital currencies. It uses its own payment rail to make retail spending quicker and easier.

              There are other projects aswell covering different things and it’s still very early days. Ethereum has a lot of projects as part of that network and with them moving onto Proof of Stake rather than Proof of Work there should be big improvements on the way.

              Other companies are advancing in Web3. Others are focusing on decentralised storage.

              But yeah one big Ponzi scheme with no value /s

              • comrade_madoff
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                2 years ago

                Okay, so VeChain as I understand it is mostly just a distributed ledger with a currency attached to it. Honestly I think dlt’s and blockchain are interesting tech, they aren’t inherent to cryptocurrency and could be applied to other functions though like new digital medical records for instance. Why is there a currency even attached to vechain other than to commodify it? It could just be a digital ledger.

                XRP literally even says they function basically as SWIFT but ripple the company, it’s not XRP is the one that does it, XRP is just their vbucks they use as the middle man. It’s basically ETH but the ripple protocol manages the servers that host DLTs rather than trusted stake holders, the service is only fast because of the fees one company makes on transactions. It’s basically visa, but with crypto access. The only reason this service exists is as a function of cryptocurrency… like I mentioned.

                Amp and Flexa only exist if you’re trying to buy things with multiple currencies all at once. You understand what my problem is right?

                All of these services only exist to justify cryptocurrency’s existence. WHY DOES CRYPTOCURRENCY NEED TO EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

                XRP just fills the gap of SWIFT because SWIFT doesn’t recognize the validity of cryptocurrency, there is no reason that implementation could not be added, ripple just didn’t need international consent.

                VeChain’s function could be replicated without a financial aspect as the asset of vechain isn’t even the coin, it’s a ledger. It doesn’t require currency, the currency just exists to make an excuse for the creators of vechain to host the service rather than have it be self hosted. The crypto-currency part just seems like a way to commodify it into a rent service when it could just be a free protocol. Like ssh. I just don’t see the financial aspects of cryptocurrency being valuable.

                • @Bobbycostner@lemmygrad.ml
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                  12 years ago

                  Why is there a currency even attached to vechain other than to commodify it?

                  Why are there shares attached to a company? So the investment from shares goes into the company to develop it. It’s the exact same principle but instead of offering shares they offer crypto.

                  XRP is cheaper and quicker than swift. Yes Ripple is the company. So what?

                  Amp and Flexa only exist if you’re trying to buy things with multiple currencies all at once. You understand what my problem is right?

                  You realise the fees are much cheaper than visa and MasterCard right? That it’s cheaper for the merchants and better for the consumer. You get this right?

                  • comrade_madoff
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                    02 years ago

                    Alright man, fine, I don’t know how to convince you, whom I assume is a communist, that having a private entity maintain transactions is the dumbest fucking idea in the world. You do you I guess. Like Marx 95. Remedial Communism shit.