this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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Idk I think centralised trust is a problem in and of itself but you can just look to history and world events that created bank runs and financial crashes like y'know - 2008, a year later the bitcoin ledger began.
Yes but it also comes with problems as mentioned above. Blockchain tech being used for scams if anything is evidence of it being a mature and functional technology for finance because under capitalism it's all inherently a scam of some sort.
That said we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good, I'm glad the technology exists even if I don't think it achieved what it set out to do quite as well as one would've hoped, if for no other reason than the fact we can all just buy any drugs online now with one day delivery instead of being stabbed on the street after calling some number like barbarians in the olden days.
Blockchain wouldn't have mattered for 2008, at least not the crash parts. Blockchain would help with who owned which loans which was also an issue. It wouldn't do anything for the crash parts as that was bad lending fundamentals of no verified income or unrealistic appraisal.
Blockchain scams are evidence of it's unreadiness and naivety. Crypto has speed ran the last 200-300 years of financial fraud. Pump and dumps, ponzi schemes, front running, market manipulation, rug pulls, and more.the fact the only viable use case is crime is also pretty telling, anyone that can safely involve a government entity would rather do that.
There's scams with fiat currency, but you don't show that as evidence that dollars aren't ready for mainstream. When people get scammed out of their crypto it's not blockhain's naivety, it's the victim.
Edit: you all are comparing money, banking, AND government regulation to crypto. They are not comparable and that's not a fair comparison. Crypto is a ledger, like QuickBooks or bank accounts. I'm not even arguing that it should have a great value, but technically it does have value and it serves its purpose. Crypto is only like 15 years old.
What schemes exactly? I know there are schemes using fiat currency, but that’s quite different from the currency itself being a scam.
Blockchain isn't inherently a scam, Bitcoin, Litecoin, etherium, monero and others are valid ledgers. They serve their intended purpose technically. You are specifically pointing out that there are investment scans in new shitcoins that are pumped up and dumped, or that never even really exist. You are correct that this doesn't exactly happen with fiat currencies but there are still nearly identical scams, like pyramid scams where people "invest" and they see their account value go up in USD or other fiat, and every month their account balance is inflated. Some people may be able to withdraw their money at first, or maybe nobody can ever withdraw anything.
Blockchain isn't inherently a scam, pretending to launch a coin or launching a coin and abandoning it is hardly different from existing scams that are settled in USD that sell land that doesn't exist or scammers that try to get you to invest in their business and then disappear with your money. You're characterizing all Blockchain currencies as scams, it's just not true. I spent my career working in IT, I look at Blockchain as a technical invention. There are ways to transact securely on Blockchain.