this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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This is a weird take and not the "gotcha" you might think it is.
Cryptos are a scam where nobody but very few at the top of the fraud actually win. While some crypto bros might be beyond help, they are actively endangering other people by trying to sell them their snake oil and drag them down with them. And the most tragic thing is, they stop applying any form of reason before making dangerous monetary decisions. People have and will continue to lose all their savings, so I would definitely agree with you that this shit is disgusting.
Decentralised social media on the other hand does not and can not endanger people's lifes like that. Yes, social media has dangers in itself. But I'd wager those dangers are far less pronounced, despite having a share of wackos.
If you are into cryptos and don't realise it is among the worst forms of gambling on it's best days, maybe you should take a couple of steps back and reevaluate if you actually understand everything that's going on, including the umcanny risks: Do you actually, for real, understand how it all works on the technological side or do you just pretend to or take someone's word for it? Do you actually make your own decisions or are those influenced by forces outside of your control (e.g. "diamond hands", "hodl" etc.)? Do you have a concrete and detailed financial plan that incorporates the worst scenarios as well ad exit strategies or is your "investment strategy" mostly determined by chance? How is your investment secured? Could you actually and factually sue in court and win in case bad actors try to prevent you from cashing out? How exactly is anything supposed to turn a profit and who's pocket is that magical profit supposed to come out of? Is anyone standing to make a profit from you and can you guarantee it won't happen? How?
Those are just a few (but not even all) considerations where cryptos usually should ring enormous alarm bells for anyone with a modicum of financial education. But not to crypto bros. To them all of this is weirdly enough just dandy and questioning anything is greatly discouraged. At some point they stop all critical thinking and just throw money into the fire, so some grifters can grift.
I'd personally rather use the money in cash to light a real fire. At least that will provide some warmth for a hot second.
Lol, somebody could write an opinion piece like this on decentralised social media and be just as wrong as you. Crypto is happily humming along and for some reason you are bitter that people like to use it.
I didn't write my reply for you, but for the people not yet aware of the inherent dangers of an unregulated financial market such as cryptos.
You can continue LARPing on the internet that you are some sort of mastermind investor. If that makes you happy, it is your money. I am just asking you politely to not try and sell your financial and tech illiteracy to your friends and family, only for them to inevitably lose all the money they invested trusting you.
If people are actually interested in decentralised technology to escape abusive corporations then your insults to cryptocurrency users and assumed bad intentions of cryptocurrency users are not very convincing arguments.
Contrary to what you keep claiming like a broken record, I am very much in favour of decentralisation. I am however against the enourmous amount of shitfuckery going on in the crypto space. And all I care about is warning people.
If you are of the opinion that cryptos - despite all rational - somehow have a future outside of a very few fringe use cases (e.g. black market transactions), then be my guest. You are mistaken, but I am also aware that there is no convincing crypto bros.
In well over a decade the crypto space has caused multiple economical desasters that left a lot of people destitute. It's kinda weird to ignore this fact, but you do you. Maybe believing harder in cryptos and doubling down will help this time. Best of luck, you will need it!
Umm social media has literally led to genocide in Myanmar leading to a flood of refugees in my country...
Decentralised social media would be even worse because people can set up their own instance and spew hate with no moderation.
How many genocides has crypto caused?
People fled the war in Ukraine with their crypto intact because it's borderless and empowers the public. Can't say the same for the banksters you're batting for.
Facebook infamously played a role in the genocide of the Rohingya. Please elaborate what the systematic persecution and murder of a group of people has to do with cryptos and this whole topic about their decline?
I mean you're the one who brought up social media, not me.
Decentralised social media can amplify hate speech, like in Myanmar, far more than centralised social media. So, it can and will endanger people's lives. Hell, incel forums have led to mass shootings. You think it won't happen with a far more popular platform like Lemmy?