I'm trying to understand WHY many old-school computer types seem to be "anti-crypto" (especially NFTs). Many friends gladly accept it for payment (don't ask, don't tell :) but beyond that don't trade, HODL, etc.
Debating if it's a form of jealousy for not having monetized their (often superior) coding skills, disdain for press attention surrounding the space or...?
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I think thats a pretty natural expression though. People are going to get excited and shout from the roof tops when they are winning. Less motivation to tell everyone when you loose. I dont see that pattern as a scam so much as just not being reliable to gauge the market, but then again neither is it accurate to gauge the stock market off of what people brag they made either.
I can say this, I've lost money when crypto went down, gained when it went up. I am usually smart to get in and get out of crypto at the right times to optimize my profits. With that said I have made an absolute fortune off crypto investments, far more than I would ever need to live off of.
> People are going to get excited and shout from the roof tops when they are winning.
People are going to shout from the rooftops if they stand to benefit from increased demand. If I think the price of X will continue to go up, I'll quietly buy up X and not brag about how much it's already gone up. If I'm not so sure, then maybe I start trying to stoke public demand to get it on an upward swing again.
Unless we are talking about famous people like Elon musk (and I dont listen to them) I wouldnt say this is accurate. Your average schmuck who is investing doesnt have enough influence or perceive himself as having enough influence for that to be his motivation. People dont generally think in those terms when they might effect 0.0000001% of a market with their opinions.
@freemo @khird Appreciate the replies! I waved off a buddy who advised me to buy BTC ~2012 saying "I already have monopoly money" -- guess which of us now owns a whole bunch of office buildings...
Remained 100% leery of the space until this Spring when I was attracted by the notion of 'easy money' through generative art NFTs. Luckily, I realized soon enough that A) While I could improve my coding, I'm not an artist and B) the artists that are making money are people who'd be making art regardless of NFT market. Skill and passion correlate (at least somewhat) to quality of output, hence the top-heavy distribution of earnings.
Relevant book by Nobel economist Robert Shiller "Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events"...
I get the impression that whales and other market makers are more than happy to let segments like ICOs or NFTs pop up every few years, absorb new influx of fiat from retail investors (attracted by press stories on 'easy money'), market runs up, smart money exits near top, then retail gets spooked, market tanks, and long-term hodlers re-enter. Rinse and repeat every couple years. Along the way, the good traders have profited from volatility and platforms like OS take their cut all along the way.
@mushambo @users I think it's partially what @khird is saying about perceived scammy-ness, partially FOMO-turned-jealousy of people like @freemo who have made an absolute fortune. I also think there are a couple other things going on.
"Right-clickers" -- I see a ton of people on fedi bemoaning the idea of NFTs as a joke because you can "just right click and save as" online images. They normally talk about NFTs as a silly addon layer to PNGs, and also a ploy to squeeze more money out of people online. You'll hear them link NFTs to DRM, copyright, etc. I think these critisisms boil down to a sense that there's an enclosure of the commons underway, with NFTs as the new-fangled vanguard of that movement.
"Electrical conservationists" -- I also see a lot of people on fedi critisizing the massive electricity needs of crypto generally, and NFTs get linked to taht too. I think a lot of anticapitalists tend to fall into this crowd b/c they don't see the need to re-engineer currency (esp with far greater energy consumption.)
I guess you were asking about "old school computer types," and I'm talking about "fedi users in my bubble," but.... that's my two cents :)
@lurker
I think there is a lot of scammy feeling advice i just dont think it is based on real intent to scam outside of large companies or influencers. When a small time guy on the internet is being emphatic about crypto and telling you to sell your life savings to buy it i think he believes what he ia saying, he just is giving bad advice based on his own luck or opinions. Elon i think is probably being a bit scammy intentionally in playing the market, but he also legit believes in a bit too.
@mushambo @users @khird
@mushambo because the behaviour of cryptocurrency enthusiasts is so much like that of scammers that it sets off our BS detectors every time we try to read up on it. Every time bitcoin goes up, there are thousands of people bragging about how well their portfolios are doing, and when it goes back down they all disappear. It's *exactly* the behaviour of someone who is trying to convince me to buy an asset when it's already overpriced.
Crypto might not actually be such a terrible investment but anyone who spends significant time on the internet develops such a strong nope reflex to "I made X thousand dollars this week doing Y" posts that by default our assumption is:
- I wouldn't make close to X doing Y
- you somehow stand to profit off me doing Y