Item — HN Reader

Not being happy with the status quo and not liking cryptocurrencies are not mutually exclusive. You can "hate" both.

My problem with "crypto" is that the industry is so focused on getting rich, is all about money. That's not changing the status quo, that's wanting to be a part of it.

If you TRULY want to change the status quo your focus can't be on how you can get rich quicker. There's been centuries of thought on self-sovereignty, of dictating your own terms, anarchism, freedom, etc. There's been literal wars about this all over the world and I just don't see how some dudes with bitcoins are really adding anything new to the table.

2 comments

I’ve proposed to a crypto company that they explicitly prevent themselves from getting rich off the ICO. They were decidedly completely uninterested. We all know the actual motivation of crypto bros, they want money. They don’t really care about improving the world, it’s all marketing bullshit.

I agree but there is one thing -- if enough of the crypto-rich convert enough of their crypto-money to "fiat" then eventually, we may have a class of billionaires even more disconnected from the traditions of society than the Silicon Valley crop has been.[0][1]

And these people may found universities, buy politicians, sit on the boards of art museums.

So, while I personally don't think it'd be a good thing, I think there's a decent possibility the "crypto people" will someday use the spoils of their business to dabble in large-scale social engineering, and in a roundabout way that's how the dudes with the bitcoins will leave their mark.

[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/business/elon-musk-philan...

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Hospital

...I could go on and on...