“How is this any different from buying stocks, or buying anything else for that matter?”
See point 3 in my previous comment.
”Crypto (or at least Ethereum) is part ownership of a technology.”
No, it’s not. You don’t have part ownership of anything. You haven’t bought up intellectual rights. You have your name written in a ledger. That’s all “ownership” of crypto is: your name is written in a ledger, indicating your ownership of… nothing. ‘Part ownership of x’ could be used to describe anyone’s stake in any Ponzi scheme ever.
“All investments only have value because other people think they do.”
If you buy a 1% stake in a company, you own 1% of its assets. Physical, tangible things that have a capacity to do useful economic work. If you buy land, you can charge rent for its use, or occupy it yourself. If you buy a computer, you can use it to do work. If you buy an orange, you can eat the orange to metabolize its nutrients. In contrast, a bitcoin has zero capacity to do useful economic work; its “value” comes from the potential to find a bigger fool to sell it to for profit.
“Why hasn’t all the money in the world been transferred to a few rich people already?”
All the money in the world is being transferred to a few rich people. This is what is currently happening. See Pixel Wealth.
”I think crypto has disproportionally benefited relatively poor people, who got in before most people with already established fortunes.”
I’m not a fan of Bitcoin either (it’s basically just digital gold—what do you think of gold as a store of value?). Much prefer Ethereum. It is a physical (distributed) computer system has many economic applications. Ether has been likened to digital oil (but obviously much more green—as per my original comment).
Bitcoin is NOT like gold. Gold, unlike cryptocurrencies, is a tangible item that can be used for things. (Electronics, jewelry, etc.)
And unlike bitcoin-hoarding, with its massive losses in the forms of electricity and computer hardware, gold-hoarding isn’t a massively negative-sum game. But that’s beside the point: crypto is a Ponzi scheme and gold isn’t because gold can do economic work and cryptocurrency can’t.
I’ve been over Ethereum’s fundamental toxicity—both the fundamental toxicity of PoS and the fundamental toxicity of cryptocurrencies in general—in my previous comments.
Gold is valued way over and above its direct economic value for making things! It’s valued primarily for being a store of value (as bitcoin is—hard to fake, divisible, transportable etc). Some people use bitcoin mining rigs to heat their home. I think that’s pretty equivalent to using gold in electronics (i.e. useful economic work, but not the primary source of value).
I don’t think any of the fundamental toxicity you mention regarding PoS or Ethereum is unique to crypto—it applies to most forms of capital (stocks, bonds, private equity, real estate).
“How is this any different from buying stocks, or buying anything else for that matter?”
See point 3 in my previous comment.
”Crypto (or at least Ethereum) is part ownership of a technology.”
No, it’s not. You don’t have part ownership of anything. You haven’t bought up intellectual rights. You have your name written in a ledger. That’s all “ownership” of crypto is: your name is written in a ledger, indicating your ownership of… nothing. ‘Part ownership of x’ could be used to describe anyone’s stake in any Ponzi scheme ever.
“All investments only have value because other people think they do.”
If you buy a 1% stake in a company, you own 1% of its assets. Physical, tangible things that have a capacity to do useful economic work. If you buy land, you can charge rent for its use, or occupy it yourself. If you buy a computer, you can use it to do work. If you buy an orange, you can eat the orange to metabolize its nutrients. In contrast, a bitcoin has zero capacity to do useful economic work; its “value” comes from the potential to find a bigger fool to sell it to for profit.
“Why hasn’t all the money in the world been transferred to a few rich people already?”
All the money in the world is being transferred to a few rich people. This is what is currently happening. See Pixel Wealth.
”I think crypto has disproportionally benefited relatively poor people, who got in before most people with already established fortunes.”
No.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoins-one-percent-controls-lions-share-of-the-cryptocurrencys-wealth-11639996204
And to remove any lingering doubt:
No. https://www.newsweek.com/dogecoin-co-creator-says-cryptocurrency-inherently-right-wing-technology-1609862
No. https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/03/04/how-crypto-increases-economic-inequality/
No. https://gizmodo.com/bitcoin-crypto-bank-of-international-settlements-1849784466
No. https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099
No. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/03/11/nfts-crypto-grifters-try-to-scam-artists-again/
No. https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/02/12/libra-shrugged-chapter-6-banking-the-unbanked/
No. https://web3isgoinggreat.com/
I’m not a fan of Bitcoin either (it’s basically just digital gold—what do you think of gold as a store of value?). Much prefer Ethereum. It is a physical (distributed) computer system has many economic applications. Ether has been likened to digital oil (but obviously much more green—as per my original comment).
Bitcoin is NOT like gold. Gold, unlike cryptocurrencies, is a tangible item that can be used for things. (Electronics, jewelry, etc.)
And unlike bitcoin-hoarding, with its massive losses in the forms of electricity and computer hardware, gold-hoarding isn’t a massively negative-sum game. But that’s beside the point: crypto is a Ponzi scheme and gold isn’t because gold can do economic work and cryptocurrency can’t.
I’ve been over Ethereum’s fundamental toxicity—both the fundamental toxicity of PoS and the fundamental toxicity of cryptocurrencies in general—in my previous comments.
Gold is valued way over and above its direct economic value for making things! It’s valued primarily for being a store of value (as bitcoin is—hard to fake, divisible, transportable etc). Some people use bitcoin mining rigs to heat their home. I think that’s pretty equivalent to using gold in electronics (i.e. useful economic work, but not the primary source of value).
I don’t think any of the fundamental toxicity you mention regarding PoS or Ethereum is unique to crypto—it applies to most forms of capital (stocks, bonds, private equity, real estate).