[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Crypto and Web3 Thoughts

Tue Feb 8 12:00:44 PST 2022

Hi Jerry 
my two cents ..reading none of the posts .

it does make me wonder if I  am a fossil by ignoring bitcoin .
of course blockchain technology is very important but distinct from bitcoin and its ilk

 there are so many people buying  bitcoin and similar …  big bankers , musk etc .
so i often feel like a dummy staying out . ok maybe i am . 

 but remember the biggies  put in a tiny pct of their assets just for fun or just in case,so  if it goes to zero they dont feel any real pain ..

my bottom line … these coins have no intrinsic value and consume lots of energy.
and when the government decides a rival currency is a threat,the govt will wipe them out legally .
so they seem to me a trading or gambling   game where i buy these coins hoping to sell them to another at a profit, before they collapse. 

some like casinos and some few are smart enough win and quit ahead in casinos and in bitcoin. 

but to me its very late in the game so entering may be much riskier now ..
so this fossil will pass. 
marvin 

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 8, 2022, at 2:21 PM, Jerry Harris <jerryharri at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello, 
> This is my first post here. My interests are more aligned with the software side of technology, so I thought I'd share some research and thoughts I have about the digitization of currency, assets, and economies. I'm curious to hear what others think. 
> 
> Cheers, 
> Jerry
> ---
> Does anyone else feel like Crypto/Web3 space is a mix of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? 
> 
> Dr. Jekyll: Crypto/Web3 is surging - to the moon!
> - VC funding is surging- >$25B in 2021 [1]
> - NFTs sold for $14B in 2021 [2]
> 
> Mr. Hyde: Crypto/Web3 where suckers are minted every minute.
> - Almost $500 million has been lost in 2022 due to crypto scams and smart contract exploits. [3]
> - The FTC reports almost $770 million lost in 2021 due to social media scams where cryptocurrency was involved in most of them. [4]
> 
> Jekyll & Hyde: Crypto/Web3 is up for grabs for legitimate and illegitimate uses. 
> - Twitter spats hint at a scramble to define and profit from the future "crypto" market. [5]
> - Darknet crypto markets still exist where most transactions are for drugs. [6]
> 
> What does all this *mean* though? What are these technologies and how are they used and exploited: Bitcoin, blockchain, NFTs, smart contracts, meme coins, DAOs? If we're in a bubble, is there anything useful to benefit "normies" after it pops? 
> 
> These are some of the questions I asked myself this past summer and so started to do more research. Having worked during the dot-com boom and bust and resurgence - the Web1 and Web2 eras - my first inclination was to think the crypto bubble will pop and Web3's intrinsic value will be re-purposed in less speculative products. I don't feel this any longer. The founding design principles of Bitcoin, blockchain, and smart contracts seem so wildly at odds with basic requirements of a scalable[7], reliable, and safe[8] ecosystem[9] in which millions can participate, that I'm not sure how these technologies can be re-purposed or extended without changing their fundamental nature[10]. 
> 
> I am curious what others think about these topics. I included a lot of links below. These 3 provide deep analysis: [7] [9] [10]
> 
> Links:
> [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/business/dealbook/crypto-venture-capital.html
> [2] https://news.yahoo.com/nft-sales-hit-565-million-153901719.html
> [3] https://web3isgoinggreat.com/
> [4] https://www.archyde.com/cryptocurrencies-drive-rise-in-online-scams-ftc-report-says/
> [5] https://twitter.com/jack/status/1473139010197508098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> [6] https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/8347/Darknet2018_posterFINAL.pdf
> [7] https://hackernoon.com/web-30-will-not-achieve-decentralization-and-scale-heres-why
> [8] Today (Feb 8) some crypto companies announced an industry coalition to combat fraudulent schemes like pump-and-dump and wash trading. https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/crypto-market-integrity-coalition
> [9] https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html
> [10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g&t=36s
> 
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