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

[palbin24 at yahoo.com]

Can you buy tulips with cryptocurrency?

Peter

> On Feb 9, 2022, at 9:36 AM, L Wittig <9423lew at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Jerry --
> I couldn't agree with you more.
> 
> We had some homemade presentations back in October of 2018 on crypto.  You can look at http://LCTG.toku.us.  We also had some (undocumented?) discussions about five years ago. I rememberat the time that my feelings were that it was good for the first ones in, but that  individuasl could no longer compete with large scale mining with large rooms full of asic machines located where electrical power was cheap.  Since then it has only gotten worse. I believe China and other countries have now banned crypto.
> https://fortune.com/2022/01/04/crypto-banned-china-other-countries/
> 
> Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate economist, writes in the NYTs that bitcoins are a naturally occurring Ponzi scheme. Here are a few of his articles:
> https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/27/opinion/cryptocurrency-subprime-vulnerable.html
> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/opinion/cryptocurrency-bitcoin.html
> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/opinion/bitcoin-bubble-fraud.html
> 
> I feel that at some point the (late) investors will realize that there is nothing there, and the system will crash.  Some will be rich and others will be poor.
> 
> -- Larry Wittig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Tue, 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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