<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">Hi Jerry <div>my two cents ..reading none of the posts .</div><div><br></div><div>it does make me wonder if I am a fossil by ignoring bitcoin .</div><div>of course blockchain technology is very important but distinct from bitcoin and its ilk</div><div><br></div><div> there are so many people buying bitcoin and similar … big bankers , musk etc .</div><div>so i often feel like a dummy staying out . ok maybe i am . </div><div><br></div><div> 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 ..</div><div><br></div><div>my bottom line … these coins have no intrinsic value and consume lots of energy.</div><div>and when the government decides a rival currency is a threat,the govt will wipe them out legally .</div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>some like casinos and some few are smart enough win and quit ahead in casinos and in bitcoin. </div><div><br></div><div>but to me its very late in the game so entering may be much riskier now ..</div><div>so this fossil will pass. </div><div>marvin </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><div><br></div><div> <br><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Feb 8, 2022, at 2:21 PM, Jerry Harris <jerryharri@gmail.com> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hello, </div><div>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. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers, </div><div>Jerry</div><div>---</div>Does anyone else feel like Crypto/Web3 space is a mix of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? <br><br>Dr. Jekyll: Crypto/Web3 is surging - to the moon!<br>- VC funding is surging- >$25B in 2021 [1]<br>- NFTs sold for $14B in 2021 [2]<br><br>Mr. Hyde: Crypto/Web3 where suckers are minted every minute.<br>- Almost $500 million has been lost in 2022 due to crypto scams and smart contract exploits. [3]<br>- The FTC reports almost $770 million lost in 2021 due to social media scams where cryptocurrency was involved in most of them. [4]<br><br>Jekyll & Hyde: Crypto/Web3 is up for grabs for legitimate and illegitimate uses. <br>- Twitter spats hint at a scramble to define and profit from the future "crypto" market. [5]<br>- Darknet crypto markets still exist where most transactions are for drugs. [6]<br><br>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? <br><br>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]. <br><br>I am curious what others think about these topics. I included a lot of links below. These 3 provide deep analysis: [7] [9] [10]<div><div><br>Links:<br>[1] <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/business/dealbook/crypto-venture-capital.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/business/dealbook/crypto-venture-capital.html</a><br>[2] <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/nft-sales-hit-565-million-153901719.html">https://news.yahoo.com/nft-sales-hit-565-million-153901719.html</a><br>[3] <a href="https://web3isgoinggreat.com/">https://web3isgoinggreat.com/</a><br>[4] <a href="https://www.archyde.com/cryptocurrencies-drive-rise-in-online-scams-ftc-report-says/">https://www.archyde.com/cryptocurrencies-drive-rise-in-online-scams-ftc-report-says/</a><br>[5] <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/1473139010197508098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">https://twitter.com/jack/status/1473139010197508098?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw</a><br>[6] <a href="https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/8347/Darknet2018_posterFINAL.pdf">https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/8347/Darknet2018_posterFINAL.pdf</a><br>[7] <a href="https://hackernoon.com/web-30-will-not-achieve-decentralization-and-scale-heres-why">https://hackernoon.com/web-30-will-not-achieve-decentralization-and-scale-heres-why</a></div><div>[8] Today (Feb 8) some crypto companies announced an industry coalition to combat fraudulent schemes like pump-and-dump and wash trading. <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/crypto-market-integrity-coalition">https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/crypto-market-integrity-coalition</a><br>[9] <a href="https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html">https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html</a><br></div><div><div>[10] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g&t=36s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g&t=36s</a><br></div><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"></div></div></div>
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