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> I am well aware that most people on Hacker News hate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies

It's not hatred of Bitcoin to think that it's more worthwhile as a white paper than as an investment vehicle.




It's not Bitcoin itself, it's just that most people on Hacker News hate fraudsters and charlatans perpetrating get-rich-quick pyramid schemes.


You arent a programmer right?

Or did you not know there are only 21,000,000 BTC ever ever ever? Have you heard of fractional reserve banking?


Fractional reserve banking is independent of the currency. You can implement a bitcoin fractional banking system if you have trusted party available (the bank) and as long as you consider bitcoins to be homogeneous. Although it'll be funny (and borderline eco-terrorism) to use bitcoins if there exists a trusted party (like CME for bitcoin futures, bitcoin wallets, bitcoin exchanges, your ISP, your hardware manufacturer).

Limited bitcoins doesn't make it any less vulnerable to being marketed (yes, there is a lot of marketing $ behind it) as a get rich quick scheme. In fact, the growth of fiat value of bitcoin is the biggest reason people see it as an investment vehicle. Bitcoin system might be helpful in countries with oppressive governments and no trustworthy party, but I don't see largest orders of bitcoins coming from North Korea.


True. Could you elaborate on why you believe that?


I don't have some kind of incisive analysis. I just think the tech is interesting while the loudest cheerleaders come off as some mixture of scammy and cult-like. There are other things that I feel roughly the same way about; it seems to be a standard hazard of being on the cutting edge of R&D.




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