[bsder]

> Why does HN have such a distaste for cryptocurrencies?

Most charitably, because blockchain currencies don't solve any useful problem.

As has been aptly demonstrated by the by the Vinnick arrest, they are far from anonymous. And, has been aptly demonstrated by the recent Bitcoin Cash fork, blockchain currencies don't have distributed, immutable trust. So, a bitcoin currency isn't anonymous and is subject to a central authority who has enough power. And, all the while, it has all the downsides of cash (non-repudiable, stealable, etc.)

Explain to me again what the advantage of a cryptocurrency is?

> Why can't we just have an intelligent conversation about this new technology?

Because nobody really cares about the technology. If they cared you would see discussion about more articles like these:

https://qz.com/1031861/blockchain-could-fix-a-key-problem-in... "Blockchain could fix a key problem in China’s food industry: the fear of food made in China"

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-blockchain-ibm-idUSKB... "IBM, Maersk in blockchain tie-up for shipping industry"

Instead, you see crypto-currency speculation over ... and over ... and over.

[sayurichick]

decentralization _does_ solve useful problems. The hard part is how do you get rich off of keeping data out of centralized servers, or having financial privacy, or creating platforms for USERS to get rich.

I'm a bitcoin maximalist but there is an upcoming ICO that i have to plug. I bought some to use, not to speculate on, but in hindsight I didn't realize there was an opportunity to make some profit.

It's a lending platform. P2P lending w/o the need of banks. You don't need credit for a loan because you put up collateral in the form of Bitcoin (or probably Ethereum as well).

I've seen all the pump/dump tokens, and i'm not interested in those. I'd actually use and benefit from this platform. I hold a pretty significant amount of BTC and I learned after selling some btc to never sell again. However, If there is a time when I need $USD, I can put up my BTC as collateral, have USD deposited to my bank account, pay interest on it, and once I've paid it all I get my BTC back as well.

It's so easy to be cynical this early, and I don't blame you but we're still 3-8 years from the "Facebook" era of crypto... you're upset because we don't have the ecosystem now, but that's also because people are still coming out with use cases.