Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by chii 2359 days ago
whether crypto fans think or believe it to be false (or not care) is irrelevant. Crypto has only shown the characteristics of a speculative commodity (like gold), and the laws of economics are as universal as any other law - bitcoins cannot become a currency unless it is done by fiat (like how china is exploring doing so right now, but with their own version of a crypto-currency where they control the chain).
3 comments

> the laws of economics are as universal as any other law

No they are not.

Can people please stop and think for a second before they vomit everything on their minds onto the keyboard and hit enter as fast as they possibly can in an attempt to make themselves heard in the noise?

See what that looks like? Think about these things before you write them. Physical laws are immutable. If they not, they aren't a law. Economics is entire a human endeavour. The laws are what we want them to be.

Now I'm not justifying anything crypto related with that statement. I'm just saying you need to think before you type.

> Economics is entire a human endeavour. The laws are what we want them to be.

no, that's just wishful thinking. Laws of economics are a description of human behaviour, and unless the human condition changes, it will always reflect self-interest and greed. Physical laws aren't "laws" in the same sense as human laws, but descriptions. Economic laws are the same; they describe what people would do under different incentivization schemes.

In this case, despite the proponents of crypto wanting it to be a currency, it has still languished as a commodity. This is due to the economics of using it, the interactions of it with the wider economy, and various other factors that i've termed under the umbrella of 'law of economics'.

There are no laws of economics, only unprovable theories subject to irrational markets and human behavior
If crypto's legacy plateaus at "digital gold" I'll feel satisfied.