[kemonocode]

I respect his opinion (especially if his biggest exposure to it was through CI abuse to mine Monero and other CPU-based PoW crypto, I won't even deny that's an extremely shitty situation many service providers have had to deal with these past months more than ever), even if I disagree with it.

It's not difficult to be negative on crypto when it personally brings you nothing but grief. Our point of views are unequivocally tainted by our personal experiences; I'm sure had I been born in a reasonably free country, with competent social structures and the means to actually own the fruits of my labor, I'd probably hold a different view on the entire ecosystem: I'd see nothing but grifters and scammers polluting the planet while taking advantage of gullible fools.

And as the article says, I'll disclose my stake (Even if I see it as pretty spiteful): I sold off the majority of BTC I had when it touched $60k but most of it is in stablecoins, so I'm still part of the ecosystem. A considerable part of my net worth is in cryptocurrency I've been slowly accruing over the years, converting however much I could save up in local currency to a minority in cold hard cash and the rest in crypto, and it wouldn't have been possible for me to save up otherwise. Yes, I am in one of those so-called "isolated examples of failed national economies" that maybe aren't nearly as isolated nor as uncommon as he seems to allude to.