[SwimSwimHungry]

I wager once people have to start going back to work and all the free government money dries up, there will be a run on crypto to realize their gains en-masse, and this will trigger a massive wipe out for many latecomers.

Frankly, cryptocurrency being invented and created was a huge mistake for society at large. I hope the comeuppance isn't super destructive outside of cryptocurrency circles.

[nly]

> I hope the comeuppance isn't super destructive outside of cryptocurrency circles.

This is one of my concerns too. I sock away a healthy % of my income in to traditional investments, and I aspire to one day own a home I can raise a family in.

The current asset bubble, which I personally believe is the wedge driving cryptocurrency apart from reality, is really hurting those of us with these rather mundane aspirations.

[lottin]

It depends... I think cryptocurrencies might be luring clueless people away from the stock market and into the crypto market, which is probably a good thing for the stock market even if it means lower returns in the short term.

[nly]

Good in theory, but the stock market is booming and so is everything else. In the media this has recently been called the "everything bubble" and TINA (there is no alternative).

[SwimSwimHungry]

I wish you well and all the best, nly. I hope we get out of this relatively unscathed.

[atweiden]

> Frankly, cryptocurrency being invented and created was a huge mistake for society at large. I hope the comeuppance isn't super destructive outside of cryptocurrency circles.

Satoshi Nakamoto did nothing wrong: hard to imagine, but Bitcoin started out as a crummy C++ GUI Windows application hosted on SourceForge and adopted almost exclusively by batshit insane people. It had no value: you could CPU mine it on any ordinary Windows PC. Many people refused to do even that because of how worthless BTC was at the time.

Enter the Libertarian/profiteer cohort, and the rest is history. Really think a bunch of you need to redirect your anger at the ICO game. Try to imagine Vitalik Buterin hard selling a clear gray market IPO on Reddit in combination with a high pressure countdown timer, and lots of fancy lawyers and Swiss foundations. That — the fact so many bitcoins were raised so easily for so little — is what unleashed the hellfire shillnado that has become synonymous with cryptocurrency in the modern era.

[SwimSwimHungry]

I'm still not sure I agree that Satoshi did nothing wrong, per se. But I really appreciate what you're saying, as this does afford some separation of the art (Bitcoin and Co.) from the artist (Satoshi).

Satoshi (whether it be he, she, or they) went into creating Bitcoin intended as a peer to peer cash that was easy to spend and outside of government control. Unfortunately, at least in the case of Bitcoin, it has turned into this slow, unwieldy "commodity" that is now rebranded as digital gold.

Thanks for your perspective, atweiden.

[jobigoud]

> that is now rebranded as digital gold

It was called that before bitcoin even existed. See BitGold, a late 90's precursor to bitcoin.