| HN Mirror

If you had read the article I wrote I started it by explaining that I divested of all crypto holdings in 2021. Even with those (very) positive returns I can't look away from what I've experienced and seen in the space.

My change in thinking comes from five years very deep in this and realizing:

1. It's been five years waiting and we've yet to see any meaningful adoption. Bitcoiners (as one example) still post videos on social media of them doing Lightning transactions at some random one-off retail location like it's worthy of a post... The pro-crypto/blockchain community is like a cult following a doomsday preacher that keeps predicting dates for the apocalypse that come and go - only to believe yet another future date. If after a decade it's still a big deal to buy a sandwich with crypto it's really time to reconsider your position. If after a decade you're still celebrating things like a Visa press release of some blockchain research project it's really time to reconsider your position. Wouldn't we all laugh at someone getting excited to send an e-mail, shop online, or have $CORP setup a website in 2000?

2. Living blockchain and crypto everyday for five years has only served to reinforce and demonstrate first hand the attitude you see on HN - even with the incredible amount of time and resources thrown at the space it's still nowhere near ready for prime-time. I've written plenty of comments describing the horror that is even the most fundamental layers - node implementations, etc. See point #1 - I've been waiting for it to grow up and as a rational person I can't keep falling for lofty promises that never materialize. HN (for the most part) thinks the tech sucks because it does.

3. Being active in the space has only exposed me directly to the incredible sleaziness that is crypto and blockchain. I've had founders of large and well-known startups show up to meetings obviously high on drugs, saying things like "I'm just trying to get made, paid, and laid" repeatedly. I've had meetings with large blue chip VC firms active in crypto that essentially describe the position of SBF - "We're in the ponzi business and it's going well". My latest startup is an anti-fraud solution for blockchain and I've been repeatedly told things like "Why would we want this? We make our money on fraud." Needless to say details of SBF unfolding - drug usage, criminality, etc are not surprising to me in the least. HN (for the most part) thinks crypto and blockchain is a cesspool of bad actors because it is.

Five years ago I was convinced blockchain was the next big thing - akin to the internet/web. After five years of these personal experiences, all of the available data on adoption, headlines of people in crypto getting indicted, faking their own deaths, rugpulling, exchanges collapsing, Defi and wallets getting hacked left and right, failed project after failed project, dealing with people I want nothing to do with, etc, etc I see it for what it obviously is - even though I've personally come out ahead financially (largely due to timing and luck).

How much of your personal self-interest/stake is driving your position on all of this?