this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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  • Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
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[–] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 54 points 1 year ago (22 children)

I actually considered a non-governmental, community regulated currency as a pretty good idea.

Problem is, crypto is too ecologically expensive and wasteful to fit the bill.

While there were some interesting ones, that actually used the processing power for something useful, most are not. So for now, I'll just go with governmental currencies.

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[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Crypto is a textbook example of why we as a society can't have nice things. To many people are selfish and self serving, and not enough people are willing to ostracize those types of people from society for such actions.

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[–] Veraxus@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Thank goodness. Such a useless technology.

Scratch that... it's not useless, because it's great for scams and fraud. It's actively harmful.

[–] johny_joe_1975@discuss.online 0 points 1 year ago
[–] xlash123@sh.itjust.works 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I think there was a potential future where cryptocurrency could've actually been useful, but it was ruined by scammers, rug pullers, and of course, speculators.

I'll still hold a little bit of Monero, since it holds the most potential for being a real currency in my opinion. But otherwise, I fully agree with the sentiment.

[–] Tachikoma741@lemmy.today 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (20 children)

When the Wild West was around Medicine was used as a scam too. Snake Oil salesmen aren't very nice people. But that doesn't mean medicine is a bad idea ya know?

I agree that there are a lot of snake oil sellers in the cryptographic currencies realm. But that world is basically the digital wild west at the moment to me. I too am waiting to see what happens.

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[–] matjoeman@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

It's always only going to be useful for things like buying drugs, cases where you want to skirt regulation or you really want privacy. Which is fine. It can have it's niche. Pretending it was ever going to be more than that was a mistake.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 157 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.

To be fair, that's because Crypto is a vehicle for scams, and a Ponzi scheme.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 29 points 1 year ago

The line about safety regulations being written in blood? Financial regulations are written in bankruptcies.

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[–] StaySquared@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What if... crypto currency has been a psyop all along. Ultimately eliminating physical currency and government having full blown control of digital currency.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How? By suddenly doubling the size of the mining pool? Nah.

[–] Tachikoma741@lemmy.today 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The government closed the gold standard at once didn't they? Who is to say they cannot not do the same and say physical paper money?

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[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 year ago
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