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Comment by cosmodisk | Hacker News Reader

It's not fine even without environmental impact: getting yourself into an asset class with zero understanding about it is a recipe for disaster. There are tons of examples of real estate investors burning their money because they lacked fundamental knowledge and etc. Even the management meetings I attended are now peppered with crypto news and how x gone by y%, even by the sound of it everyone would have been better off just buying some ETFs, instead of pouring money on random peaks or troughs.

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"they lacked fundamental knowledge"... you think people should get fundamental knowledge ? on _bitcoin_ ? It is fundamentally worth $0.

The only knowledge I try to spread is correcting anyone who uses the word "invest" and recommend the proper words of buy, speculate, or gamble when it comes to cryptocurrencies. I guess I will add "fundamental" too since I think you meant technical analysis. But even that implies brains when it really is just voodoo unless you are an influencer.

USD, EUR etc are also "fundamentally worth $0". Fiat currencies and crypto currencies are just a median for representing value for real goods and services. What's unique about crypto currencies is the distributed method of transacting and therefore the inability for them to be regulated. The whole financial industry, is fundamentally a massive waste of humanity's resources. Fiat currencies are regulated, regulators are a target for bribery, deals are made etc... Cryptos are a massive waste of electricity. Decentralization is a great way to curb corruption and restore a natural economy but we need to solve the electricity problem. The electricity problem came from the mechanism chosen to "fairly" distribute the initial pool of cryptocoins based on mathematical effort.

Well USD is fundamentally worth $1. Really the most fundamental of all.

What’s $1 worth? It hasn’t represented a physical asset since Nixon.

Separate question. I was responding to a question about the value of things as measured in currency.

$1 is worth $1, tautologically. If you happen to believe $1 has no worth, just send me all your dollars. I can use them. I'll send you a loaf of bread, which you can eat to sustain life.

Nearly everyone believes $1 is worth something so it's not in my interest to give you $1, particularly with a snarky response like that. Dollars are not actually a measure of any physical thing, unlike metres or whatever. They represent what we perceive as worth. That only exists in our heads.

Currencies can be valued based on interest rate differentials.

Bitcoin is a bit underdeveloped there.

By fundamental in this cas I meant general understanding about how it works and how shady the ecosystem is,with endless pump and dump drummers,random kids selling 'tips',etc. An average person, with absolutely zero information advantage is losing the moment they buy it hoping it will bring fortunes.

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