An attacker is currently draining 100s of Solana, $SOL, wallets and SPL tokens
twitter.com
twitter.com
Storing value on closed source hot wallets is generally not a good idea.
Metamask (most popular eth hot wallet) unfortunately is proprietary too nowadays (some commercial restrictions) [1] but at least you can build it yourself, all commits are visible and it's developed in a semi open way.
[1] https://github.com/MetaMask/metamask-extension/blob/develop/...
This is like "don't put any money in the bank you're not willing to lose!" since banks can get hacked.
I don't like crypto much either, but it's a weird take to say this is somehow the victims' faults.
a) try to prevent that happening in the first place b) at least give you a strong chance of reclaiming your money
While with crypto, as I understand it, you are SOL.
The entire crypto ecosystem is built on the idea that it stands outside the regulatory system because they’ve discovered this magic elixir which means you don’t need government laws and enforcement anymore.
You don’t get to then complain that people are suffering because you don’t apply government laws and enforcement anymore.
Cryptocurrency holds the potential to restore the traditional balance of power between private citizen and state that existed when most financial transactions used physical bearer instruments like gold or cash bills.
Ever since large financial intermediaries took over as the dominant force in the payment system, power has become extremely concentrated in the hands of a few corporations and governments.
Also, to the other commenter's point - don't complain about losing uninsured imaginary monopoly money when the entire sales pitch for crypto is "you don't need the traditional financial system with all it's corrupt government regulation and interference". Turns out, for most people who aren't doing something illegal, those protections are a good thing.
Privacy-enhancements like mixer smart contracts using cryptographic zero-knowledge proofs further mimic cash, in jettisoning the naive blockchain transaction of its traceability.
>>don't complain about losing uninsured imaginary monopoly money when the entire sales pitch for crypto is "you don't need the traditional financial system with all it's corrupt government regulation and interference".
Firstly, it's not imaginary monopoly money when people assign a value to it, and it exists as real information in a persistent database. I think if you take some to think about it without your preconceived ideological presuppositions, you would see that.
Secondly, the sales pitch of cryptocurrency is not that we need zero government or that we don't require laws against theft to be enforced. Surveillance and limits on contract freedom are not "protections" and people have a right to want to live without these encroachments without being told they're anarchists who deserve to be robbed.
I don't pretend to understand world economic (unlike tokenbros claim so), but at least I understand enough to be horrified by the ultra centralised unaccountable and nonpunishable corporate dystopia which tokenbros promote. The fact that they claim their tokens help common people or help reduce inequality is even more infuriating.
As for the traceability associated with public validation of transactions: that can be solved with zero knowledge proofs which I alluded to earlier. Indeed you don't understand the technology which is why you persist in these criticisms.
Just as an example - in reply above in this thread, your sour brother in this Church of St. Saylor provides Tornado as an example of of how private tokens are. But he is completely clueless about it, because the moment some of your tokes pass through it, then ALL your tokens become tainted. And majority of the exchanges will just ban you or block if that will happen. What an amazing future - if you want to be private, you must use some shady money laundromat and then risk losing all your tokens. Great idea. And there are other implications, like fouling other people wallets with Tornado tokens etc.
PS: oh wait, it was also you, that's funny :)
Yes, this is all speculated/unrealized potential at the moment, but the potential is there nonetheless.
All the drivel about mixers and zero knowledge proofs is the sales pitch of snake oil salesmen (and people who bought snake oil to a point they feel invested in it's value) - yes, the technology is interesting but it's a solution in search of a problem that there's little evidence isn't already better solved by a regulated financial industry.
That's a strawman. I was merely making the point that its existence as information in a persistent database means it's not "imaginary".
As for what confers it with value: that's the market. It has market value, so it is not "monopoly money", regardless of your various theories as to why it shouldn't have value.
>>All the drivel about mixers and zero knowledge proofs is the sales pitch of snake oil salesmen (and people who bought snake oil to a point they feel invested in it's value)
I made factual points about its similarities to cash. Your critique is knee-jerk hostility based on ignorance of the technology and your preconceived notion that it's a scam.
Yes, we should be happy about it before more people are convinced to give real money for people to become billionaires sitting in the Bahamas away from the grasp of the legal systems of the people they stole from.