It is very refreshing to see this from a primarily technical angle.
In common with many HN-ers, I actually did a lot of cryptocurrency and blockchain dev work 5+ years ago, and was actually very exited about it at first, before realising what was behind the curtains. It is a similar story with many early Bitcoin developers, including one famously describing it as an experiment that failed[0]. I also get the distinct impression that the vast majority of pro-cryptocurrency people on HN at the moment are relatively new[1].
I stopped looking at it primarily from a technical angle because I realised that, firstly, the technology isn't anywhere nearly as useful as some people make out and might never be able to do the things which are promised, but secondly and more importantly, the technology really isn't the important part - what matters is the belief that technology might work, and sustaining that belief for long enough to make money. Moxie hints at this when he says "you can’t stop a gold rush".
There were an increasing number of people at the tech meetups etc. who knew nothing about the technology. Many were gamblers, refugees from the 2011 "Black Friday"[2], who knew full well that many of the schemes they were putting money into would never work or were even out-and-out scams, but they enjoyed the thrill of trying to get in and out and make money before the collapse.
The was also a growing sense of people being involved just to be anti-establishment. The ironic thing is that, back in 2008, you could make a reasonable case that the established banks were the bad guys and the cypherpunks were the good guys, but the situation has now definitely reversed - the banks have cleaned up their acts considerably (anyone who has worked in one for a long time will say how completely different the cultures are now vs then) with new regulations (e.g. Dodd-Frank) and most have plans to become carbon neutral, etc., and it is all the cryptocurrency scammers and fraudsters and climate-destroyers who are the bad guys now.
But there is more to it than that. There was also an increasing undercurrent of very non-technical people coming in and trying to exploit the technologists excited to work on the next new and shiny thing. I know that kind-of thing happens with everything, but this was much deeper and more malicious than in other contexts.
So while the technology isn't the important part, it is useful to be reminded of the intractable problems with the technology.
In common with many HN-ers, I actually did a lot of cryptocurrency and blockchain dev work 5+ years ago, and was actually very exited about it at first, before realising what was behind the curtains. It is a similar story with many early Bitcoin developers, including one famously describing it as an experiment that failed[0]. I also get the distinct impression that the vast majority of pro-cryptocurrency people on HN at the moment are relatively new[1].
I stopped looking at it primarily from a technical angle because I realised that, firstly, the technology isn't anywhere nearly as useful as some people make out and might never be able to do the things which are promised, but secondly and more importantly, the technology really isn't the important part - what matters is the belief that technology might work, and sustaining that belief for long enough to make money. Moxie hints at this when he says "you can’t stop a gold rush".
There were an increasing number of people at the tech meetups etc. who knew nothing about the technology. Many were gamblers, refugees from the 2011 "Black Friday"[2], who knew full well that many of the schemes they were putting money into would never work or were even out-and-out scams, but they enjoyed the thrill of trying to get in and out and make money before the collapse.
The was also a growing sense of people being involved just to be anti-establishment. The ironic thing is that, back in 2008, you could make a reasonable case that the established banks were the bad guys and the cypherpunks were the good guys, but the situation has now definitely reversed - the banks have cleaned up their acts considerably (anyone who has worked in one for a long time will say how completely different the cultures are now vs then) with new regulations (e.g. Dodd-Frank) and most have plans to become carbon neutral, etc., and it is all the cryptocurrency scammers and fraudsters and climate-destroyers who are the bad guys now.
But there is more to it than that. There was also an increasing undercurrent of very non-technical people coming in and trying to exploit the technologists excited to work on the next new and shiny thing. I know that kind-of thing happens with everything, but this was much deeper and more malicious than in other contexts.
So while the technology isn't the important part, it is useful to be reminded of the intractable problems with the technology.
[0] https://blog.plan99.net/the-resolution-of-the-bitcoin-experi...
[1] Yes I know there may be exceptions, but just for example compare all the newbie comments on the recent https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29635907 with the highly technical ones on the related post https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7365663 from 8 years ago (including "I'm one of the thieves mentioned").
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Scheinberg