World's richest 1% gained $40 tn in a decade: Oxfam

alphacyberranger@sh.itjust.works to World News@lemmy.world – 754 points –
World's richest 1% gained $40 tn in a decade: Oxfam
france24.com
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Yeah riding the bubble let a couple of nerds and early investors maybe take advantage of a little economic mobility, like, incidentally. But those days are long passed now. Like you said, it's rigged in favour of entrenched capital, just like everything else now.

BTC is steady last few months at 60k, if you purchased last year, your investment is up 3x. If you bought 2 years ago at the peak, you're up a few %, which still beats international inflation

So you're saying "too bad for you if you didn't get in at the right time"?

That is 100% the crypto mentality. I got mine fuck you if you didn't.

I guess some people have that stance, but it's a currency. It's supposed to be boring and not thought about much. It's not like most people care about antique and rare coin collections, but some people do, most people just spend and save their money

Calling it a currency is generous. I know it's meant to be, but let's be honest - you're not buying the majority, or probably even any, everyday goods or tech with your BTC are you? Most people certainly aren't. And most BTC owners certainly aren't. They're holding to the moon.

If my local grocery story would accept it, I would. It's a compatibility issue, which all technology is tested this way. Having 5G towers in the 1900s would have been a bummer, but today, somewhat standard. Crypto will need to pass this test if it'll survive

Do you know what a blockchain is? It's not cutting edge technology at all.

You're right though, there is a compatibility problem.The BTC network is designed to be inefficient and it's slow as fuck. Why would we replace a fast and pretty efficient system with a slow one that also makes your money unrecoverable if you make a typo?

That's not even touching on how fun it would be to buy your groceries when BTC crashes 20% overnight.

Or how ridiculously convoluted using crypto is in general. And how easy it is to get hacked, scammed, rug pulled.

It's complete fantasy mate. I'm guessing you're deep in the crypto space from your comments, which are the same old non arguements over and over, so no one ever talks about any potential negatives. That in itself should tell you everything you need to know.

I'm not saying you can't make money with crypto, but it's a casino and nothing more. The rest is just feel good bullshit sold to you to make you buy and hold, generally.

Well, most of our current economic payment system is smoke and mirrors for the majority of the world. In the US, bank transfers can take up to weeks to process, and the only reason why it looks fast to end users is it's insured so they just change the digits on the screen

I'm not necessarily sold on crypto, I am just over the fiat system. Living through multiple economic collapses, seeing prices rise and only held low due to government supplements and corrupt lobbying, and the general way fiat leads to over consumption will do that

Give me something better and I'll take it. I know it's slower than cash, clunky and uses as much resources as google, but right now those aren't draw backs to me in this current environment where we need debt to sustain day to day existence

You know bank transfers are almost instant across most of Europe right?

That's a US specific problem. Solutions already exist.

Yes, there are serious problems with the current system. I hear you, and I agree.

Fiat isn't the problem. These are problems with human behaviour, lack of oversight, and a system that incentivises bad practice.

Crypto does nothing to fix any of them, and in most cases simply makes them worse. It's not a solution, it's just touted as one by the crypto rich to bring in new money.

Just look at the rhetoric vs reality. It's not ok for governments to just print money on demand, but it is ok for Tether to print Tether on demand which they then use to buy shitloads of BTC to pump and dump the market?

It's the same shit, just even worse.

We're all being fucked over by the same ultra rich, and technology is not the answer to that.

Voting in and supporting people who want to start taxing these fuckers and holding them to account is a step in the right direction.

Yeah there are lots of bad actors in the crypto sector, similar patterns existed in the US when towns and companies were issuing their own currencies

And yeah the US and many developing nations have old infrastructure, the EU and China have the pinnacles of fiat payment systems, but the roll out for upgrades are low and expensive

I couldn't agree more, it's a human issue. I think a finite transparent currency would be useful since it would squash the worst actors (fraud, embezzlement and hidden budgets, in the private and public sectors), but that's just my guess

I think more importantly is community and having conversations like these because nothing is a "silver bullet" and we should better as a species. Thanks for chatting, you seem cool

Yep I definitely agree with your last point. And likewise, appreciate that we could have a discussion about this sensibly. Not sure a finite currency would solve these issues as they are human issues. My take would be addressing the human aspect of these problems through education, which is to be fair pretty unlikely to happen.

As you say though conversation is the way forward, whether we're taking about crypto or anything else. Cheers :)

No, it's like any other currency minus it has a fixed supply. So use it, since inflation is eating away any currency with a limitless supply

But deflation pushes people not to spend their money and crypto with a fixed supply is in fact deflationary since the accessible supply goes down as people lose access to their wallet for one reason or another.

Also, crypto value and crypto prices of items are based on the comparable fiat value so yes, getting in at the right time makes a huge difference.

In the end crypto bros just make it so there's still rich people at the top, they're just not necessarily the same ones.

Yes if you meet those criteria and cash out right now. Most people I to crypto will hold though.

Why? Because that's the narrative pushed on the community over and over and over - hodl never sell.

Why? Because if everyone sells, all the people manipulating the market like Tether and their buddies lose their money. Fair play to those that can make a bit of money, but unless you're already rich, are running the market, or fine with creating a shitcoin to rug people, crypto is not going to make most average people rich at all.

Just another way for the already wealthy to fuck you over.

Most assets work that way, if everyone sold Nividia stock then it would tank as well. Most things outside of food and shelter only have value due to our collective belief. Diamond and water paradox is constant in society

Is it a currency or an asset? You replied claiming it's a currency below.

I think an asset is anything that can be converted to liquid, so that depends if you think crypto is liquid or not, which probably depends on location

So you think it's an asset, not a currency?

It doesn't matter what I believe, I was referencing an economic textbook on what an asset and currency are

What do you believe it to be?

It does matter, because with respect you changed what you class it as to support your arguement. Obviously there's still discussion on how to class BTC, but my understanding is the consensus outside of crypto is it's a speculative asset.

That's also why it would be terrible as a currency, from what I understand.