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Bitcoin

Peter Thiel Launches Tirade Against 'Gerontocracy' Over Bitcoin (theguardian.com) 124

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, has accused a "finance gerontocracy" including Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon of hindering bitcoin's progress. From a report: The outspoken libertarian tech investor described multibillionaire Buffett, the world's richest investor, as the "sociopathic grandpa from Omaha" in a keynote address at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on Thursday. Thiel's address began with an analysis of the investment merits of cryptocurrencies but soon escalated into a tirade against the financial establishment, including "bankrupt" central banks and the "hate factory" of ESG -- which stands for environmental, social and corporate governance and is a cornerstone of responsible investing principles.

"It's a movement, and it's a political question, whether this movement is going to succeed, or whether the enemies of a movement are going to succeed in stopping us," he said, shortly before naming Buffett as "enemy number one." In a speech that also cited JP Morgan's chief executive Dimon and Larry Fink, the chair of investment group BlackRock, he said institutions run by a "finance gerontocracy" were hindering the cryptocurrency. Thiel said choosing not to invest in bitcoin was a "deeply political choice" and the financial establishment should be told "you have to get onboard on this." Thiel added that the $830bn bitcoin market could rival the global equities market, worth more than $100tn.

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Peter Thiel Launches Tirade Against 'Gerontocracy' Over Bitcoin

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  • Thiel is a grifter (Score:3, Insightful)

    by kunwon1 ( 795332 ) <dave.j.moore@gmail.com> on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:46AM (#62436340) Homepage
    He runs his own PAC and worked with Trump, these are both very strong indicators that he's a liar and a shill
    • by wed128 ( 722152 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:49AM (#62436346)

      Anyone supporting bitcoin as an investment vehicle is a shill. There was a time when it seemed attractive as a currency, but given what we've learned over the past decade about Bitcoin's extreme volatility and the energy cost of proof-of-work consensus, anyone buying into bitcoin now is only looking for a greater fool

      • There was a time when it seemed attractive as a currency, but given what we've learned over the past decade ...

        Ah, those were the days... At the moment, cryptocurrencies seem more like a volatile, often bad, investment, gambling, and/or way to get your money stolen, than just really unstable currency.

      • Makes you wonder if he's creating this narrative because he bought heavily into crypto and now is trying to salvage his investment. I hope he loses his billions, and it takes him out of the political influence games. He's clearly unhinged.
    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 )
      surely you can make a better case than just that. thats thin evidence. Whereas merely trying to prop up bitcoin as an 'investment' is in itself enough to be accused of being a shill. You invest in something that has a future value. Bitcoin itself is not an actual item and has no intrinsic value. Its value is even more baseless than stock options compared to actual stock. Stocks are technically an investment in a company. Stock options is playing 'quarters' after school to see whose quarter can land closest
      • by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:25PM (#62436492)
        The issue seems even more bizarre than that. Buffett is not investing in Bitcoin with his fund, Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett is not trying to stop anyone else from investing in Bitcoin. Apparently Thiel is upset at that?
        • by e3m4n ( 947977 )
          maybe people should stop using the word 'investing'. Investing implies long term return on investment, and not entirely financially. Day trading, swing trading, thats more like betting on horses. Buying bitcoin is not about investing in anything, its more about gambling and hoping you get off the rollercoaster while you are ahead. It was more stable investing in the housing market in 2008 than bitcoin ever will be on a day-to-day basis. Putting your kid in college is an investment in their future. Buying a
          • maybe people should stop using the word 'investing'. Investing implies long term return on investment, and not entirely financially.

            They're talking about Berkshire Hathaway. They invest. Often in the unexpected.

            • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

              They're talking about Berkshire Hathaway. They invest. Often in the unexpected.

              And Buffett is careful with his money. His investments in the unexpected are well researched - if his research is showing something is undervalued or can be obtained at a discount compared to its real value, he'll invest.

              Buffett makes his money by being careful - he's not throwing his money at the next fad - everything he invests in he does tons of research on.

              Thiel is complaining that the big money isn't jumping on the latest fa

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by Kisai ( 213879 )

      It's a strong indicator that we should be ignoring him, and anyone stupid enough to own crypto to dump it.

    • He runs his own PAC and worked with Trump, these are both very strong indicators that he's a liar and a shill

      Whatever the truth of that may be, Thiel now going full tulip means that this will be a self-limiting problem.

    • Thiel is a grifter

      Makes perfect sense then because all cryptocurrency is a troll-meme, wastes valuable resources, and is primarily used for criminal activities.

  • Hypocrite alert! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:47AM (#62436342) Homepage
    quoting: environmental, social and corporate governance

    well, cryptocurrency fails the first one - environmental.
  • by dlleigh ( 313922 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:49AM (#62436348)

    ...when Bitcoin collapses into the digital dust from which it was created?

    I can certainly understand his motivation to shout at anyone who is not supporting the narrative that keeps his pile of imaginary crypto-wealth in existence.

    • by Moryath ( 553296 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:14PM (#62436438)

      You've hit the nail on the head. Cryptocurrency is fundamentally a pyramid/ponzi type scheme. The goal in all cases is - whether right now, or at some time in the future - to cash it out into real currency of some sort.

      And to those who say "but I can use my bitcoin to buy stuff from this rando guy who smells funny at the local flea market" - well, no shit. What's that guy going to do again? Oh right, he's going to convert it into real currency.

      The only way for the cryptocurrency scam to keep going, is for there to be a next round of suckers buying in at a higher price than the previous round. And that requires a steady phase of pump-and-dump behavior, because it's the late stages of the scam. Thus the various pushers are getting louder and more irate, because they don't want to see the scam end (before they can cash back out on the backs of the final round of suckers).

      • by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:23PM (#62436486)

        Crypto is not fundamentally a ponzi scheme. It's ENTIRELY a ponzi scheme. It's only real value is enriching scammers. There is some side value of allowing illegal transactions online, but the blockchain does allow a lot of tracking of transactions, proven by arrested pedos. So, no real value.

        • by taustin ( 171655 )

          Crypto is not fundamentally a ponzi scheme. It's ENTIRELY a ponzi scheme.

          When the only product a company has to sell is its own stock, the only place they should be allowed to spend it is in the prison commissary.

          I see no reason why crypto should be handled any differently.

        • We learned from Valve that crypto has a *very* high rate of fraud (50% according to Newel, though Valve isn't publicly traded so I guess he could be lying).

          This actually makes sense, given how much stolen currency is out there. Yeah, that's not technically Valve's problem... unless they can be shown to be consistently profiting from criminal activity. There's laws against that (and for good reason), and I wouldn't want to deal with it if I were Gabe.

          This means Crypto is really only useful for transa
      • While emotionally I would like to agree with you, crypto currencies can fight for enough legitimacy for long enough that they end up as a de-facto security/currency/whatever. We are about 70% through the game, so it is hard to see if they will succeed or not at this point. How long that remaining 30% will take is a big question, but each little win it gains pushes the values up. (It is just hard to know if they are dead-cat bounces when looking at them.)

        The fact that the Fed or Biden talk about crypto is

      • by Luthair ( 847766 )
        I heard anecdotally there have been a number of instances of cryptoshills convincing random store clickers to allow them to slap a sticker on the register so they can take a photo of it.
    • Almost all billionaires are surrounded by layers and layers of brown nosers, and brown nosers of brown nosers recursively four or five levels. For the side kicks their meal ticket depends on being on the good side and the way to go up the chain is to out do one another in boosting the ego of their central figure and displaying loyalty in outrageous manner. Sanity does not have a chance of a snowflake in purgatory to get through.

      How many of them are profiting by advising him to plough into crypto and how m

    • ...when Bitcoin collapses into the digital dust from which it was created?

      Do you know what the street value of "digital dust" is? I smell profit!

  • by linuxguy ( 98493 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:50AM (#62436356) Homepage
    Buffet won't endorse the pyramid scheme I am heavily invested in. Call the whambulance.
    • > Buffet won't endorse the pyramid scheme I am heavily invested in.

      USD? It's lost half of its value in the past two years.

      He's absolutely a booster.

      • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

        USD? It's lost half of its value in the past two years.

        He's absolutely a booster.

        By what metric? Against commodities? Against other currencies? Against 'real money' as against gold it was $1700 in 2020, $1900 now, so not double.

      • Obvious question is relative to what. Pretty flat with Gold, Euro, and pretty much everything else I watch. Down ~10% in purchasing power, but that isn't a long-term trend, just a side effect of the COVID stimulus.

    • by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:06PM (#62436404)
      Also Peter Thiel believes in freedom--as long as he gets to tell Warren Buffett what he should Buffett should do with his own money.
      • Also Peter Thiel believes in freedom--as long as he gets to tell Warren Buffett what he should Buffett should do with his own money.

        To paraphrase a line from Upload [wikipedia.org], Thiel's really bossy for a libertarian.

        (The original line is, "You're really bossy for an anarchist.")

    • Buffet won't endorse the pyramid scheme I am heavily invested in. Call the whambulance.

      Already super rich people, like Thiel, caring about the success of cryptocurrencies means they're not a good idea -- *especially* for the rest of us.

  • by teg ( 97890 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:53AM (#62436364)

    There is something very peculiar about so called investment merits of cryptocurrencies. What you want from a usable currency is stability, which is the opposite of this. Trading is one thing, but investing? In a currency? When that's all that happens to it, it means it's an absolute failure as a currency - and then, eventually, the bubble will burst.

    There is also something inconsequential in putting money into a cryptocurrency to earn money - that is, real money, not just having the same digital tulip.

    • Are you aware of the history of currency trading markets and how stable mature cryptos have become? They barely trade outside of 2x these days. 10x swings used to be common. Many national currencies are more unstable now.

      • by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:07PM (#62436412)

        Are you aware of the history of currency trading markets and how stable mature cryptos have become? They barely trade outside of 2x these days. 10x swings used to be common. Many national currencies are more unstable now.

        Bitcoin is down 30% in the last 4 months (and is still currently trending down). Is that your definition of stable?

      • by Jason Earl ( 1894 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:15PM (#62436444) Homepage Journal

        I lived in Lima, Peru in the late 80s, during the hyperinflation of the Inti. Basically all transactions were done in dollars. People got paid in Intis, but they would immediately go downtown and trade them for U.S. dollars. Comparing cryptocurrencies to failed national currencies is actually pretty apt. No one uses either of them for actual transactions.

        • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

          I have a friend in Brazil and she said during a similar period that any extra money went straight into tangible, non-perishable goods.

      • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

        Many national currencies are more unstable now.

        Almost no national currencies of any countries with large economies are that unstable - the dollar, euro, pound, yen, yuan, rupee - all are much more stable. Even for those which don't trade in a 2x band over a short period (a year) it's normally due to either inflation (i.e., you know which way it is going) or wars.

    • Trading is one thing, but investing? In a currency? When that's all that happens to it, it means it's an absolute failure as a currency

      When that's all that happens to it, sure. But investing in currencies is old and useful. Any time you want to convert one currency into another, you need market makers and investors to be ready to buy and sell that currency. Sometimes it does involve buying and holding a currency when it's low.

      The problem is always when the majority of financial activity is speculation and manipulation.

    • I think that some of its proponents remain of the opinion that this is a good thing; but Bitcoin seems like it never really managed to escape the shadow of the people who wanted it to be cyber-gold; or the ones(frequently overlapping) who treat fighting inflation as a religious obligation.

      Not necessarily a bad selling point if the audience is people who have enough disposable income to treat investment as something as or more serious than consumption, and who are deeply suspicious that fiat currencies ar
  • ESG? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:56AM (#62436368) Homepage

    the "hate factory" of ESG -- which stands for environmental, social and corporate governance and is a cornerstone of responsible investing principles

    The whole ESG thing is a farce [qz.com] and the whole point of it is to be able to put a blurb in your financial statements that says, "look, we're good guys!" without actually doing anything meaningful. Don't believe the hype!

    • I could easily believe what you say about ESG in it's original sense, and corporations may well be cynically over-hyping their environmental/social creds but they are doing so because they feel that there is merit in at least giving that appearance.

      ESG in Thiel's sense of the word is different, it is the creation and weaponization of a snappy three letter slur that can be used to beat an opponent with. Promote ESG bad (it doesn't really much matter what ESG stands for) and then accuse your opponent of it in

      • ESG in Thiel's sense of the word is different, it is the creation and weaponization of a snappy three letter slur that can be used to beat an opponent with. Promote ESG bad (it doesn't really much matter what ESG stands for) and then accuse your opponent of it in the hope that people will be too lazy to look up what it means and just associate it with everything they are suppose to be irate about.

        Worked for CRT right? What does he stand to lose. Must be nice to have no brain function for regret.

  • Can we just stop (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crmarvin42 ( 652893 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @11:56AM (#62436372)
    Can we just stop pretending that the things Peter Theil says are wise, or that he is even being honest with us? He says whatever will help him make more money if believed. He is a scammer. That he has been incredibly successful at it does not make him anything other than a greedy sociopath with a platform.
    • by HiThere ( 15173 )

      I find him useful. If he's in favor of something, it's a good default to be against it.

    • Not so long as he's a billionaire.

      Thiel has so much money that it's not money any more, it's power. And we all have to listen to what powerful men say because they can crush us any time they choose.
  • Butthurt-a-go-go (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:00PM (#62436384)

    Buffett only invests in what he understands. Well, right up until he finally broke down and invested in microsoft or whichever "big tech" it was, quite recently for Buffet timescales. It's not his job to promote anything at all. He's just in it for the return on investment.

    So I don't know what Thiel's problem is. He doesn't have enough money already? He asked Buffett for a loan and got rebuffed, or something? Bitcoin wisdom has it that "loans are gifts", given how many totes trustworthy honest fer reels loaners in the community ended up defaulting.

    The biggest enemies of bitcoin aren't even the various government financial rule bodies. It's the bitcoin bunch itself. Not just the shady part either, for various reasons.

    The concept of digital cash is useful. Bitcoin was more or less the first that got something in that vicinity to work, in a way that wasn't dependent on a single company and thus couldn't be easily shut down by the authorities. But it's really only a prototype. Most of the offshoots are minor variations on the idea, not better beyond a name or an associated meme.

    If Thiel cares so much, he shouldn't go bitching at random big names in investing. he should come up with something actually better and disrupt the shit out of the status quo. Put the banks completely out of the loop somehow. He should know their weaknesses. After all, he founded paypal, which actually has a banking licence in Luxembourg. Or was that the best mr. Thiel could do, hm? Did we already pass peak Thiel and now it's sputtering, a mouth-frothing tantrum or two, exit stage left and fade-out?

    • From what I remember, people kept asking Buffett if he would invest in dotcom before 2000 and he declined. Then it crashed. Buffett's goals if for stable investments not what is the latest trend.
    • Fools invest in what they do not understand. Bitcoin and other so called "cryptocurrency" are only gambling tokens and fail all the tests of money.

      "Cryptocurrency" is without utility or value, is illiquid, extremely volatile, and not universally accepted (most be converted to money first to be used almost always)

      Wake up fools, your cryptocurrency scam is going to collapse.

    • One thing not mentioned previously is that you want currency to have meaning even if the electricity is off, or the network is disrupted, like a natural disaster or whatnot. You need something that's fungible with no external dependencies.

      Also, bitcoin is a limited resource, which is why proponents think it's always going to go up in value. Opponents like me also point out that a collapse is just as sure, when people realize the limit and see that there isn't really enough to go around, it's being hoarded b

    • a mouth-frothing tantrum or two

      #1. Lawsuit against Gawker over posting still images from a video shot by Hulk Hogan's neighbor of the pro wrestler fornicating with the neighbor's wife.

      #2. Decrying Buffet as a bitcoin enemy simply for not becoming a useful fool.

      I count two tantrums so far.

  • It doesn't matter what the olde fartes think.

    Blaming is the same tactic used by movie directors when their movies stink. Blame the fans.

    So we blame those damn old stinky olde white dudes.

    It doesn't change the fact that coin is a stupid investment medium

  • by atrimtab ( 247656 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:08PM (#62436414)

    Except the tulip bulb at least had some value greater than zero after the crash.

    Cryptocurrency is an environmental damaging (so far legal) "greater fool" pyramid scheme.

    Can you make money? Sure, just keep finding "greater fools!"

    Okay, everyone it's time to brush up on your reading from 1841: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • There might still be time to invest in "Let's go Brandon" sure thing investment . Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

    https://finbold.com/crypto-inv... [finbold.com]

    There are many grifters willing to take your money if you are stupid enough to give it to them. And Crypto and NFT is by design, a grift. You give them your money, then you lose it. But they still have your money.

  • by nealric ( 3647765 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:10PM (#62436422)

    That rant might be more coherent coming from a 25 year old. Peter Thiel is 54. He'll be part of that "gerontocracy" in 10 years or so.

  • by sdinfoserv ( 1793266 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:10PM (#62436426)
    A tantruming billionaire... especially from the one who bankrolled the hulk Hogan lawsuit against Gawker that killed the site after outed him as gay... shocking. just chocking.
    • A tantruming billionaire... especially from the one who bankrolled the hulk Hogan lawsuit against Gawker that killed the site after outed him as gay... shocking. just chocking.
      You should build a time machine and join the KGB because that is some revisionist history. Gawker's hubris killed Gawker. And nothing of value was lost.
  • Spend all of your money on Bitcoin! All of it! It's definitely a great investment!* Get rich! Easy! Spend! How could you even possibly think otherwise?

    * Unverified. I'm not responsible for the actions of any readers of this post. I may or may not already own Bitcoin and therefore stand to benefit from others investing.

  • by Oddhack ( 18073 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:22PM (#62436484) Homepage

    "Free Markets - and keep those subsidies coming!"

  • by Glasswire ( 302197 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:32PM (#62436502) Homepage

    Surely he doesn't object to those old dinosaur investors deciding crypto is too risky for them. He certainly doesn't want govt regulation or intervention so that's not a problem for him.
    So it simply seems like he's cranky about the market's empirical assessment that crypto is not as attractive as it was touted to be at it's height last year.
    Being cranky because people disagree with you and also seem to be more right about the trajectory of crypto is rather infantile and suggests he's unhappy they weren't willing to join the self-serving DeFi/coin cult that it's dangerously reckless [reuters.com] industry has made.

  • by t.reagan ( 7420066 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:33PM (#62436506)

    Every day a billionaire says X and we are supposed to divide ourselves into supporters and opposition.

    Everywhere you look it is just billionaires controlling the narrative and dividing people.

    Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Trump, Putin, M.B.S, Murdoch, Koch ....

    • Really this. But I will say one thing. The "repressive" regimes the oligarch's are afraid of the political leaders. In the west, political leaders are afraid of the oligarchs. I always think of Jack Ma as the best example. Disappeared for awhile for a reality check.
  • Because blockchain is literally the only tech that can solve the current extremely serious problems that the financial industry has around trust.

    Wall St. basically functions as a bunch of monolithic ledgers that have to theoretically balance--mostly, kinda, hopefully.

    Did you know that no one at any given time knows how many shares of a stock are really in the marketplace? Sounds crazy, right? Except there is no central registry of shares with each given a shiny serial number and attached to an owner.

    Until 2

    • Huh? Do you own shares? Have you ever voted them? Somehow, magically, I get notified once/year of the shares I own and get to vote them.
  • If somebody questions a bad idea, just label them an out-of-touch geezer. That happened to me by questioning the architect's overuse of microservices, probably a case of Resume Oriented Programming. It just created an e-bureaucracy that would only be of help if our staff increased say 30x its current size. It became an ugly buzzword contest. I asked for specific sample scenarios where it would help, and the architect clearly didn't know shit about the domain, but in the end I was out-ranked and told to zipp

  • Ad homeniem (Score:4, Informative)

    by wakeboarder ( 2695839 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @12:52PM (#62436580)

    Theil is essentially attacking the person, not the argument. Maybe he should start by understanding why Buffet et al does not want to use bitcoin and then come up with a counter argument.

  • I'm not sure about the rest of his rant but I think he's right about the large banks.

    I wish BitCoin people would stop railing on others and simply work to promote the biggest real selling point of BitCoin - freedom of transaction with whoever you like.

    Currently not everyone benefits from that but as modern day Puritanism and government control expands, more and more people will appreciate the freedom to actually be able to spend money any way they like.

    • I wish BitCoin people would stop railing on others and simply work to promote the biggest real selling point of BitCoin - freedom of transaction with whoever you like.

      Ugh. Let's say I wanted to send you some Bitcoin. Well you're out of luck, because I don't have any and I don't trust any of these shady exchanges with direct access to my bank account. But for the sake of argument, I'll try a little harder and figure there's probably a Bitcoin ATM around here somewhere.

      I've never used a Bitcoin ATM, but I'll assume they can turn cash into Bitcoin. If not, that's another problem, because I'm not putting my credit or debit card into some random sketchy kiosk at the local

      • Ugh. Let's say I wanted to send you some Bitcoin. Well you're out of luck, because I don't have any and I don't trust any of these shady exchanges..Proceeding under the assumption that these things accept cash, now I need to get in my car, drive to my bank and get some cash, because that's another thing I typically don't have..

        That's a quite a long way to say you can't pay me bitcoin when chances are you could use an inline exchange that uses credit cards to send me BitCoin and charge you directly, and most

  • I thought the economics argument of Bitcoin, was that is so awesome that it can save all ills and be more resilient than the existing institutions, because of the decentralised nature. So because it is not living up to the insane predictions of the Bitcoin bros, it is the traditional institutions fault?
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] (German with human-translated English subtitles)

    Bible scholar, visionary, founder, investor, manager, Republican, political advisor, multi-billionaire and one of the best chess players in the US. No, that's not the role description for the next James Bond supervillain, but for the future boss of Austria's disgraced former chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Reason enough to take a closer look at the Frankfurt native with a penchant for immortality. Off to Silicon Valley!

  • by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @01:28PM (#62436718)

    At a glance it seems "normal" (at least for Bitcoin), it had its big jump in the fall, took a big dive, and since then it's been stable.

    But at the same time I'm seeing sports stadiums named after crypto, sports panels sponsored by crypto, A-list actors shilling crypto, investment companies talking about how you can trade crypto, etc, etc.

    The hype wagon is going into overdrive which one would expect to create a bubble, but instead the price has been relatively stable, which seems pretty damn weird to me.

    Is the hype campaign failing and new investors just aren't buying much? Or are they buying but others are dumping enough to keep the price the same? Is something else entirely going on?

    It seems weird that the price isn't changing when there's this much marketing and improved accessibility happening.

    • The more you expose cryptocurrency to average people, the more you're getting into the kind of folks who'll look at it and go "I'm not paying $100 for point-zero-zero something of a Bitcoin. Screw that." Also, average people have a whole lot less disposable money to gamble with.

  • For a minute, I was wondering just what Eric S. Raymond had done to piss Thiel off so badly.

  • That was the most surprising part of the story.

  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Monday April 11, 2022 @01:36PM (#62436768) Homepage

    If your invention requires government support then it is a failure.

    If your invention requires the support of existing competitors, then it is a failure. In fact, if your invention cannot stand up to the hate of existing competitors, then it is a failure.

    That is how capitalism works. If your invention does not beat the previous work-arounds, then your invention SUCKS.

    Did you think that horse and buggy people did not hate automobiles? That the Telegraph people did not hate the Telephone? (Note, they had a chance to buy it but refused, :D )

    You are not entitled to a profit. In capitalism, you are only entitled to a fair market, and crypto has been given that. It is not illegal to own or use it. They do not tax it more than they tax other coins. It has little to no regulations, especially as compared to other currency (with I believe the exception of some excessive rules on mutual funds owning crypto).

    As for the idea that investors should have to invest in something despite not liking it, that is ridiculous. No real investor will EVER invest as a political statement, though their political beliefs may affect what they invest in.

    Taking other peoples distrust of your financial product as an attack makes you look like a con-man, it does not make them look 'political'.

    This complaint makes Thiel seem foolish, especially the use of the jargon "ESG". Speak so that a child can understand you, if only because children seem to be smarter than Thiel.

  • re: Peter Thiel accusing ANYONE of being a scociopath
  • Is he just supporting Bitcoin, or all pyramid schemes?
  • Evil idiot Thiel requests other idiots to buy Bitcoin and other Shitcoins so he can cash back out to US Dollars and use them to continue attacking democracy. Politicians he props up and corrupts only accept bribes denominated in yes the one "fiat currency" that actually matters, Dollars issued by the United States of America. Don't let this evil Thiel idiot destroy democracy. To the title - "Peter Thiel Launches Tirade Against 'Gerontocracy' Over Bitcoin" - I invite this evil fucker to instead launch farts
  • The hallmark of civilized society is that we have institutions that act as barriers against the criminality of sociopaths. Said sociopaths have long complained about these rules. As such, Thiel's tirade is nothing new. What is scary these days is the fact the sociopaths are succeeding in convincing people that the sociopaths' perversions are valid, even truth. The insanities of Oswald Mosely, Hitler, the Kims, Putin, the Iranian clerics, and many others are not novel or of any concern in and of themselves.

  • isn’t going to find sympathy from Silent Generation who still have keys to the fiat currency.

    There are no statutes for crypto currency, never will be. U.S. has the USD, checking and credit card platforms instantiated in statute to run on the Federal banking system. They are not responsible for Thiel’s itty bitcoin currency that he’d like to stand-up in olace of the other three allowed by law.

    But rant you may Mr. Thiel, its a freedom you enjoy free speech. Bitcoin has yet to establish its b

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