pull down to refresh

What do you say to cRyPtO victims?
296 sats \ 16 comments \ @optimism 7 Mar AskSN
I was chatting with a 86yo owner of a small bar yesterday. He was complaining about the son of a very prominent politician, let's call him Jimmy. Jimmy had not too long ago been explaining the extreme wealth the modern free markets bring to the common person and proposed to "settle his bill in crypto". The owner accepted after this great story and, after installing Coinbase Wallet, was sent about $500 worth of some scam token. Probably needless to say, but it's closer to $0 than $1 now.
How would you respond to this, SN? Show empathy and make a point about the evil of the scammer? Orange pill? Change subjects?
write
preview
related posts
200 sats \ 1 reply \ @endothermicdev 8 Mar
The extent to which bitcoin has leveled the playing field across the world is just astounding. Whether, by luck of genetic lottery you grew up in Palestine, or on Wall St., bitcoin offers the same access to the protocol and network. It grants global financial access to the most repressed, and limits the power of their dictators and abusers.
And in an era shaped by ever faster productivity improvement, whether by AI or other technology advancement, bitcoin is the first credible solution to the age old problem of spreading around the benefits of our ingenuity. Without it, we risk a dystopian future, where the benefits accrue to an ever shrinking pool of the population while the majority struggle to survive. Our fiat inflationary system is coming face to face with the cold hard realities of technological progress.
All this to say, the world needs bitcoin, and the degree to which it changes the game can't be undersold. It's a true revolution in decentralization and a trust in math and cryptography over politicians. There are no insiders in bitcoin.
It's unfortunate that we still have snake oil salesmen and affinity scams in this day and age, but it shouldn't be surprising. However, if people took a minute to understand what they have in Bitcoin, it's actually quite easy to spot the fraudsters. I'm sorry about your friend, but he clearly didn't learn what bitcoin is, or what it's about before he was sucked in by the lure of "easy money" by a con man.
reply
13 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism OP 8 Mar
he clearly didn't learn what bitcoin is, or what it's about before he was sucked in
Yes. In this case it was a clear information failure and ultimately I wonder: can we pre-empt the scammers? How do we get high quality information to every anon on the planet that is just running their local business, is not on SN, or X, probably not FB either?
Can we get a reasonable coverage? What's the message? And how do we not make it a religion because that will just put people off?
reply
59 sats \ 8 replies \ @DarthCoin 7 Mar
reply
22 sats \ 7 replies \ @denlillaapan 8 Mar
generally don't agree with Mr. Darth, but here he's got a point!
reply
0 sats \ 6 replies \ @optimism OP 8 Mar
so basically you'd both say HFSP to an elderly person. savage 😂
reply
100 sats \ 4 replies \ @denlillaapan 8 Mar
Yeah, certainly.
I'm big into generational inequity, so won't even feel bad about it
reply
29 sats \ 3 replies \ @optimism OP 8 Mar
Between specific generations or in general? Can you give me the elevator pitch?
reply
100 sats \ 2 replies \ @denlillaapan 8 Mar
Guess it's the same thing?
The generations (boomers and adjacent) that primarily got freebies off
  • housing to the moon
  • stocks to the moon
  • golden age of growth
  • structurally falling interest rates
A Cantillon effect, but across time and generations.
(I had another post, too, somewhere, but couldn't find it #873783)
view all 2 replies
100 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 8 Mar
YES
reply
51 sats \ 1 reply \ @Aardvark 7 Mar
I'd feel bad for him, and change the subject. I'd assume he isn't very open to discussion about bitcoin at that point.
reply
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism OP 8 Mar
Yeah I also didn't see a way to do the orange pilling. In the end we let him vent until he changed the subject himself.
reply
32 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 7 Mar
"Sorry that that happened. 99% of crypto tokens are pump and dump scams. The only legitimate one is Bitcoin. It's been operating without issue since 2009, and I use it all the time."
reply
21 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 7 Mar
If the bar owner didn't convert into bitcoin he would have learned a valuable lesson. A lot of us have learned this lesson the hard way too.
reply
21 sats \ 0 replies \ @nkmg1c_ventures 7 Mar
I'm trying to be less of a c**t lately, so probably "sorry that happened to you"
reply