• heartlessevil@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    This is so funny. The entire point of cryptocurrency was to be an irreversible, untraceable currency. Now these dipshits are sueing over losses? I don’t know if they are severely mistaken or severely angry. You are not getting that back. Neither do you deserve to. You knew what you were doing.

    • glad_cat@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      The first step is “Fuck the government!” The second step is always “Help me, Obi Wan Government, you’re my only hope!”

      • Womble@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I deserve help from the government as I’ve done everything right and just been unfortunate. Its everyone else who have got into trouble entirely through their own doing that don’t deserve help.

    • Z4rK@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      When was cryptocurrency meant to be untraceable? It literally had the complete ledger out in the public.

        • 1bluepixel@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That was true back in the days when you could mine your own coins and hold them in your own wallet, but with all the KYC requirements these days, it’s pretty hard to get, say, BTC that’s not traceable to you.

          It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly not as easy as cash.

            • BURN@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It’s just a shitty speculative investment. That’s about it. It’s just reached cult following and hasn’t completely crashed. But when it does someone is going to be left holding a really big bag

              • dezmd@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                The real Michael Burry depicted in the Big Short movie is buying puts against the stock market. Its not just crypto bros that need to ve concerned. All day on Bloomberg today they danced around recession after labor day expectations.

                • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  The stock market may be in a bubble, but regular stock investments aren’t the same as investing in crypto no matter how much the crypto bros insist it is. Stocks are shares of actual companies that (typically) make things, and they also produce dividends.

                  All that said, I think the end of QE “forever” is a thing that the C-levels of big companies are still trying to get over. I think it’s much more difficult to find retail investor interest in a market where benchmark rates exceed inflation, and it looks like the AI hype juice is starting to run out.

          • sapient [they/them]@infosec.pub
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            1 year ago

            Some cryptocurrency can be truly anonymous using some pretty interesting maths to verify things have properties without revealing the thing (in particular, XMR/Monero is the most well known one for doing this).

            However, it’s still crypto so it’s kinda like instant distrust and heavy skepticism (though I’m slightly less negative than I used to be for the truly anonymous ones as I’m trans and while right now I can still get HRT through normal channels after being on DIY for a bit, a backroute via DIY is always something I like to keep tabs on and within current economic structures crypto of this kind can theoretically be useful as long as it is somewhat inflationary to reduce it’s use as an investment vehicle, though I also am anti-currency in terms of my desired economic system ;3)

            With things like BTC/Bitcoin or others with a public ledger, you can pay someone a lot to essentially mix your currency with several other people before sending it to new accounts to reduce traceability, but turning it to fiat currency is still often pretty traceable for the reasons you said. To me it also seems money-laundering-ish lol ., there’s definitely tons of sketchy shit involved. But it’s crypto so that’s par for the course ;p

        • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Pseudo-anonymous. “Anonymous” until you use it in any transaction that can be traced to you, then the anonymity of that account is gone forever and every transaction you’ve ever made can be public knowledge.

    • DarkWasp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They just seem really upset that the scam/grift/MLM didn’t work out in their favour and they’re the ones taking the loss.

    • hh93@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      You forgot unregulated which usually even makes it to the front row in a lot of arguments completely denying the necessity to even have regulations at all…

  • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s hard to feel sorry for anyone who fell for a very obvious art grift. Even harder to be sorry for those caught grifting.

    Even a cursory understanding of value would have told these people that pretty looking receipts are a piss poor investment, but no, they were convinced that NFT’s (a tech they obviously knew nothing about) held intrinsic value despite having nothing of value backing them.

    Everyone caught up in the NFT art grift did so because they thought they could make a quick buck being ahead of the wave of the next big pump and dump like crypto and got fucked by their hubris. The grifter’s meanwhile were out here selling them graffiti’d up CVS receipts and saying they were worth the Mona Lisa.

    The result? A perfectly valid and valuable technology has been completely disregarded by the public because 90% of people were too stupid to think before they bought into a tech they didn’t understand and they all lost money to grifters. Worlds most widespread art grift and everyone was played a fool, and a valuable tech has been discredited, misunderstood, and shunned.

    • GigglyBobble@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      A perfectly valid and valuable technology has been completely disregarded by the public

      Damn, you were so close! Just expand what you said about NFTs to the whole crypto bullshit and you got it.

      • blargerer@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        NFTs do have value in narrow use cases. For instance Domain names are NFTs and incredibly important to the way humans interact with the internet.

        • asret@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          Except that they’re not. NFTs take something that exists - like domain names - and injects unnecessary Blockchain bs. What added value does a Blockchain bring?

        • emax_gomax@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Lmao, have you ever a bought a domain name. Its not an NFT, lmao you don’t even own one permanently after buying u. You basically license one from a registrar and that expires after a set interval. There’s no NFTs involved.

          • blargerer@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            You’re the third person to say the same thing. NFTs conceptually predate the existence of the blockchain and don’t need to be on it. Wikipedia or w/e you got your definition that says otherwise are simply wrong. And yes, I own several different domain names.

            • natanael@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Not sure you know what the token part of NFT means. Usually it’s the non fungible part, so congrats on being uniquely wrong.

            • s_s@lemmy.one
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              1 year ago

              At some point in time you’ll just have to unravel your word salad and realize that all things associated with this space are incredulous.

      • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Edit: I may have misunderstood and the person I’m replying to agreed with my assertation that the tech has been disregarded and that it expands to crypto as well. I expected that assumption was obvious and didn’t need to be stated directly and thought the poster was being disingenuous. Leaving my comment up for posterity.

        Don’t conflate your ignorance with other people’s knowledge, go develop a better understanding of the tech rather than assuming it has no value because you’re too ignorant to learn about it.

        Even crypto has a place, doesn’t mean it’s being used correctly by the majority of people.

        I equate the public engaging in crypto and NFT’s to tribal folks who accidentally pick up a discarded radioactive canister, what they have is valuable in the right hands, dangerous to themselves.

        • GigglyBobble@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Your original comment addressed exactly what I meant: not NFTs are the ponzi scheme but all crypto tokens are.

          Nothing “perfectly valid and valuable” about blockchain - there are zero legit use cases that can’t be far more efficiently solved by conventional database tech (yes, also proof of stakes).

          The reason is simple: the basis for the whole thing is trustlessness which does not exist - even in the crypto token world. You need trust to entry and to use it and I prefer a lawyer/notary over trusting some dev not putting bugs into my “smart” contract. I don’t trust the notary because of their fancy diploma either but because there’s a state that forces him to do right or lose his license/end up in prison. Nothing like that in your blockchain “trustless” environment.

          Why do you think blockchain tech is as old as Android and has produced nothing but carbon dioxide and tears from “I’m gonna get rich quick” morons?

          • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Because like any system to have trust it must be co-opted and regulated by the government and/or corporations and building the infrastructure and tools that make integrating with the block chain take time.

            Also when you say that there is nothing that blockchain does that can’t be done by other systems, do you include up to the second global access and management of a decentralised ledger that can be directly integrated into all software systems with inbuilt security?

            Because it seems like all those technologies are privately owned and managed, don’t have any interest in developing or providing global integration and access.

            Blockchain has the potential to be the foundation of globalised services and systems, and crypto the basis for a world currency, just because we haven’t gotten there yet is like saying the wheel was useless before we invented cars. The use cases and implementation of the tech might currently be niche but that’s because we’re still developing the right vehicle for it to carry.

    • LupertEverett@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The result? A perfectly valid and valuable technology has been completely disregarded by the public

      No. Stop. If blockchain, nfts, etc. had actual merit over what we already have rn, they would be used everywhere. But ever since the inception of the og blockchain, they do not. Because there is not a single actual use case of them that isn’t already done (and done better) by other tech.

      So stop this “oh it was good, just misunderstood” nonsense. It was never good, and never will be.

      • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Is your only argument “wah, wah, wah, no!” because it’s not very convincing.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Neither side of this looks good for crypto bros.

    One side says, “This was a ripoff; you knew it was a ripoff when you sold it to us.”

    The other side says, “This was a stunt; you knew it was a stunt when you bought in.”

    • drolex@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      "Yes your Honour, I knew it was a pyramid scheme. But I never thought I would be the last buyer. I always thought there would be another dumbass to buy it from me at a higher price, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place. I’m not stupid, unlike those last buyers!

      Moreover, your Honour, on a technical note, this is not a monkey. You see, a monkey is different from a monke, and both…"

  • treadful@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    The amended lawsuit alleges that “Yuga colluded with fine arts broker, Defendant Sotheby’s, to run a deceptive auction.” After the sale, a Sotheby’s representative described the winning bidder during a Twitter Spaces event as a “traditional” collector, the lawsuit said.

    The lawsuit said it turned out the auction buyer was now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail awaiting trial on criminal charges. Ethereum blockchain transaction data shows that after the auction, “Sotheby’s transferred the lot of BAYC NFTs to wallet address 0xf8e0C93Fd48B4C34A4194d3AF436b13032E641F3,77 which, upon information and belief, is owned/controlled by FTX,” the complaint said. Speculation that FTX was the buyer had been percolating since at least January 2023.

    So basically, they’re alleging Sotheby’s, Yuga, and FTX staged the auction to pump the price. Bold claim, curious how this will play out.

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    The amended lawsuit alleges that “Yuga colluded with fine arts broker, Defendant Sotheby’s, to run a deceptive auction.” After the sale, a Sotheby’s representative described the winning bidder during a Twitter Spaces event as a “traditional” collector, the lawsuit said.

    The lawsuit said it turned out the auction buyer was now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail awaiting trial on criminal charges.

    I don’t think it’s fair to pin this all on people who got duped. Calling FTX, a company now known for throwing around large sums of stolen money to pump up the brand, bribe government officials, and fix prices, a “traditional collector”, is beyond misleading.

    • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Yeah fuck these stupid NFT scams but fuck FTX more. They knew what they were doing. They also are alleged to have been behind the giant Bitcoin price pump of 2021

  • btaf45@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    [Bored Ape NFTs can now be purchased for just $50,000 each.]

    You can also buy my special doodles for $12 million each.

      • MimicJar@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Oh it’s even stupider than that.

        In most cases it’s, A. Just a link which happens to be a jpg. Which means it the website wants to change the jpg they can or if the website goes down it points nowhere.

        Or B. Just a hash, which might supposed to be a unique representation of a specific image, but really is just a string of characters, so different sites might disagree what that image is.

    • Arotrios@kbin.social
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      I’m looking for a rendition of the Sistine Chapel with God as Danny Devito and Christopher Lloyd as Adam, like it was in the Taxi days, ideally done in oils. All I’ve got is a buck, but my social account has followers. If I post it, you’ll get exposure. What can you do for me?

      NFT’s were actually a very clever plot put together by us starving artists to combat the hordes of choosing beggars that infest the internet. We all knew it was a scam, just like limited edition glichee prints, but there hasn’t been a time in history when artists made enough money not to have to scam folks to survive, so we figured we were more than justified taking the tech-bros for a ride.

  • RoyalEngineering@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    All of this NFT art is so ugly. If it was unique in a visually pleasing way—okay buy it. But to me, all of these images just look basically the same but with a new background or accessory.

    Are there any actually good looking NFT series?

    • AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml
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      Every NFT I’ve seen looks like dogshit, and crypto enthusiasts get so angry when I point it out.

      I have some that I didn’t pay for and they also look fkn stoopid. Like the artists are people who just discovered how to use Photoshop last week, but never learned how to draw

    • citrusface@lemmy.world
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      I did the nft thing. I’m in the black. I tell people not to get into nfts… And if you do only do it for the art, not to make money. There are plenty of dead or free NFTs out there that cost you nothing.

      There are some really cool small projects out there with really interesting art… However, the mainstream only sees these fugly PFPs and all of the genuinely interesting stuff is buried because crypto bros don’t pump it.

      A project I find interesting is “Loot” - it has its own ecosphere - it’s a just a series of inventory lists, but it serves as a background for other projects to build on. It’s not that the art is good - it’s literally white text on a black background - but the concept is interesting. Banners, Loot Explorers, Abstract loot are 3 projects I can think ff off hand

      And before anyone comes in and responds “well I could do that” - yeah you could, but you didn’t, so yeah.

      NFTs as they were presented are bullshit. I think there are more problems than solutions, however, I have seen some of the coolest digital art in this space.

      If you want to chat more about the art side of things, hmu. I’m not interested in talking about eth or bitcoin or cryptocurrency - but I can help you find cool interesting projects that are working to try new things other than dumb looking monkeys.

        • citrusface@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Please do not buy any NFTs. I was providing examples of things I liked. I am fully aware of how gross crypto is. I don’t do it anymore - I don’t like that I left other people holding the bag and made money.

          If I knew what I know now, I wouldn’t have done what I did. I bought hype, but I also sold it.

          I still thinkbthere is cool art in this space, but I don’t think anyone should engage in it beyond free things.

  • 👍Maximum Derek👍@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Bored Ape, in particular, was tried as an attempt to bring digital art into the fine art market to use as a tax dodge. If this case goes to court I hope it’s going to shine a big bright light on the fact that a lot of the fine arts market has been a giant tax dodge scam for decades. 🤞

    Not that it’s been a secret, but exposure is good.

    • DingoBilly@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yep. People shit on nfts all day long for good reason, but ultimately they’re just an extension of the art world in general being a market for scams and dodgy practices.

  • BudgieMania@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Wish I could feel sorry, but so much of the NFT audience responded with such smugness and superiority to any warning and criticism, that it is hard to summon any other feeling than schadenfreude