Beware Fool's Gold

in #cryptocurrency8 years ago (edited)

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Hello Steemers!

Your friendly fool here!

As I go further into the rabbit hole, there is a host of bizarre things I'm observing, and a host of "characters" I'm coming across.

The latest is the "Crypt-Not".
My fellow Steemers already know this entity. And it is somewhat disturbing. I keep coming across companies trying to sell crypto that has no value at all. And when I look at their business model, nothing suggests that there is any value in their proposed crypto. I have come across a few people calling them "tokens" but what does that even mean.

I have found that these companies are basically trying to raise money by circumventing the normal ways of going about it. Venture capital, crowdfunding, donations, shares, etc. They want all the benefits of raising funds, without any of the responsibilities, liabilities, and accountability.

I'm a fool, but I don't like people being fooled out of their money. There is so much potential in crypto. So much good that can be done. And these entities are tarnishing, perhaps fatally so, the market. Unfortunately, there is still so much excitement and confusion that people are getting swept up in a skewed view of market cap, the meaning of volume, and rates of return, that they are being swindled. It reminds me of the housing crisis of 2008.
Fortunately, most of the people in crypto are very intelligent. But we cryptoheads want our NoCS friends and family to jump onboard with us! We want to share this revolution! We want to change the world!

These entities should be called out, somehow. They need to be exposed and purged. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that will only happen when a major correction happens. At the moment, things have slowed way down, except for the whale manipulations, which in of itself is not in line with crypto values.

I'm not sure exactly what the answer is, and I hope it doesn't sully the market too much. I'm certain that crypto will survive, but its integration will be greatly reduced.

Should we have a site, or a Steem series that exposes these fraudulent entities?

Fellow Steemers, i look forward to your ideas!

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There is just no shortage of people willing to sell snake oil, gotta keep your head on a swivel in a free market haha.

I'm curious which tokens you'd classify as 'Crypt-Not's though, and it could be useful to others who may not realize a token they like is built on shifting sands :)

I think crypto-nots are coins that are not intended to be used an actual decentralized currency, but more of an VC tool. I'd say that most of the low volume coins are that way, but I have my doubts about ETH, too. While the tech is awesome, I think Vitalik's focus is more on increasing the Ethereum blockchain variety of services, and the improvement of that function (smart contracts) than the currency. Currencies like Tezos and BosCoin (possibly EOS and the mysterious Prism) are leading the way with far better forms of currency.
Thoughts?