Bitcoin, Not “Crypto,” NFTs, Web3 Or DeFi

Bitcoin, Not “Crypto,” NFTs, Web3 Or DeFi

If you’re into venture capital, pay attention to tech or invest in the sector, you’ve heard of all the buzzwords: Web3, NFTs, DeFi. Has anyone explained to you what they are? Did you understand it? It probably sounded as convoluted as the fat kid’s explanation in summer camp as to why he doesn’t have a picture of his really pretty girlfriend from back home.

Why weren’t these concepts understandable? Because these are all terms that are just nebulous enough to sound sophisticated, while avoiding strict definitions as to avoid scrutiny. They all have this Gnostic quality about them. You really need to be special to see the emperor’s clothes.

So what are these things? What is Web3? What are NFTs? What is DeFi? I’m going to try to save you a lot of time: They’re scams.

I’m a programmer with 24 years of experience, with the last 11 in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is an amazing tool, particularly for saving, which is why I own some. I’ve written several books on the topic, including “ Programming Bitcoin ” published by O’Reilly, a premier technical book publisher in the U.S. I’ve also taught over 700 programmers and have many former students in all of the biggest companies in the industry. So when I say that NFTs, Web3 and Defi (aka “crypto”) are scams, I’m not saying so flippantly or as an exaggeration to make a point, I’m saying that they’re “scams” in the strictest sense of the word.

If you’re convinced at this point, there’s no need to read further and you can instead go do something more productive, like reading about last night’s episode of “The Bachelor.”

To prove that these concepts are scams is not my intention here. That would take a much longer article and you probably wouldn’t read it. As a paraphrased version of Brandolini’s law states:

“The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.”

So in this article, I’m going to take a different tack. I’m going to induce reasonable doubt about these projects, like a good attorney would. And hopefully, as a side-effect, I can bring on a full existential dilemma to the “crypto” bros. A Note To The Trolls

I’m sure that I’m going to get a lot of pushback for this article. And I’m also sure most of the people pushing back will be non-technical people. The most vehement will be people invested in these projects and I’m sure they’ll get mad at me with all the righteous indignation of a Brony .

As Upton Sinclaire said , it’s hard to get someone to understand something when their job depends on them not understanding it. I’m not interested in debating such people because they’re too far gone. The time to convince someone is before they get in, when they’re a lot more objective about what’s happening, rather than after, when they’re likely to accuse you of bias. But hey, I’m willing to take the counter arguments which have all the sophistication of “so’s your mom.”

So, dear reader, I’m trying to convince you, the person sitting on the fence and thinking about possibly investing in these things, who still has some very basic questions. The Incentives

Have you ever seen anyone who had a problem in the real world, searched for a solution and found it in Web3/NFTs/DeFi? Unless it was to raise money from gullible people, I’m guessing you haven’t. That’s because these things are like the Rube Goldberg machine at the beginning of “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” There are easier ways to make breakfast, damn it! They have the most tortuous, nonsensical reasons to include an unnecessary token that make everything less efficient and more costly.

Have you examined what the code of these supposedly decentralized applications does? No? These things have more bugs in them than the set of “Indiana Jones.” Would it surprise you to know that the marketing departments of the organizations pushing this stuff are exaggerating just a tad bit on their capabilities?

Do you know that the people doing this marketing have huge premines of the coins themselves and have a strong vested interest in getting more people to buy? The venture capitalists that are funding this stuff get a huge number of tokens at a significant discount before the public. Their job is to convince you to buy, regardless of whether it’s useful or not. They spend upwards of 50% of the budget on marketing. That’s a ratio for unhealthy sugar water like Coca-Cola, not a supposedly […]

source Bitcoin, Not “Crypto,” NFTs, Web3 Or DeFi

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