Post B277BpsyixGMVJDMsi by mhoye@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by mhoye@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B276H3QZhf1JzsqyuW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:10:25Z
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When you open the Coinbase app it shows you this call to action to participate in an astroturfing effort to make US Senators think the “general public” agrees with them about passing the crypto bill currently in the senate.This bill is what coinbase wants— banks don’t like it. It could have had language to prohibit politicians from profiting from crypto but does not— a big miss.I also don’t like the “online fake banks” trend. But I need to know more— anyone know more?
(DIR) Post #B276qjBURdHldeoAV6 by johnzajac@dice.camp
2026-01-09T16:16:52Z
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@futurebird Why on earth do you have the Coinbase app? What possible reason could anyone have for participating in crypto?
(DIR) Post #B2772uYI0P8AN0HXMG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:19:06Z
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My instinct is that if coinbase wants it then it is bad. But I am willing to listen to a reasonable argument. Why can’t we have the “no politicians making money on crypto in the bill?”I will call to ask about this today. Ban the politicians from touching a crypto coin. That seems obvious.
(DIR) Post #B277BpsyixGMVJDMsi by mhoye@mastodon.social
2026-01-09T16:20:43Z
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@futurebird “If coinbase wants it then it is bad” _is_ the reasonable argument.
(DIR) Post #B277XqRBLz5UaNhwZ6 by michael_w_busch@mastodon.online
2026-01-09T16:24:31Z
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@futurebird For things relating to cryptocurrency scams; I continue to learn from @molly0xfff and @davidgerard .
(DIR) Post #B277a4LcbedYJ6AS3c by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:25:06Z
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@johnzajac I was an early adopter and thought it could be great for funding online collaborative projects a decade ago. Started making an app but it’s a bad space. Then my mom wanted to buy bitcoin and threatened to do it on her own if I didn’t help so I thought it was safer if I set it up for her.
(DIR) Post #B277ffVBtXTMzGJUeG by johnzajac@dice.camp
2026-01-09T16:26:05Z
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@futurebird My sympathies. I managed, after ~10 hours of argument and pleading, to stop my brother from "investing" in NFTs.
(DIR) Post #B277mvfMCCzF96WxyC by FuturisticRobert@infosec.exchange
2026-01-09T16:27:25Z
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@futurebird I wish we could just ban crypto period.
(DIR) Post #B277vBRvOiSoPiBT7I by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:28:55Z
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@johnzajac My mom made like $300– but I think I mostly scared her out of doing much more. She insisted on only cashing out $200 and leaving $100 in “in case it explodes” so dutifully I check on it now and then.
(DIR) Post #B2780ca3x4DG0XaE5Y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:29:54Z
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@johnzajac She was horrified by the fees and my explanation of how the “no fee option” meant trusting randos on facebook marketplace.
(DIR) Post #B2783A7UE1EebfQdU0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:30:23Z
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@FuturisticRobert At this point i’m in
(DIR) Post #B278EgX23fuqJes7Qe by RogerBW@discordian.social
2026-01-09T16:32:24Z
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@futurebird In 2024 this argument might have held water. Trumpcoin exists _only_ as a way to bribe the President. How can any attempt at probity stand in the face of that?
(DIR) Post #B278UadrixFIgNeUyG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T16:35:18Z
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A political “call to action” in this app that has pretensions of being a “bank”— a “respectable investment brokerage”— this is exactly why I don’t agree with anything these clowns might want. My trust is less than zero. They always want more ways to exploit people with less oversight every single time.
(DIR) Post #B279q7GBkIZrshPDai by graydon@canada.masto.host
2026-01-09T16:50:22Z
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@futurebird Crypto is an attempt to privatize money.There is no such thing as private money, by the philosophical necessities; the thing that makes it money is the involvement of the sovereign, whether phrased as "full faith and credit" or "treasuries and armories". (Exchange doesn't need money in any way at all, but the "medium of exchange and store of value" nature of money needs the sovereign to exist.)Any crypto is a priori a bad, bad idea.
(DIR) Post #B27A5Qd215jGIMOMS0 by gbargoud@masto.nyc
2026-01-09T16:53:09Z
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@futurebird I sent an angry email to Senator Gilliibrand last year when she was a cosponsor of a crypto bill and got some bullshit about how it's an opportunity that needs to be seized or something like that.Needless to say I am absolutely not giving her my vote in a primary.
(DIR) Post #B27BZhgNH6ilpQxJR2 by johnzajac@dice.camp
2026-01-09T17:09:47Z
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@futurebird Haha almost like it's a scam
(DIR) Post #B27BcGS0ygi4EwSacy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T17:10:14Z
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@Steve @FuturisticRobert I used to think this. What I realized is that the crypto space isn’t interested in democratizatizing or decentralizing anything. They look at the big credit card processing companies and think not “what if you were irrelevant?” but rather “what if it could be *me* instead of you making a profit every time a working stuff tries to spend or earn a dollar?”You can’t really work with such people unless you become them.
(DIR) Post #B27CcC4NMpSgbcvvuK by tshirtman@mas.to
2026-01-09T17:21:28Z
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@futurebird @Steve @FuturisticRobert i think people who built it had an interest in that, but the creation escaped them and they moved on, replaced by opportunists.
(DIR) Post #B27CuCFdQlZkNimgOe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-09T17:24:45Z
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@Steve @FuturisticRobert I remember this crypto guy describing all of the little wicked things banks do to make money: I was all in “they must be stopped” looking back? what I took for indignation was more like envy, admiration.He was explaining all of the opportunities you have to make money if you control transactions and transfers, if you are trusted to make and take loans— an endless money glitch. My naive self thought he wanted to stop them. 😔
(DIR) Post #B27DKgHsNb134ASerA by Sharksonaplane@mastodon.sandwich.net
2026-01-09T17:29:32Z
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@futurebird As a side note, I think you're onto something with the part about them having a "what if the exploiter was ME" mindset instead of being interested in democratizing anything the way you and I would understand it. And I think this thought process extends to how they* think of "democracy" and who it should serve politically, too.*crypto/NFT/LLM shills
(DIR) Post #B27GzoFHzmDzU3YQtc by pv8@mastodon.social
2026-01-09T18:10:33Z
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@futurebird just sharing these series on a broader topic (FinTech) but also adresses crypto: https://fintechdystopia.com/ by Hilary Allen
(DIR) Post #B27nX02UMi0w9NRASO by atax1a@infosec.exchange
2026-01-10T00:15:09Z
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@futurebird @Steve @FuturisticRobert @Sharksonaplane tangentially, buttcoin nerds like to make analogies between their "gas fees" and credit card processing charges, but in reality bitcoin is like "you can't hand your buddy a $20 without also lighting a dollar on fire, except sometimes you also accidentally burn a twenty because the UI is garbage"