Cryptocurrency: – Scam tool

For many years, the interest rate has been nearly zero. Instead of building a better and greener world, massive amounts of money and energy have been used to create pyramid schemes in the digital world. Now is the time to calm down.

Possibly a cryptocurrency One of the worst inventions of recent decades. The idea was to offer a secure digital currency. Practically, huge amounts of energy and several hundreds of billions of kroner were poured into one A variety of different forms of fraud.

The adventurous and entirely speculative growth in the price of Bitcoin up to the peak in the fall of 2021 led many to join the bandwagon. Since the only “value” in cryptocurrency is related to the number of people who will buy the “coins”, speculators quickly turn into evangelists, with a strong interest in promoting their “investments”, flatly rejecting all criticism.

Troubled over a thousand priests

Among these evangelists, it is common to compare blockchain technology to the Internet: a massive technological innovation that will revolutionize the world. This argument can be heard, for example, from supporters of Norwegian cryptography such as Sven Ullnes, Senior Researcher at Vestlandsforskning.

Beer forget it The history of technology is as full of dead ends as it is the success stories. The Internet was revolutionary because it allowed us to communicate in a faster and more efficient way. Cryptocurrency allows us to conduct transactions digitally in a way that is slower, less secure and consumes a lot of energy.

Estimates are uncertain, but degenerative It is estimated that Bitcoin alone has used more than 200 TWh of electricity It emits more than 77 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. This is approximately 1.5 times more greenhouse gas emissions that Norway emits in a year. A single transaction with Bitcoin is calculated to cause 841 kilograms of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to half a year of driving a diesel car.

With such a large volume The footprint, the utility value must be enormous. The opposite is true. Cryptocurrency offers some clear advantages over current technology. Bitcoin is as old as social media and the first iPhone. It’s easy to see what has really changed society, and what is still a “solution looking for a problem”.

Putin’s useful idiot

Blockchain technology is surrounded by a cloud of technical possibilities, whether it is under the name cryptocurrency, NFTs, or “Web3”. But even the biggest advocates of the law still struggle to explain how this technology can be used for anything useful, other than a variety of different forms of financial fraud.

many of them The most ardent cryptocurrency proponents have become convinced that cryptocurrency is a panacea against a corrupt financial sector and against authoritarian governments. They did not understand that cryptocurrency is not a cure for a corrupt financial sector, but a mutant and even worse version of the same disease.

The almost complete absence of regulations in the cryptocurrency market leaves people helpless in the face of fraud. Many major crypto companies have based on Ponzi scamIt promises people great returns, but actually pays old investors with new money, until the house of cards collapses.

this method It has been used by Big companies like CelsiusWhich in November last year amounted to more than 35 billion Norwegian kroner. When cryptocurrency prices fell, Celsius closed the accounts of all “investors”, who are unlikely to see their savings again. The same is the case with Voyager. More similar cases will undoubtedly follow. Hundreds of thousands of small savers are left empty-handed.

Right finger is injured

There are many interesting parallels with the 2008 financial crisis. This time it is not the pensioners, but the young people who have been deceived into investing in speculative products that have no fundamental value. In Norway, nice, young “impacted income earners” have persuaded their followers to make questionable investments.

most popular The Norwegian example is Eric Grande Garcia, who Recruited over 2,300 followers on TikTok to invest in cryptocurrency exchange. He himself received a huge hiring bonus, while most of the “investors” lost huge losses.

The crypto bubble is a symptom of many contemporary diseases. One is that central banks are printing huge amounts of money to stimulate the economy, especially during a pandemic. We lived in a period when money was almost free to those who took out loans.

During this period, many Western countries could invest heavily in infrastructure, green energy, and other things that would provide long-term growth in the economy. But in many countries, especially the United States, political will was lacking.

Let young people avoid taxes

Huge cash flow In search of returns, it was instead directed into bubbles, both on existing exchanges and on new unregulated “cryptocurrency exchanges.” Instead of building real value, investors and ordinary people have wasted enormous resources building digital castles in the air and pyramid schemes. In the end, this is a symptom of political failure.

Our financial market regulations are based on hundreds of years of hard-earned experience. Now we need at least strict regulations to protect people from modern digital pyramid schemes and Ponzi scams that we find under the false label of “cryptocurrency,” in order to protect people and the environment.