Crypto Is a Scam

[Daniel91]

When discussing bitcoin, it is good to look at the case law and decisions of the relevant courts.
For the EU, the most important is the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 22/10/2015
No. 128/2015 in case C-264/14, which considers bitcoin trading to be a financial transaction subject to income tax on the basis of capital gains.
This opinion must be respected by all tax and other official institutions in the EU.
Check out here: https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/tout?searchTerm=Bitcoin&lang=hr&sort=ALL_DATES-DESC

The same ruling applies to the trading of other cryptocurrencies, that is, the EU Court does not make a distinction.

[HONDACD125]

Well, the title is surely misleading because it gives the impression that the creator of this thread is a hater of cryptocurrencies and is advising everyone to stay away. For this reason, I would say that even though OP has a point and he isn't wrong, saying that Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency is actually not right, because Bitcoin is also a cryptocurrency, it is just that it's different than others, which is the reason why we call other cryptocurrencies "altcoins" to differentiate between Bitcoin and them. So it won't be wrong to say that altcoins, or most of them, are scams than saying that Crypto is a scam because Bitcoin basically still falls under that category.

There are also good altcoins out there, so it is also not right to say that all of them are scams. There are so many protocols and blockchains other than Bitcoin and its blockchain, and they are widely used in the market. We only transact Bitcoin through the bitcoin blockchain, but all other altcoins that we use are sent and received through other protocols, and they aren't scams, they are projects with proper use cases, and such projects can't be called or considered scams.

[Satofan44]

Yes that's what I want to say, bitcoin can be widely recognized because of the many altcoins that have grown, the development of technology and also the development of services in the crypto space, inseparable from projects that have a sincere dedication to the advancement of this industry, for me we cannot turn a blind eye to the many miners who are trying to provide the best service to this industry.
This fraud is also not just the task of the government tightening regulations, there needs to be deep awareness and literacy from the industry community itself, not entirely blaming what has happened, because it will always exist in every industry and even in the future, so knowing this all needs good literacy in reading risks, security and others.

This is incorrect. While a few altcoins have managed to develop something interesting such as Monero, most of the crap that was "developed" by shitcoin was not an improvement on anything. Even I can develop all sorts of centralized systems as "high performance" and other bullshit metrics, that does not mean it brings anything new to the table. High performance databases beat any shitcoin without even heating up the server room. When you have an industry with an alleged 10000 new developments and where 9900 of those developments are scam or useless then you can call the whole industry a scam. We are here because less educated people were fooled by their bullshit, and because tolerating but educated people went along with it. If they haven't, the quantity of crypto scams would have been less than 99%. Currently, 99.99% of all released shitcoins and tokens are scams. Perhaps even 99.999% if we look at the latest number. Don't defend this shit, don't be evil.

When discussing bitcoin, it is good to look at the case law and decisions of the relevant courts.
For the EU, the most important is the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 22/10/2015
No. 128/2015 in case C-264/14, which considers bitcoin trading to be a financial transaction subject to income tax on the basis of capital gains.
This opinion must be respected by all tax and other official institutions in the EU.
Check out here: https://infocuria.curia.europa.eu/tabs/tout?searchTerm=Bitcoin&lang=hr&sort=ALL_DATES-DESC

The same ruling applies to the trading of other cryptocurrencies, that is, the EU Court does not make a distinction.

This literally has nothing to do with this thread or what is being discussed here. Whether gains from something are subject to income tax or not has no relevance as to whether something is a scam or not. The EU is also not relevant, it is an outdated relic and will be crushed in the current century. It will not exist.

Well, the title is surely misleading because it gives the impression that the creator of this thread is a hater of cryptocurrencies and is advising everyone to stay away. For this reason, I would say that even though OP has a point and he isn't wrong, saying that Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency is actually not right, because Bitcoin is also a cryptocurrency, it is just that it's different than others, which is the reason why we call other cryptocurrencies "altcoins" to differentiate between Bitcoin and them. So it won't be wrong to say that altcoins, or most of them, are scams than saying that Crypto is a scam because Bitcoin basically still falls under that category.

Bitcoin is Bitcoin, crypto is crypto. Learn the difference. Just because both can be classified under cryptocurrency that does not make them anything alike at all. Both an Apple and a Grape are fruit, yet they could not be any more different from each other. Therefore it is correct to claim crypto is a scam. Stop confusing people with trivialities due to semantic grouping, instead learn the proper way which is what I repeat again: Bitcoin is Bitcoin, crypto is crypto (shitcoins).

Stay away from anything crypto, only deal with Bitcoin.

[Oshio-man]

Crypto may be a scam but bitcoin is not a scam, I  went through some of the Satoshi words through out of his or her comments, it was stated clearly that bitcoin is different from crypto because it is very difficult to see other people prefer crypto than bitcoin, if you talk about confidence in any coin you will choose bitcoin because bitcoin is the king among other cryptocurrencies, I have spend some years in bitcoin investment, I don't think anything will make me to invest huge amount of funds in cryptocurrencies the way I will invest what I can afford to lose in bitcoin, bitcoin is not a scam and it will not going to be a scam, there are some signs bitcoin has displayed over some years ago that is making industries and governments to start investing in bitcoin.

[Curious T]

Bitcoin has nothing to do with crypto and crypto industry  Crypto is mostly a complete scam.

This is not true at all. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, just as the USD is a fiat currency. The fact that the dollar is a much better currency than the naira doesn't stop the USD from being fiat. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is short for "crypto". Bitcoin is secured by cryptography, so that makes it a crypto. When talking about it, it is different from crypto in the sense that it operates and was built differently. That is why the term "Bitcoin and crypto" is mostly used. This doesn't mean Bitcoin is not crypto, but every other crypto that is not crypto is called "Alternate cryptocurrencies", or "altcoins".

Most of the altcoins that are launched as a scam. They offer nothing and are the same as every other coin. To me, over 90% of all cryptos are a scam, but that does not mean Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency.

[Gost ms]

Bitcoin has nothing to do with crypto and crypto industry  Crypto is mostly a complete scam.

This is not true at all. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, just as the USD is a fiat currency. The fact that the dollar is a much better currency than the naira doesn't stop the USD from being fiat. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is short for "crypto". Bitcoin is secured by cryptography, so that makes it a crypto. When talking about it, it is different from crypto in the sense that it operates and was built differently. That is why the term "Bitcoin and crypto" is mostly used. This doesn't mean Bitcoin is not crypto, but every other crypto that is not crypto is called "Alternate cryptocurrencies", or "altcoins".

Most of the altcoins that are launched as a scam. They offer nothing and are the same as every other coin. To me, over 90% of all cryptos are a scam, but that does not mean Bitcoin is not a cryptocurrency.

Yes, I agree with you. The biggest reason why we don't call Bitcoin a cryptocurrency is that cryptocurrency refers to all currencies in the market and there are many fraudulent currencies in the market in which many people can face losses by investing, so we all directly call it Bitcoin. But basically Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency.
There are some topics that many new people come to learn and if they hear about cryptocurrency, they can face losses by investing in fraudulent currencies in the market.

[Ayebabara]

People says that crypto is scam because they don't want to calm down and learn more about the network and how it works, listening to others who have phobia for cryptocurrency investments.
People do have fear for anything call online investments which they also related to the term cryptocurrency which is the same as the USD is fiat in currency.
This is also a technology created by experts like Blockchain which is for holding coins and tokens and are valuable.
Crypto is the same thing as cryptocurrency it is only shortened, Bitcoin is guided by cryptography and this brings about the name cryptocurrency as also Bitcoin.
Many site or websites may establish false coins in order to scam people who are mostly newbies in the digital marketing so one must carefully choose the platform that they are to invest into it.
Bitcoins are real and have value as can be used for exchange in the digital marketing.

[MarryWithBTC]

Crypto may be a scam but bitcoin is not a scam, I  went through some of the Satoshi words through out of his or her comments, it was stated clearly that bitcoin is different from crypto because it is very difficult to see other people prefer crypto than bitcoin,

Do not confuse the situation. If you are coming from the literal meaning, bitcoin is a cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency = Bitcoin + Altcoins.

But in function and protocol, Bitcoin is distinct from other forms of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin is fully decentralized while other cryptocurrencies are not, among other differences.

...if you talk about confidence in any coin you will choose bitcoin because bitcoin is the king among other cryptocurrencies, I have spend some years in bitcoin investment, I don't think anything will make me to invest huge amount of funds in cryptocurrencies the way I will invest what I can afford to lose in bitcoin,

The technology behind bitcoin is steady and trustworthy and has been embraced by many people and that is why the confidence in bitcoin has been at the top notch.

bitcoin is not a scam and it will not going to be a scam, there are some signs bitcoin has displayed over some years ago that is making industries and governments to start investing in bitcoin.

And also not all altcoins are scam...

[PX-Z]

People says that crypto is scam because they don't want to calm down and learn more about the network and how it works, listening to others who have phobia for cryptocurrency investments.

Usually, it's because they don't want to accept and can't understand that its possible to gain profit in very short period of time your investments goes 2x as much that's people call them scam and like ponzi scheme. Because if they do, they won't think as much that cryptocurrency is very volatile and could gain traction for very short of time and at the same time, you can loss all your savings if your not very careful of doing trading and investing crypto.

[avp2306]

People says that crypto is scam because they don't want to calm down and learn more about the network and how it works, listening to others who have phobia for cryptocurrency investments.

Usually, it's because they don't want to accept and can't understand that its possible to gain profit in very short period of time your investments goes 2x as much that's people call them scam and like ponzi scheme. Because if they do, they won't think as much that cryptocurrency is very volatile and could gain traction for very short of time and at the same time, you can loss all your savings if your not very careful of doing trading and investing crypto.

Maybe those throw away mindset about crypto is a scam because they think its easy to earn money from those alts they bought, but unfortunately when harsh reality strikes on their head and they experience unfavorable movements of those alts then lose lots of money with it. They generalize then call crypto as scam. That thoughts is really crazy, since if they just do enough research on crypto then know that risky movements exist maybe they take lots of precautionary before picking the alts they bought then try to accumulate the best coin in the market which could give them great profits.

But counter action always comes late and hopefully people would realize that they are the one commit mistakes and they made bad decision on their investment, so they can do better next time.

[goldkingcoiner]

Bitcoin is not crypto. Crypto is an industry built around tokens, founders, marketing, and insider allocations. Bitcoin is a decentralized form of money with fixed supply, proof-of-work, and no central authority. Calling Bitcoin “crypto” only helps shitcoin promoters confuse beginners and make their projects look more legitimate than they really are.

Bitcoin is synonymous with crypto whether you like it or not. I know I am going to catch flak for saying this, especially from some established members of this forum, but the truth is that it is too late to start de-coupling Bitcoin from the word crypto. Crypto = Cryptocurrency = Bitcoin. Anyone who hears crypto first thinks about Bitcoin, not some altcoin, not some token or even Ethereum (although it is an altcoin, it is second place next to Bitcoin so I do not really equate it as an altcoin).

What we need to do is decouple crypto from shitcoins. Those are really the most dangerous.

Nobody is getting scammed by Monero or Litecoin. But shitcoins will definitely keep causing grief.

[VarJames]

Every beginner should read this carefully. If you do not understand the difference between Bitcoin and crypto, there is a high chance you will lose money.Crypto is mostly a scam.

Crypto founders take advantage of beginners who do not fully understand what Bitcoin really is or how it works. They use that lack of knowledge to create their own shitcoins and promote them as “better Bitcoin,” “faster Bitcoin,” “more private Bitcoin,“Bitcoin that transfers fiat coins”” or “Bitcoin with smart contracts.”

The scam is usually very simple. Crypto founders create a new token, keep a huge part of the supply for themselves, their company, or their foundation, and then sell the story to beginners who do not yet understand what Bitcoin really is or why it matters.

Some of the biggest scams in crypto . XRP created the full 100 billion XRP supply from the beginning, with 80 billion XRP given to the company behind it. Ethereum also started with a large premine, where roughly 72 million ETH was distributed at genesis, including more than 60 million ETH sold through the ICO and around 12 million ETH allocated to the foundation and early contributors.

Bitcoin is not crypto. Crypto is an industry built around tokens, founders, marketing, and insider allocations. Bitcoin is a decentralized form of money with fixed supply, proof-of-work, and no central authority. Calling Bitcoin “crypto” only helps shitcoin promoters confuse beginners and make their projects look more legitimate than they really are.

Many people enter the market thinking that Bitcoin and “crypto” are the same thing, and this is where a lot of bad decisions start.

In my own experience, I also made the mistake of moving part of my BTC into different altcoins because they looked like good opportunities at the time. Some had strong marketing, some promised better technology, faster transactions, or some new use case. But later you realize that many of them depend much more on founders, insiders, hype, and timing than on real decentralization.

I would not say that every single non-Bitcoin project is automatically the same, but beginners should definitely understand Bitcoin first before touching anything else. Once you understand fixed supply, proof-of-work, no premine, and why decentralization matters, it becomes much easier to see why so many tokens are risky.

[tabas]

In my own experience, I also made the mistake of moving part of my BTC into different altcoins because they looked like good opportunities at the time. Some had strong marketing, some promised better technology, faster transactions, or some new use case. But later you realize that many of them depend much more on founders, insiders, hype, and timing than on real decentralization.

Many did this mistake and I am one of those folks. But I've realized that it's not going to happen anymore to me so, I limited that action and good thing I've realized it quite early. No doubt about how good a lot of them in marketing and how they're hyping their projects, that's what they are paid for and that's why many investors are quick to invest on them when some good news have been made and sent to the public. But this time, we all learnt from that mistake and we're not going to invest using our bitcoins for some altcoins that are hyped.

[arwin100]

In my own experience, I also made the mistake of moving part of my BTC into different altcoins because they looked like good opportunities at the time. Some had strong marketing, some promised better technology, faster transactions, or some new use case. But later you realize that many of them depend much more on founders, insiders, hype, and timing than on real decentralization.

Many did this mistake and I am one of those folks. But I've realized that it's not going to happen anymore to me so, I limited that action and good thing I've realized it quite early. No doubt about how good a lot of them in marketing and how they're hyping their projects, that's what they are paid for and that's why many investors are quick to invest on them when some good news have been made and sent to the public. But this time, we all learnt from that mistake and we're not going to invest using our bitcoins for some altcoins that are hyped.

Those mistakes usually happen when we are newbies, because somehow this is what we think the right action to do before. But unfortunately many didn't end up well for exchanging their BTC to other alts.

There are so many hype projects before on which can definitely catch the attention of people including those new ones. That's why I'm not surprised that almost all people share their regrets or bad experiences towards what they have done with their Bitcoins and other altcoins before. But what's more important is we learn a lesson and we correct then made right decisions towards our bought Bitcoins now.

[420 Seeds]

What you are attempting to teach newbies is simply not true.

1) Satoshi and a very small group of early miners stashed away at least one million BTC when they would easily fly out of your CPU! While it later was called a "fair launch" the numbers do not lie, what they got away with is stunning.
2) Not all Crypto is a scam and some leading blockchains can handle many more transactions than Bitcoin.
3) Several leading blockchains have powerful features that Bitcoin can not do.

.....
...Some of the biggest scams in crypto . XRP created the full 100 billion XRP supply from the beginning, with 80 billion XRP given to the company behind it. Ethereum also started with a large premine, where roughly 72 million ETH was distributed at genesis, including more than 60 million ETH sold through the ICO and around 12 million ETH allocated to the foundation and early contributors.....

[NotFuzzyWarm]

What you are attempting to teach newbies is simply not true.

1) Satoshi and a very small group of early miners stashed away at least one million BTC when they would easily fly out of your CPU! While it later was called a "fair launch" the numbers do not lie, what they got away with is stunning.
2) Not all Crypto is a scam and some leading blockchains can handle many more transactions than Bitcoin.
3) Several leading blockchains have powerful features that Bitcoin can not do.

No, it is VERY true. The vast majority of crypto coins ARE scams created solely to make the devs rich. Very few such as ETH and XRP (Monero) that despite being heavily premined at least serve a real and useful purpose. BTC is the sole exception (not premined for immediate profit) and that is the primary reason it is not considered to just be another crypto coin. Yes Bitcoin is 'crypto' but no other crypto coin is like Bitcoin.

To answer your points:
1. BTC was 'premined' strictly to debug and prove it works. From the very start Satoshi released the code for Bitcoin as an open-source project for anyone interested in it to contribute to its code and to mine. In no way was it a select few and for the first couple years it had no fiat value. All other coins that followed only came into existence after BTC gained significant value. Those altcoin developers hacked it's proven code and their coins were/are explicitly premined to line the devs pockets before announcing their projects to the world. To this day Satoshi's coins remain untouched, the same cannot be said for any other coin.

2. Very true but again it is very small number that have a proven track record and any real value. There has literally been over a thousand different altcoins created after BTC but less than a dozen are still actively traded or mined to any significant extent.

3. Also true. So what? Has those features given the coins any significant monetary value? Aside from ETH which was designed for recording contracts and other records or XRP (privacy), nope.

The point is that BTC is a crypto currency with a clear and proven track record of community support that is not controlled by any single person or company. Period. No other coin can say that.

[Somegory]

OP used XRP and Ethereum as example of scam coins because of their massive max supply, the same XRP that was once $0.005 several years back? I mean if anyone invested in xrp and held for many years they are already rich via XRP only.

Ethereum was once $0.65 many years back, today it's $1700, these are examples of good investment, Bitcoin in your one head is not crypto but in my own head it's 💯 crypto, the max supply, the utility is where the difference lies.

Bitcoin is the best but it can't solve everything, it's why many altcoins will still do very good while many altcoins will end in tears, altcoins are very risky and bitcoin is the safest bet but that doesn't mean that all alternative coins are scams.

[Dreadboost]

Bitcoin and crypto are definitely two different things and you are very correct of you sat crypto is a scam. Crypto is just used to scam beginning,  by giving them the impression that it's like bitcoin or have the tendency to be better than bitcoin in the near future. Most people confuse the difference and that's why they easily fall for the scam of crypto. I think the best to invest in definitely bitcoin and you will definitely make profit in the long run.

[Berry2d]

Bitcoin and crypto are definitely two different things and you are very correct of you sat crypto is a scam. Crypto is just used to scam beginning,  by giving them the impression that it's like bitcoin or have the tendency to be better than bitcoin in the near future. Most people confuse the difference and that's why they easily fall for the scam of crypto. I think the best to invest in definitely bitcoin and you will definitely make profit in the long run.

Am still confused on your thoughts on the meaning of the subject matter,  because from understanding i know crypto is  the short form of cryptocurrency which bitcoin is also a cryptocurrency.
On this subject matter,  it will be more precise if it is conspicuously address in a simultaneous way by advising beginners to be mindful on the crypto currency they may wish to invest on as most on this said cryptocurrency are scam and not generally saying crypto is a scam because that said bitcoin is among the cryptocurrency.  One major problem affecting us today is understanding and nothing more.

[tabas]

Many did this mistake and I am one of those folks. But I've realized that it's not going to happen anymore to me so, I limited that action and good thing I've realized it quite early. No doubt about how good a lot of them in marketing and how they're hyping their projects, that's what they are paid for and that's why many investors are quick to invest on them when some good news have been made and sent to the public. But this time, we all learnt from that mistake and we're not going to invest using our bitcoins for some altcoins that are hyped.

Those mistakes usually happen when we are newbies, because somehow this is what we think the right action to do before. But unfortunately many didn't end up well for exchanging their BTC to other alts.

There are so many hype projects before on which can definitely catch the attention of people including those new ones. That's why I'm not surprised that almost all people share their regrets or bad experiences towards what they have done with their Bitcoins and other altcoins before. But what's more important is we learn a lesson and we correct then made right decisions towards our bought Bitcoins now.

I agree that it seems that the majority of us did that mistake in the past. A big lesson for all of us and that's why it won't happen anymore. We see how valuable we already have with Bitcoin and there's no need to be hyped with the new projects that are coming out. We can consider those wasted btcs in the past as lessons that we paid for and that's why it's unlikely that we'll fall for it again. Some probably did that mistake but not exactly with the hype projects or trading but pretty sure with gambling.