Bonum Certa Men Certa

There is No Such Thing as 'Cryptocurrency' and Please Stop Referring to It as Cryptocurrency

Cryptography



Summary: A lot of reckless media, including the "journal of record" New York Times, helps a bunch of spammers and scammers hijack and distort words in order to promote theft

THE scam that is "cryptocurrency" has cost my friend his life savings. He's in his 60s, a university professor. For nearly a year he was too shy to tell his friends what had happened. It was embarrassing. He fell for it. He should have asked friends. Earlier today a friend told me that "crypto" is cryptography, whereas cryptocurrency is a "scam + waste of electricity" (a sentiment with which I agree).



Say what you will about the international/global banking system (yes, it is corrupt), but the alternative to it isn't some charlatans or frauds, boosted online by "bros" in social control media. "Get rich fast" schemes have long relied on misinformation, more so or especially relying on much-deserved distrust (alluding to "traditional" banks and governments). Having an alternative to something does not mean the alternative is better or safer. My above-mentioned friend was scammed by "cryptocurrency" charlatans through Microsoft's LinkeIn, which is social control media where corruption flourishes. No wonder, it's controlled by a company where scams are "business as usual" (Microsoft).

"Binance should be shredded to pieces and these pieces then be scattered into the deepest ocean."Earlier today we saw that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to let Binance be [1]. We're not happy about this. Binance should be shredded to pieces and these pieces then be scattered into the deepest ocean. Banks in the US are collapsing and certainly more American banks will collapse by the end of the year. Binance might also collapse, just like FTX and the scam of Jim Zemlin's wife [1, 2, Jim 'FTX' Zemlin: “My Wife Who is a Successful Technology Executive and Harvard MBA [and Fraudster Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Securities Fraud] Really Had an Obvious Look of Disappointment... When I Told Her I Worked at a Non-Profit” [sic]].

When you allude to those "exchanges" as "crypto" you help perpetuate the lie that they are secure, even "safe". When you use the term "currency" you borrow credibility by insinuating that they're like physical coins, bartering etc. They're speculations at best. They're worse than lottery. So never refer to these as "cryptocurrency"; just call them... scams. You would not be wrong; it's only a matter of time before you're proven right.

"In many people's minds, the term "crypto" is hijacked to the point where cryptography is viewed as something risky, dangerous, illegal, even sinister/evil."Spam sites that take bribes in exchange for puff pieces continue to call these "crypto firms" [2], the "journal of record" called it "cryptocurrency" this past Friday [3] (even in the summary), and this same "journal of record" even said "Crypto Companies" in the headline earlier today [4]. We urge readers to contact these so-called 'newspapers' and ask them to quit doing this. Stop using the fake descriptions of Ponzi schemes. Charlatans and liars gain credibility each time the press uses their fictional vocabulary, which moreover misuses real words (here's a new example of "Cryptominers" [5]).

There are still examples of correct uses of terms, e.g. "cryptographer" yesterday [6], but those are becoming rarer over time. In many people's minds, the term "crypto" is hijacked to the point where cryptography is viewed as something risky, dangerous, illegal, even sinister/evil.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. Binance Reaches Deal With Government to Avert U.S. Shutdown
    The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on a compromise with Binance that will keep the exchange open as it battles a fraud lawsuit.


  2. House testimony by crypto firm Prometheum CEO€ raises questions about regulation
    Recent testimony in front of the U.S. House by cryptocurrency firm Prometheum€ Inc. Chief Executive Aaron Kaplan has created a stir regarding regulatory clarity for digital assets.


  3. Francis Suarez, Miami Mayor, Is Running for President: What to Know
    Mr. Suarez, who is entering the Republican presidential race, is a cryptocurrency enthusiast who holds a largely ceremonial job as mayor of Miami.


  4. He Went After Crypto Companies. Then Someone Came After Him.
    Kyle Roche was a rising star in the field of cryptocurrency law — until his career imploded. Who orchestrated his downfall?


  5. 2023-06-12 [Older] Geoserver Attack Details: More Cryptominers against Unconfigured WebApps, (Mon, Jun 12th)
  6. Ouroboros LLMs and their impending entropy problem

    More to the point though, as any cryptographer will tell you, this reduction entropy is a disaster if your model requires original thought.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's Bing Falls to Fourth in the Europe/Asia-Based Turkey, Share Halved Since LLM Hype, Now Only 1% (Sometimes Less)
Turkey (Eurasia) is another example of Microsoft failing with LLM hype and just burning a lot of energy in vain (investment without returns)
Backlash and Negative Press After Microsoft Tells Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) People to DIE
Follow-up stories
Censorship as Signal of Opportunity for Reform
It remains sad and ironic that Wikileaks outsourced so much of its official communications to Twitter (now X)
The World Wide Web Has Been Rotting for Years (Quality, Accuracy, and Depth Consistently Decreasing)
In the past people said that the Web had both "good" and "bad" and that the good outweighed the bad
Comoros: Windows Plunges to Record Low of About 6% in Country of a Million People (in 2010 Windows Was 100%)
Many of these people earn a few dollars a day; they don't care for Microsoft's "Hey Hi PC" hype
The Mail (MX) Server Survey for July 2024 Shows Microsoft Collapsing to Only 689 Servers or 0.17% of the Whole (It Used to be About 25%)
Microsoft became so insignificant and the most astounding thing is how the media deliberate ignores it or refuses to cover it
Windows Down From 98.5% to 22.9% in Hungary
Android is up because more people buy smaller mobile devices than laptops
Microsoft Windows in Algeria: From 100% to Less Than 15%
Notice that not too long ago Windows was measured at 100%. Now? Not even 15%.
 
Joel Espy Klecker & Debian on Joe Biden's health and Donald Trump's assassination
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 17, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Links 18/07/2024: Hostname Pedantry and Retro Coding
Links for the day
Fedora Week of Diversity (FWD) 2024 Attracting 0.01% of the IBM Staff "Was a Success"
They expect volunteers (unpaid slaves) to do the PR for them...
African's Largest Population (Nigeria) Approaching 80% Android "Market Share" Amid Steady Monthly Increases While Microsoft Has Mass Layoffs in Nigeria
Microsoft- and Apple-sponsored Western (or English-speaking) media chooses to ignore that or treat it as irrelevant (a racist disposition in its own right)
[Meme] The Warlord's Catspaw
Thugs that troll us
Microsoft Misogyny Will be the Fall of Microsoft (Covering Up for Misogynists is a Huge Mistake and Highly Misguided Short-term Strategy)
Microsoft's undoing may in fact be its attitude towards women
Red Hat Keeps Behaving Like a Microsoft Reseller (for Proprietary Stuff!), Microsoft Employees as Authors in redhat.com
In some ways this reminds us of Novell
UEFI 'Secure Boot' Once Again Bricking PCs and Fake Security Models Are Perishing in Geminispace
Let's Encrypt has just fallen again
Links 17/07/2024: New Attacks on the Press, European Patents Squashed Even at Kangaroo Court (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2024: Proponents of Censorship and New Arrivals at Gemini
Links for the day
Links 17/07/2024: School Budget Meltdown and Modern Cars as Tracking Nightmares
Links for the day
This Should Certainly be Illegal, But the Person Who Helped Microsoft Do This is Still Attacking the Critics of It
perhaps time for an "I told you so post"
[Meme] A Computer With an Extra Key on the Keyboard Isn't Everyone's Priority
(so your telling me meme)
Africa as an Important Reminder That Eradicating Microsoft Doesn't Go Far Enough
Ideally, if our top goal is bigger than "get rid of Microsoft", we need to teach people to choose and use devices that obey them, not GAFAM
Billions of Computers Run Linux and Many Use Debian (or a Derivative of It)
many devices never get updated or even communicate with the Net, so exhaustive tallies are infeasible
[Meme] Microsoft is Firing
Don't worry, Microsoft will have some new vapourware coming soon
More DEI (or Similar) Layoffs on the Way, According to Microsoft Team Leader
What happened shortly before Independence Day wasn't the end of it, apparently
[Meme] Many Volunteers Now Realise the "Open" in "OpenSUSE" or "openSUSE" Was Labour-Mining
Back to coding, packaging and testing, slaves
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" in New Zealand Plunges to 25%
Android rising
[Meme] Ein Factory
A choice between "masters" (or "master race") is a false choice that results in mass exploitation and ultimately eradication (when there's little left to exploit)
Links 17/07/2024: Open Source Initiative Lies and Dark Net Thoughts
Links for the day
SUSE Goes Aryan: You May Not Use the Germanic Brand Anymore (It's Monopolised by the Corporation)
Worse than grammar Nazis
Media Distorting Truth to Promote Ignorance
online media is rapidly collapsing
Gratis But Not Free as in Freedom: How Let's Encrypt is Dying in Geminispace
Let's Encrypt is somewhat of a dying breed where the misguided CA model is shunned
Android Rises to New Highs of Almost 80% in Cameroon
How many dozens of nations will see Windows at under 10% this coming winter?
Links 16/07/2024: TikTok Ban in Europe and Yandex Split
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/07/2024: On Packrafting and on Trump Shot
Links for the day
[Meme] Firefox Users Who Think They Know Better Than Mozilla
Enjoy Firebook
Firefox Used to Have About Half the Market in Switzerland, But It Doesn't Stand a Chance Anymore (Chrome Surging This Summer)
Mozilla has managed to alienate some of the biggest fans of Firefox
Microsoft's Biggest Losses Are in Europe This Summer
Microsoft's ability to milk a relatively rich Europe is fast diminishing
How to Make Software Suck and Discriminate Against People at the Same Time
ageism glorified
Bing Was at 2.6% in Russia When LLM Hype Started. Now It's Down to 0.8% (for 3 Months in a Row Already)
The sharp fall of Bing may mean that exiting the Russian market won't matter to anybody
[Meme] Microsoft Seems to be Failing to Comply With WARN Act (by Refusing to Announce Mass Layoffs as They Happen)
since when does Microsoft obey the law anyway?
Microsoft Layoffs Are Still Too Frequent to Keep Abreast of and Properly (or Exhaustively) Classify
The "HR" department knows what's happening, but whistleblowers from there are rare
Bahamas Joined the "5% Windows" Club
statCounter only traces back about 1 in 20 Web requests to Windows
Links 16/07/2024: Salesforce Layoffs and Microsoft's DMARC Fail
Links for the day
Antenna Abuse and Gemini Abuse (Self-hosting Perils)
Perhaps all this junk is a sign of Gemini growing up
Possibly Worse Than Bribes: US Politicians and Lawmakers Who Are Microsoft Shareholders
They will keep bailing out Microsoft to bail themselves out
The Software Freedom Conservancy Folks Don't Even Believe in Free Speech and They Act As Imposters (Also in the Trademark Arena/Sense)
Software Freedom Conservancy was already establishing a reputation for itself as a G(I)AFAM censor/gatekeeper
Djibouti Enters the Windows "10% Club" (Windows Was 99% in 2010)
In Africa in general Microsoft lost control
GNU/Linux Share Doubled in the United States of America (USA) in the Past 12 Months
Or so says statCounter
Even in North Korea (Democratic People's Republic Of Korea) Google Said to Dominate, Microsoft Around 1%
Google at 93.26%
[Meme] The Red Bait (Embrace... Extinguish)
They set centos on fire, then offer a (de facto) proprietary substitute for a fee
Shooting the Messenger to Spite the Message
segment of a Noam Chomsky talk
[Video] Boston Area Assange Defense (Yesterday)
It was published only hours ago
Guinea: Windows Down From 99.3% to 2.7% 'Market Share'
Guinea is not a small country
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 15, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, July 15, 2024
What's Meant by "Antenna Abuse" (Gemini)
syndication is not a monopoly in Gemini and if one doesn't condone political censorship, then one can create one's own syndication service/capsule
Microsoft Layoffs and Entire Unit Termination: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
What an announcement to make just before Independence Day
Links 16/07/2024: Old Computer Challenge and One Page Dungeon Contest
Links for the day