In my opinion this is what greed does to people. Doesn't matter your background. Armstrong was here on HN pointing out his vision of free exchange of currency at close to zero rates. He wanted to fight "the big guys", including credit cards mafia and PayPal mafia. What A WONDERFUL goal.
What he ended up with, is obnoxious exchange rates @ Coinbase (triple what credit cards charge), hundreds of thousands of ruined lives, lots of suicides, and $100 million dollar mansion.
What A RECORD.
Don't get me wrong - I would love to live Armstrong's life (although I wouldn't be this shrewd), but as someone who believes in heaven and hell, I definitely would not want to die as Armstrong.
Though my perspective is that you're taking some of this stuff really extreme, you are a talented visual writer and I enjoyed reading this comment a lot lol
They are doing layoffs because crypto is a speculative bubble fueled by liquidity. And now that liquidity is disappearing crypto is rapidly losing value.
You can't attribute suicides of people investing in crypto to Armstrong. I think Armstrong had a great vision and ok execution (I would give grade D but not F). Overhiring was irresponsible. Out of control costs were unneccessory. But you have to understand that founders in this space have enormous pressure to grow, try new ideas and new products as they are constantly at risk by other players (Cashapp, Paypal etc).
Before Coinbase, investing in crypto was super murkey even without all the volatility. They were able to make crypto accessible and provide marketplace that is not full of scams (so far). For people who controlled their risk by not exceeding crypto investment beyod 1% of their networth, it was great way to get in the market. If Ukrain war + COVID didn't exist, they had a decent chance realizing vision. If they can survive the storm, I think they would still be the most trusted crypto marketplace.
Do you even use Coinbase? Every time I login I am being swamp by flashy ads of just another shitcoin with big banner telling me that I can make a fortune. Most of these coins - if not all [the judgment is still out] are worthless and will never be more than 5% of what they are now, before they fell 99.99999%.
Whether Armstrong is pushing this shitcoins because he doesn't know better, or doesn't really care - its equally evil.
What he ended up with, is obnoxious exchange rates @ Coinbase (triple what credit cards charge), hundreds of thousands of ruined lives, lots of suicides, and $100 million dollar mansion.
What A RECORD.
Don't get me wrong - I would love to live Armstrong's life (although I wouldn't be this shrewd), but as someone who believes in heaven and hell, I definitely would not want to die as Armstrong.