There are many stigmas surrounding web3 and cryptocurrency, but the most prevalent is that it’s a scam.
Let’s dive into this subject and shed light on this topic.
Commonly Leveled Scam Allegations Against Cryptocurrency
Here are the most common accusations about crypto and web3, let’s debunk them!
“I Spent All of My Money on a Token Whose Value Plummeted”
This is the most common thing I see on Twitter from newcomers to cryptocurrency. There’s a distinction between web3 and crypto. In web3, you use the tokens, rather than simply purchasing them and waiting for them to rise or fall in value.
Purchasing a token on a centralized platform, like Coinbase, without knowing what it does entails risks. Even well-known tokens, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, are highly volatile.
To understand a token’s price action, you must first understand its tokenomics: how it’s minted, who it’s allocated to, and what the incentive is for holding it. Even knowing all of this information is insufficient to predict a token’s price in fiat (fiduciary money), but supply and demand can be predicted in some ways.
The solution is simple: buy what you need. It’s up to you if you use a product and enjoy it enough to take a risk on it. You can try a variety of products and chains, and simply skip the ones that aren’t right for you.
“Web3 Is Nothing More than a Speculative Bubble.”
It’s ironic that that’s the exact same sentence that’s been said about the Internet since the 1990s.
The truth is that web3 developers and users are experimenting. Some experiments are successful, while others aren’t, and some are simply outrageous.
The most frequently discussed topic is decentralization, or allowing anyone to participate in whatever they want by using credentials other than those used in web3.
Some people choose to invest in a specific project or blockchain because they believe it will:
Produce something fantastic,
Achieve widespread adoption,
Provide early believers with high returns.
That’s the speculative part. Expectations may be exaggerated or undervalued, but the web3 ecosystem is so vast and diverse that it’s impossible to know every single project or predict which ones will succeed.
When a web3 project delivers a great product, begins to succeed, and gains new users, interest in blockchain technology grows.
However, we may not know for decades whether their current valuation is correct. Web3 projects will fail and disappear, just like regular start-ups, while others will thrive.
The good news is that you don’t have to buy anything to see what web3 is all about.
“NFTs Are Money Grabs”
To be clear, let’s talk only about legitimate NFTs from creators. There’s more to say about NFTs, and about illegitimate projects that steal art, but let’s only focus on artists who have switched to NFTs.
There’s an odd hostility toward artists who decide to experiment with NFTs. When this artist, for example, announced this, they received a lot of backlash:
Their first NFT sold on Foundation for more than 20 ETH (around 40K at the time), and they received proposals to work on gaming projects from several accounts. Why?
Because people who built or simply held Ethereum made a lot of money from this opportunity, and have a tendency to support artists they like or speculate on the value of the art.
By joining the Ethereum chain, this artist gained access to a global capital of millionaires.
They’re in a completely different league than when they were selling beautiful commissions for $20.
These were people who spent real money on an artist’s first NFT.
Seeing people who have been struggling suddenly become wealthy can be upsetting for some. If you’re upset when you see an artist you like making money from their art, having their talent truly recognized, being able to pay the bills, and create more with this newly acquired peace of mind, it’s time to reconsider if you’re truly a fan.
More could be said about NFTs to fill an entire article, but…
Read More: web3.hashnode.com