<story><title>As Bitcoin Sinks, Industry Startups Are Forced to Cut Back</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/26/as-bitcoin-sinks-industry-startups-are-forced-to-cut-back/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>DenisM</author><text>The most remarkable thing about BTC is diffusion of responsibility. If it was issued and marketed by a single entity the participants would be in hot water by now for violating the Securities and Exchange laws. However here we had one non-affiliated group of bigger miners issuing the coins and another group of volunteer enthusiasts hyping them up. Since the second group was not hired by the first, the first group cannot be held accountable, while the second group has agents too numerous and too small to go after.&lt;p&gt;This is similar to the housing bubble, where the industry collectively hyped up the &amp;quot;investment&amp;quot; promising huge returns, yet no one was to blame when the music stopped.&lt;p&gt;Watch out for mo ways to diffuse responsibility, that&amp;#x27;s where &amp;quot;action&amp;quot; will be. Maybe we can nip it in the bud sooner if all keep an eye out.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>krrrh</author><text>Preston Byrne pointed out since there is no pyramid, this can’t be called a Ponzi scheme. It deserves a new name, the “Nakamoto scheme”:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;prestonbyrne.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;bitcoin_ponzi&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;prestonbyrne.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;12&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;bitcoin_ponzi&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>As Bitcoin Sinks, Industry Startups Are Forced to Cut Back</title><url>https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/26/as-bitcoin-sinks-industry-startups-are-forced-to-cut-back/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>DenisM</author><text>The most remarkable thing about BTC is diffusion of responsibility. If it was issued and marketed by a single entity the participants would be in hot water by now for violating the Securities and Exchange laws. However here we had one non-affiliated group of bigger miners issuing the coins and another group of volunteer enthusiasts hyping them up. Since the second group was not hired by the first, the first group cannot be held accountable, while the second group has agents too numerous and too small to go after.&lt;p&gt;This is similar to the housing bubble, where the industry collectively hyped up the &amp;quot;investment&amp;quot; promising huge returns, yet no one was to blame when the music stopped.&lt;p&gt;Watch out for mo ways to diffuse responsibility, that&amp;#x27;s where &amp;quot;action&amp;quot; will be. Maybe we can nip it in the bud sooner if all keep an eye out.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pera</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;If it was issued and marketed by a single entity the participants would be in hot water by now for violating the Securities and Exchange laws.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;What laws are being violated by Bitcoin&amp;#x27;s participants?</text></comment>