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It seems to be hype and speculation in its purest form. Pure as in having no actual utility. Reminds me of things like high frequency trading. Just expensive computation that extracts value and distracts people. With the difference that high frequency trading is less inherently dumb and feels more like an exploit rather than a scheme.

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In fact, the profits of high frequency trading can be seen as rewards for filling the market with liquidity, so it's not strictly an exploit.

Is there much evidence that HFT yields in better results for those making economically meaningful trades? A theoretical increase in liquidity may not matter in already liquid markets, and if it does, it's not clear to me that the end-user gains are enough to justify the negative effects.

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