Hacker News Reader

I'd say this applies better to adjustable rate loans. Some crypto isn't a scam even if nearly all the tokens are.

Adjustable rate loans and all kinds of investment products don't make good financial sense, but that's not the same thing as a scam. An ARM is not fraudulent, it's just dangerous, in the same way that credit cards are easy to abuse but aren't scams or ponzi schemes.

ARMs are dangerous to the degree I'd say they're fraudulent. Certainly they are if all of crypto meets your standard.

ARMs are not fraudulent because the terms are clearly disclosed. If someone chooses to borrow money and agrees to unfavorable terms they have supposedly made an informed decision. ARMs are not Ponzi schemes, and there’s no rug pull or fake valuations. They are just bad financial decisions for a lot of people.

Even so, finding examples of scams or fraud or risky investments that aren’t crypto doesn’t validate crypto. People are capable of all kinds of scams and frauds. Crypto is just a near-perfect vehicle for scammers.

The ARMs in the 1980s in the United States were well-documented and the potential interest rate increase was both "rate-limited" and capped. They were not fraudulent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com