Do the ethics of crypto ever bother you?

It is well known that Crypto is a hivemind for scammers. It is the perfect space if you want to be shady, due to nonexistent global regulation. We can see that there are so many grifters, big influencers, and outright criminals who make and promote schemes. Bitconnect, celsius, FTX, tether, Binance, HEX; there are too many to mention.

Also hacking from nations like North Korea, has stolen hundreds of millions, if not billions in crypto.

I see it often posted here that 99% of crypto are all shitcoins. After the last bull run, there was quite a big shift in crypto perception, even within our community. It was like we realized the Emporer was naked, and agreed that we were all in this to make money. Not to change the world and bank Nigerians. And that is fine. We are all in it to earn money and make our lives better. It is essentially one big collective grift.

And if the collective grift is to continue, we need more people buying crypto than selling. If they are not buying, there is no reason to hold crypto, as the real utility and use cases are minimal.

I would not call Crypto a Ponzi, pyramid scheme, etc. It is more of a greater fool scheme. I bought Bitcoin in 2014 and sold it in 2021. I got a big payday, not because I worked hard or was intelligent, but because someone wanted to pay more for a number in a decentralized database, they hope to sell for even more in the future.

But I find it increasingly concerning reading about people putting all their money in Crypto. Like it is the only way to make it. We all know the bubble has to burst eventually (tether has printed billions out of thin air), and a lot of people will lose money. Nothing lasts forever.

When I bought Bitcoin, it was just a few hundred dollars. I would never ever risk serious money in what is essentially a more complicated form of gambling. In the same way, I would not put my life savings in a risky stock.

By participating in Crypto, do you not feel like you are supporting a massive global grift? Even if you are only vocal about it on the internet, which I where most impressionable young people learn about crypto. Has crypto been a net positive for the world? To me, it seems just about as close as you can get to a zero-sum game. With the majority of gain going to those shady people behind 99% of crypto.

I am not judging anyone, I earned a lot of money from crypto myself. But I wonder if you have ever thought about these issues or not.