Technology

Lots of people on the left don't seem to like crypto on a fundamental level. A lot of the time they seem like they have a tenuous grasp on the concept, at best, and are just parroting what they heard someone else say. Most of the time they're projecting their criticisms of Bitcoin onto the entire concept of digital currency.

I consider myself a progressive, and I got some ETH at a good time a few years ago, but I've been desperate for an exit point in the market for over a year (fomo feels bad man) because the sentiment for crypto among everyone who isn't an an-cap or tech-bro hobbyist has been atrocious for some time now.

To be clear, I don't really care for Bitcoin. It was first, and I appreciate how clever it was, mathematically and such, when it was anonymously put out there. But other than that it's kind of shit. It's like saying that wax cylinders are better than vinyl records, or even CDs, because they came first.

I hate that people seem to only have room in their brains for one word for "digital currency," and it happens to be the one with no real useful functionality, while being an absolute disaster for the environment.

It's not some kind of panacea, but people are writing off (or actively hating on) some very interesting tech. with actual use-cases like Ethereum or Monero (the former of which reduced it's power consumption by over 99% after switching to Proof-of-Stake, and the latter does not use ASIC miners and is significantly less resource intensive than BTC), because they didn't get it perfect on the first try. That said, Monero will never be a good long-term investment because it's too secure and that scares governments. Monero is like what people (at least used to) think Bitcoin is... That is, anonymous, untraceable, etc. No way that succeeds as an investment, and good luck actually using it as a currency with all that volatility.

I think the concept of a digital currency is here to stay whether people like it or not. I think it makes more sense to push for ones that can potentially solve actual issues and aren't a disaster for the environment, so people don't call them all "Bitcoin," like people do for "Q-Tips". Probably too late.

If I had to guess, long term, nations will see the writing on the wall and start using their own tailor-made CBDCs (Central-Bank Digital Currency) and it'll probably suck. They will 100% use it for control and oppression. So that's some fun stuff to look forward to.