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The fundamental problem with cryptocurrencies is that the people with the enthusiasm to make them (libertarians), are too stupid (libertarian) to understand why a deflationary asset cannot work as a currency.
It's inherently a speculative investment. Nobody is going to spend something that might be worth dramatically more tomorrow and nobody is going work for something that might be worth dramatically less tomorrow.
As much as I like to refer to Hanlon's Razor—“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”—I discourage using the word "stupidity" as personal slights. First of all, heated subjects should be met with deescalating vocabulary because it's already so hard to find common ground. Secondly, everyone is a product of their environment; more often than not ignorance, tradition, inertia, peer pressure, et cetera, is to blame. Not raw incapability of comprehending things.
What I find funny about the crypto currency concept was that it was originally devised - to what I know - to replace conventional money, under governmental control. But it quickly came the notion that for any crypto currency to hold value it had to be capable of being exchanged by the convention money it was meant to replace. Thus came the crypto markets, which in all emulate the conventional stock exchange markets (or FOREX, pick your poison), where huge chunks of wealth change hands with no real backing.
A crypto currency, in my opinion, needs to be viewed as a viable means of exchange in order to have value. If I sow potatoes and decide to sell them for crypto, that I can use next to get a massage or a second hand laptop, then a crypto has value. If nobody is using crypto to buy service or goods, then crypto is worth... nothing.
If an entire parallel economy bloomed around crypto - any crypto - that would make more strides to truly shake governments than anything else.
I don't know what Satoshi had in mind when they wrote their paper, but at least today I would view crypto money as complementary currencies rather then a replacement of fiat money. We should create a decentralized economy with a wide range of currencies -fiat and complementary money as well. Whether or not the crypto money will run on blockchains doesn't matter, but it is one technology that seems to be fit for a lot of use cases to solve payment issues imo.
If an entire parallel economy bloomed around crypto - any crypto - that would make more strides to truly shake governments than anything else.
“[…] In the end, governments aren't inherently bad, but the people in it can be. And if they can be corrupted by bitcoin then we are merely running uphill on the Titanic.
“Strong currencies are not the solution to poor governance. Good governance and democracy makes a country and its currency strong. Not vice versa.” —halukakin, HackerNews, 2021 [26]
So, governments are not without faults, but likewise not the evil bogeymen as many people make them out to be, and neither are bitcoin enthusiasts. I still think most people mean well, but our ideas cannot account for, nor fathom the complexity of it all. Should the US decrease their disproportionally large defence budget?* Most definitely. Will bitcoin stop that? Probably not. Blame is easy, change is hard, and gambling on crypto“currencies” is not hard. It's just playing Monopoly with another currency without changing the game. Maybe that's it. Maybe they don't want it changed and bitcoin is just a charade. “I don't care if we have new banks, as long as I am rich.” But let's not get lost in speculation here as well. […]”
bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed
Sounds completely un-ideological and science based. lol.
Obviously there's some academic “merit” behind the technology—similar to studying the Ptolemaic epicycles—but far less so than what evangelists try to sell you [1]. Realizing the extent of its shady, ignorant [2], and spam-happy proponents
This article is just the mirror image.
There's no science here either.
Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin's shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won't change the world for the better.
I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that's a human issue rather than a technological one.
Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won’t change the world for the better.
I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.
≈ “C₁₀H₁₅N is only a chemical, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use crystal meth and other chemicals, but that's a human issue rather than a technological one.”
Good read, crazy that I just saw this for the first time after deciding to start selling my crypto last night.