4 ms·

The ratchet up since 2016 certainly does not have me disillusioned.

• api 9y ago
  It's a standard phase in the adoption of any technology. It usually goes: initial interest (run up), hype phase (often accompanied by bubble), hype peak (bubble gets absurd), disillusionment (often accompanied by crash), then gradual renewal of interest and "plateau of enlightenment." Cryptocurrency is still in its hype phase but there are signs that it's ending. When it does expect a loss of interest and possibly a crash in value, though the latter may not occur as much as people expect due to the weird behavior of illiquid or thinly traded assets and the deflationary nature of most existing cryptocurrencies. The plateau of enlightenment will come as people figure out new ways to scale cryptocurrencies and adapt them to different use cases in the real world. Their current use cases of financial fraud, gambling, and crime are actually not uncommon. The military and criminals are generally early adopters of new technology, and things like gambling and porn are often early use cases. Sober mainstream "enterprise" users generally stay away from new technologies until they reach their plateau of enlightenment and are thus well understood and reliable.