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but cryptocurrency is not for making profit. It's a killer application because its censorship resistant peer to peer digital money without counterfeiting and fu

but cryptocurrency is not for making profit. It's a killer application because its censorship resistant peer to peer digital money without counterfeiting and fungible (some of the coins). That you can't predict the price is totally irrelevant of the application and societal changes this can bring.

cctt23 9y ago
This is a great example of what people here hate, while not hating the underlying technology. In the midst of a ludicrous series of ICO scams and proliferation of get-rich-quick coins, it’s very clearly false. For those of us who like our Libertarianism grounded in reality, the fantastical, counterfactual version peddled in cryptocurrency circles is almost offensive.
hluska 9y ago
I completely agree with everything you say. In fact, those exact arguments propelled my initial interest in Bitcoin! Unfortunately though, all those good things about cryptocurrency depend on it being as easy to trade as fiat currency. That wasn't true five or six years ago, but then that could be excused because it was a new technology. But, it's still not true and that's why I'm getting more skeptical as time goes by. It isn't true for several reasons. The biggest is that value fluctuates too wildly and is highly unpredictable, so it works best as a currency if suppliers constantly change their prices and you convert your cryptocurrency to fiat as quickly as possible. But if you do quick crypto-fiat conversions, you often run into either slow transaction times or transaction fees many times higher than the most expensive payment processors. (I genuinely hope that I'm wrong and feel like a Luddite when I read this in five years.)
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
That may have been the initial motivation and intent. But it's not true of the reality, and hasn't been for several years. > That you can't predict the price is totally irrelevant... For something that aspires to be "money", that is highly relevant.
- arisAlexis 9y ago
  not if the base currency is Bitcoin (I know...)

cctt23 9y ago

This is a great example of what people here hate, while not hating the underlying technology. In the midst of a ludicrous series of ICO scams and proliferation of get-rich-quick coins, it’s very clearly false. For those of us who like our Libertarianism grounded in reality, the fantastical, counterfactual version peddled in cryptocurrency circles is almost offensive.

hluska 9y ago

I completely agree with everything you say. In fact, those exact arguments propelled my initial interest in Bitcoin! Unfortunately though, all those good things about cryptocurrency depend on it being as easy to trade as fiat currency. That wasn't true five or six years ago, but then that could be excused because it was a new technology. But, it's still not true and that's why I'm getting more skeptical as time goes by. It isn't true for several reasons. The biggest is that value fluctuates too wildly and is highly unpredictable, so it works best as a currency if suppliers constantly change their prices and you convert your cryptocurrency to fiat as quickly as possible. But if you do quick crypto-fiat conversions, you often run into either slow transaction times or transaction fees many times higher than the most expensive payment processors. (I genuinely hope that I'm wrong and feel like a Luddite when I read this in five years.)

AnimalMuppet 9y ago

That may have been the initial motivation and intent. But it's not true of the reality, and hasn't been for several years. > That you can't predict the price is totally irrelevant... For something that aspires to be "money", that is highly relevant.

arisAlexis 9y ago
not if the base currency is Bitcoin (I know...)