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The deeper problem is that most people want to amass crypto and get rich from it, and only a minority want to actually use it as a currency or for some heartfel

by Bakary 7y ago

The deeper problem is that most people want to amass crypto and get rich from it, and only a minority want to actually use it as a currency or for some heartfelt ideological reason. As a corollary to that, you also have an army of people who are driven to madness because they didn't get to cash in, and seek to undermine crypto in the hopes of healing those gaping mental wounds. But it doesn't change the fact that the masses who drove the prices up wanted it to be a pyramid scheme in which they were the winners.

puranjay 7y ago
These crypto hoarders and traders are also the people keeping crypto from being used as a currency. You can't buy/sell things in a currency that fluctuates several percentage points in a week.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  They are also the people that keep crypto going. Without the promise if getting rich Bitcoin would have been a little curiosity and not more.
- woah 7y ago
  This is simply the consequence of a thinly traded asset whose value does not have any real world dividends to anchor it. If the hoarders and traders disappeared, the volatility would be due to other more inexplicable market mechanics.
Retric 7y ago
In terms of using it as a currency that’s orthogonal to investment returns. A low cost, highly scalable, easy to use, system could still be created. But it would need to have some advantages for users over existing systems. Further, any technical solution would need to compete with just using an existing currency as the internal token. That’s a hard problem. Irreversible transactions look nice for the merchant, but as legal organizations can be taken to court that’s mostly valuable for scammers etc. Anonymity is a prized feature, but brings the legal hammer down as governments will actively fight such systems. PS: Crypto investment is an obvious pyramid scheme mathematically as it does not generate profits internationally. Further it makes no difference to adoption if you buy or don’t buy a given coin. It can only move them from later investors to early investors.
soup10 7y ago
Crypto is just a very effective security with which to speculate, part of the game is that its not tied to any real world asset so no price is too high or too low. high volatility, low regulation, built in deflation, limited supply(because people like to hoard coins) and just enough technical innovation and jargon that it seems "high tech", fear of missing out... all these things created the perfect storm for smart and dumb people alike to pump bitcoin to the moon.

by Bakary 7y ago

puranjay 7y ago

These crypto hoarders and traders are also the people keeping crypto from being used as a currency. You can't buy/sell things in a currency that fluctuates several percentage points in a week.

maxxxxx 7y ago
They are also the people that keep crypto going. Without the promise if getting rich Bitcoin would have been a little curiosity and not more.
woah 7y ago
This is simply the consequence of a thinly traded asset whose value does not have any real world dividends to anchor it. If the hoarders and traders disappeared, the volatility would be due to other more inexplicable market mechanics.

Retric 7y ago

In terms of using it as a currency that’s orthogonal to investment returns. A low cost, highly scalable, easy to use, system could still be created. But it would need to have some advantages for users over existing systems. Further, any technical solution would need to compete with just using an existing currency as the internal token. That’s a hard problem. Irreversible transactions look nice for the merchant, but as legal organizations can be taken to court that’s mostly valuable for scammers etc. Anonymity is a prized feature, but brings the legal hammer down as governments will actively fight such systems. PS: Crypto investment is an obvious pyramid scheme mathematically as it does not generate profits internationally. Further it makes no difference to adoption if you buy or don’t buy a given coin. It can only move them from later investors to early investors.

soup10 7y ago

Crypto is just a very effective security with which to speculate, part of the game is that its not tied to any real world asset so no price is too high or too low. high volatility, low regulation, built in deflation, limited supply(because people like to hoard coins) and just enough technical innovation and jargon that it seems "high tech", fear of missing out... all these things created the perfect storm for smart and dumb people alike to pump bitcoin to the moon.