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The world wants and needs a medium of exchange, otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins. All the medium of exchange needs, is to be scarce - peo

The world wants and needs a medium of exchange, otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins. All the medium of exchange needs, is to be scarce - people have used conch shells when it served the purpose. Right now, bitcoin is the best medium of exchange for the modern world. It beats physical stuff like gold, because it can be transferred digitally, across physical boundaries. It beats sovereign currencies, because you don't have to depend on the policies of arbitrary governments. Bitcoin's scarcity is artificial, but that is a red herring. Bitcoin has the value that it has because the scarcity is real and believable. No one in a position to manipulate the network or protocol (a position that it is doubtful anyone could ever achieve at this point) would stand to gain from 'hacking' it, since that would instantly destroy it. All that said, yeah, the price rises are probably driven to a large extent by greed and ignorance. But so is a lot of the stock market and other investment vehicles.

mrlala 6y ago
>driven to a large extent by greed and ignorance. But so is a lot of the stock market and other investment vehicles That I completely agree with and have almost as much issue with. But at least the underlying's have some value. The actual value is up for debate, but it's actual value of something (like an underlying company and their cash/IP/other assets etc) or a commodity which is physically useful (an ounce of gold, a barrel of oil). Bitcoin has no underlying value. You equate that to conch shells- ok, but that's all they had when they used it. We already have currencies. So comparing it to a situation where a civilization may have used conch shells is pretty laughable. If all we had was conch shells and you came up with bitcoin? Great! Seems like a nice idea, it's an improvement. Bitcoin, however, is not an improvement by any stretch of the imagination. >The world wants and needs a medium of exchange, otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins. That's what... currencies are for especially the USD in particular. You say otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins.. huh? We are not there, we have currencies... Are they perfect? Of course not. But we have a few extremely large currencies (like USD, EUR) that do exactly what you say. And now here's the humorous thing. You will tell related to currencies- "well, what good does USD do to me, I'm in Country X and can't use it or don't have it!" The fucking price of crypto is being quoted RELATIVE TO CURRENCIES so... wtf? If you are in Country X and want to send some value to the person in Country Y.. ok so yes you can send bitcoin. Great. But what if you actually want to use your money? You have to convert bitcoin into X or Y?? There is no point to all of this! And because of different costs of living all throughout the world, the 'amount' of bitcoin you pay someone would still 'relative' to their underlying currencies worth. I'm just getting tired even trying to type this insane circular logic. If there were no thieves and people were perfect, then crypto might make sense. But because there is no recourse for accidentally sending money to the wrong person, literally losing your hard drive or whatever and you can't recover, someone hacking into your account etc.. crypto is MEANINGLESS for any normal use.

mrlala 6y ago

>driven to a large extent by greed and ignorance. But so is a lot of the stock market and other investment vehicles That I completely agree with and have almost as much issue with. But at least the underlying's have some value. The actual value is up for debate, but it's actual value of something (like an underlying company and their cash/IP/other assets etc) or a commodity which is physically useful (an ounce of gold, a barrel of oil). Bitcoin has no underlying value. You equate that to conch shells- ok, but that's all they had when they used it. We already have currencies. So comparing it to a situation where a civilization may have used conch shells is pretty laughable. If all we had was conch shells and you came up with bitcoin? Great! Seems like a nice idea, it's an improvement. Bitcoin, however, is not an improvement by any stretch of the imagination. >The world wants and needs a medium of exchange, otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins. That's what... currencies are for especially the USD in particular. You say otherwise we are back to bartering fish for sheep skins.. huh? We are not there, we have currencies... Are they perfect? Of course not. But we have a few extremely large currencies (like USD, EUR) that do exactly what you say. And now here's the humorous thing. You will tell related to currencies- "well, what good does USD do to me, I'm in Country X and can't use it or don't have it!" The fucking price of crypto is being quoted RELATIVE TO CURRENCIES so... wtf? If you are in Country X and want to send some value to the person in Country Y.. ok so yes you can send bitcoin. Great. But what if you actually want to use your money? You have to convert bitcoin into X or Y?? There is no point to all of this! And because of different costs of living all throughout the world, the 'amount' of bitcoin you pay someone would still 'relative' to their underlying currencies worth. I'm just getting tired even trying to type this insane circular logic. If there were no thieves and people were perfect, then crypto might make sense. But because there is no recourse for accidentally sending money to the wrong person, literally losing your hard drive or whatever and you can't recover, someone hacking into your account etc.. crypto is MEANINGLESS for any normal use.