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Why isn't the original simple payment use case not compelling enough? Why does currency have to ALSO do all this other stuff? Why can't it just be... money? M
by t0mbstone 5y ago
Why isn't the original simple payment use case not compelling enough?
Why does currency have to ALSO do all this other stuff? Why can't it just be... money?
My dream for crypto is to one day have a safe place to put my money where it:
1. Can't be lost or stolen
2. Can't be tracked or taxed without consent
3. Is stable and holds its relative value globally, regardless of government or private influence
4. Is instantaneous to transact
5. Can handle millions of transactions per second, so it can truly operate on a global scale
6. Is free to use
7. Can be easily and cheaply converted into other currencies
As far as I know, there are zero crypto projects that meet all of these requirements, but there are a number of them that have been iterating towards these goals. I believe we will eventually end up with the dream being realized, but these are all hard problems to solve and it might take a while.
- api 5y agoThe problem is that cryptocurrency is terrible money because it's hyperdeflationary, or at least the most popular coins are. Bitcoin is far more deflationary than gold since with gold you can't lose your key and render your gold non-existent. We don't even know how much Bitcoin has been lost to "breakage." The insanely deflationary nature of these currencies makes them prone to wild swings in value, which is not something you want in money. It also attracts a lot of Ponzi schemers and get rich quick types.
- t0mbstone 5y agoOh, trust me, I’ve been saying Bitcoin is fundamentally broken since day one. That doesn’t mean all crypto coins are scams though. There are a number of stable coins that are in development that look really interesting, but a lot of them suffer from various faults. We still haven’t figured out the perfect coin yet, but I do believe it’s only a matter of time.