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I didn't say it was a scam, I said it was gambling. There are only two killer use cases for crypto: speculation and prohibited transactions. That's not snarky

by CPLX 5y ago

I didn't say it was a scam, I said it was gambling. There are only two killer use cases for crypto: speculation and prohibited transactions. That's not snarky those are actually pretty great use cases that have massive demand and centuries of success behind them as a product category. A large part of crypto is scams, but it's clear not all of it is. You couldn't really argue that bitcoin, in general, is just a scam for example. But beyond that it's basically all gambling. People put money into crypto hoping to get more money out. Period. That's a really fucking desirable product it should be pointed out. It's so desired by people that you can build an entire city in a desert on the concept, it's common to all societies in all eras of history. People just absolutely fucking love to gamble. Every argument against this seems to be a variation on "Well sure, but one day they might..." and so on. Which is cool. You're absolutely right to say that. One day it might not just be gambling. But today, it is. That's why there's money in it.

fleddr 5y ago
I superficially agree that most activity is speculation, which in some cases you might as well name "saving", or "investing". I also agree that actual breakthroughs in utility (DeFi, NFT, Metaverse, Web3) haven't materialized yet. I only disagree on details. Like the use cases you missed, some of a humanitarian nature. For example, still a significant part of the world is unbanked, and has no access to the financial system at all. Crypto, permission-less and only requiring the internet and a smartphone provides a solution. For people living under highly inflationary regimes (Turkey, Libya, etc), crypto can be an unconfiscatable asset to protect their savings. Immigrants often send money back to their home country, and by means of international banking, lose a whopping 30% in transaction fees. Crypto can do it for near-zero fees. A hardcore cynic may call these just variations of "gambling" but to me these details matter. Further, like you said, the very point of any asset is persist value and ideally grow in value. That's even true for just basic currency. So this deep moral outrage that people are trying to earn money is misplaced, it's the damn point of any participant in an economy.

by CPLX 5y ago

fleddr 5y ago

I superficially agree that most activity is speculation, which in some cases you might as well name "saving", or "investing". I also agree that actual breakthroughs in utility (DeFi, NFT, Metaverse, Web3) haven't materialized yet. I only disagree on details. Like the use cases you missed, some of a humanitarian nature. For example, still a significant part of the world is unbanked, and has no access to the financial system at all. Crypto, permission-less and only requiring the internet and a smartphone provides a solution. For people living under highly inflationary regimes (Turkey, Libya, etc), crypto can be an unconfiscatable asset to protect their savings. Immigrants often send money back to their home country, and by means of international banking, lose a whopping 30% in transaction fees. Crypto can do it for near-zero fees. A hardcore cynic may call these just variations of "gambling" but to me these details matter. Further, like you said, the very point of any asset is persist value and ideally grow in value. That's even true for just basic currency. So this deep moral outrage that people are trying to earn money is misplaced, it's the damn point of any participant in an economy.