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This is largely because there is almost nothing you can do with crypto apart from speculate and gamble. The more I learn about stuff like defi the more I unders

This is largely because there is almost nothing you can do with crypto apart from speculate and gamble. The more I learn about stuff like defi the more I understand just how fractally useless crypto is.

Rarebox 5y ago
You can buy drugs and other illegal things off the internet (tor), that's very useful for some people. Basically crypto allows for transactions that could otherwise be blocked or easily tracked by central parties (1). It can also be used to bypass gambling laws. For legal purchases and activities crypto is useless, regular money is much more practical. [1] depending on which crypto and how it's used tracking is possible, so care is required (especially) when converting dollars to crypto.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > You can buy drugs and other illegal things off the internet (tor) Can you? After that huge bust a few years back, I figured that particular usage was marginal at this point. Seems like the only use for crypto is ransomware, dodging taxes or smuggling embezzled money out of your country.
  - Clepsydra 5y ago
    IPTV. It's the only reason i own bitcoins. :)
  - Matticus_Rex 5y ago
    Yeah, there are still plenty of drugs on the darkweb. Busting a few dealers doesn't eliminate demand, and in-person dealers don't have a "reviews" page for their products and behavior.
frockington1 5y ago
The idea is it's not beholden to a government (though still somewhat centralized somewhere). Crypto is helping people in Turkey store value. With current inflation and economic conditions in the US and Europe more may need it in the near future.
- yostrovs 5y ago
  How can crypto be a store of value when the market price fluctuates so wildly? Bitcoin, etc fell much more in one day recently than the Turkish lira fell over many months. And one is supposedly using Bitcoin to avoid inflation in the lira?
  - danlugo92 5y ago
    You can save in USDT for what it's worth.
    - rglullis 5y ago
      s/USDT/DAI, please. Or sUSD from Synthetix, or EURS if you want to hold euros. Or GBPP if you want to hold GBP. Anything but USDT. USDT is poison.
      - danlugo92 5y ago
        Yeah I was just using it as an example.
        rglullis 5y ago
        Ok, got it. It's not that I want to pick on you, just that we should use Tether and USDT as an example only when we are talking about scumbags who contribute to make the whole crypto community look like irresponsible frauds.
curtisblaine 5y ago
You can bypass the de facto ban that VISA and Mastercard put on the existence of some websites, for example Gab or the other similar one which now I can't remember. If I recall correctly, you can currently donate money to those sites only using cryptocurrency. This is kinda important, in my opinion, because "only offensive speech is free speech" (this doesn't mean I like those sites, but I don't want the credit card companies to decide what can exist on the Internet)
danlugo92 5y ago
You find a great employee, he's in Venezuela, how do you pay them? They have no access to Swift. Western Union (didn't exist until a few years back) has like 20% fees. Paypal effective total fees 20% as well. Bitcoin? $0.30 to pay him/her, 0.30 to get the btc to his/her exchange and then cash out.
ninkendo 5y ago
You can use it to pay off the ransomware criminals who pwned your computer I guess...

Rarebox 5y ago

You can buy drugs and other illegal things off the internet (tor), that's very useful for some people. Basically crypto allows for transactions that could otherwise be blocked or easily tracked by central parties (1). It can also be used to bypass gambling laws. For legal purchases and activities crypto is useless, regular money is much more practical. [1] depending on which crypto and how it's used tracking is possible, so care is required (especially) when converting dollars to crypto.

pessimizer 5y ago
> You can buy drugs and other illegal things off the internet (tor) Can you? After that huge bust a few years back, I figured that particular usage was marginal at this point. Seems like the only use for crypto is ransomware, dodging taxes or smuggling embezzled money out of your country.
- Clepsydra 5y ago
  IPTV. It's the only reason i own bitcoins. :)
- Matticus_Rex 5y ago
  Yeah, there are still plenty of drugs on the darkweb. Busting a few dealers doesn't eliminate demand, and in-person dealers don't have a "reviews" page for their products and behavior.

frockington1 5y ago

The idea is it's not beholden to a government (though still somewhat centralized somewhere). Crypto is helping people in Turkey store value. With current inflation and economic conditions in the US and Europe more may need it in the near future.

yostrovs 5y ago
How can crypto be a store of value when the market price fluctuates so wildly? Bitcoin, etc fell much more in one day recently than the Turkish lira fell over many months. And one is supposedly using Bitcoin to avoid inflation in the lira?
- danlugo92 5y ago
  You can save in USDT for what it's worth.
  - rglullis 5y ago
    s/USDT/DAI, please. Or sUSD from Synthetix, or EURS if you want to hold euros. Or GBPP if you want to hold GBP. Anything but USDT. USDT is poison.
    - danlugo92 5y ago
      Yeah I was just using it as an example.
      - rglullis 5y ago
        Ok, got it. It's not that I want to pick on you, just that we should use Tether and USDT as an example only when we are talking about scumbags who contribute to make the whole crypto community look like irresponsible frauds.

curtisblaine 5y ago

You can bypass the de facto ban that VISA and Mastercard put on the existence of some websites, for example Gab or the other similar one which now I can't remember. If I recall correctly, you can currently donate money to those sites only using cryptocurrency. This is kinda important, in my opinion, because "only offensive speech is free speech" (this doesn't mean I like those sites, but I don't want the credit card companies to decide what can exist on the Internet)

danlugo92 5y ago

You find a great employee, he's in Venezuela, how do you pay them? They have no access to Swift. Western Union (didn't exist until a few years back) has like 20% fees. Paypal effective total fees 20% as well. Bitcoin? $0.30 to pay him/her, 0.30 to get the btc to his/her exchange and then cash out.

ninkendo 5y ago

You can use it to pay off the ransomware criminals who pwned your computer I guess...