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Slight tangent: Maybe it’s just me, but I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the label “crypto” being co-opted as official shorthand for cryptocurrencies. I see how
by samch 5y ago
Slight tangent: Maybe it’s just me, but I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the label “crypto” being co-opted as official shorthand for cryptocurrencies. I see how it’s a natural truncation of a long term, but to many of us the word crypto can mean many other things. When I saw the headline, I wondered if they had released their own cryptographic library or something else to that effect.
- SketchySeaBeast 5y agoIt's really unfortunate. But I guess it's better than shortening it to "currency" because that would imply it has actual value.
- danuker 5y agoWhat is actual value to you personally?
- EamonnMR 5y agoCan be exchanged for goods and services.
- knownjorbist 5y agoSo crypto qualifies.
- dybber 5y agoWhy isn’t this new Stripe thing then about being able to use Bitcoin when buying things? Or how do I use Coinbase for buying things? Try go to the coinbase website and look for how to buy things with your Bitcoin. What I read from the site is that it’s all about investing in the value going up, not about making payments to other people or businesses for services or purchases.
- colinmhayes 5y ago> how do I use Coinbase for buying things Download TOR, go to dark.fail, go to one of the onion sites, send them crypto from coinbase, purchase products.
- danuker 5y agoMy question also.
- EamonnMR 5y agoI would have some difficulty paying my mortgage, my mechanic, and my grocery bill with crypto.
- dorianmariefr 5y agoIt has value on the tor market places
- divbzero 5y agoIt is not just you. ‘Crypto’ is an odd shorthand for digital currencies. Looking back at the initial whitepaper, Satoshi actually uses the word just once: “What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.” [1] The remainder of the paper uses terms like ‘hash’ and ‘digital signature’. [1]: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- gonehome 5y agoThis battle has been fought and lost and the language has changed. I've learned to just accept the new meaning and imo it's better that way (otherwise you'll end up being the person correcting everyone who writes linux to write gnu/linux for the rest of your life). Crypto implies cryptocurrency now (especially in public facing writing), cryptography is the less common usage.
- skrebbel 5y agoThe problem is, words mean what most people think they mean. This means that sometimes, meanings change. I'm totally with you but you gotta admit that the people who think "crypto" means "cryptography" are a tiny, tiny minority right now. Crypto means internet money. Cryptography is how it's built.
- EamonnMR 5y agoKinda like Hacker. Ship's probably sailed though...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- atlantas 5y agoIt's unfortunate, but what would be a good alternative?
- wjdp 5y agoYes it does, but that ship has sadly sailed. Though, on reflection, if I was on the other side of the argument I'd probably be for it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rewtraw 5y agothat ship sailed a long time ago. but tbh, some of the most exciting cryptographic problems are being worked on in the cryptocurrency industry (zk tech, for example).
- buu700 5y agoHere's how I rationalize it: * "Crypto" means "cryptography" * "Cryptocurrency" is a subset of "cryptography" * Using "crypto" to mean "cryptocurrency" is valid as a synecdoche So basically I use it both ways. That also makes more sense to me because "currency" feels like an overly narrow description of the current crypto ecosystem.