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But not necessarily a bad thing either. If everything else fails, I know I can still have two things to pay with: cash and crypto.
by notpushkin 1y ago
But not necessarily a bad thing either.
If everything else fails, I know I can still have two things to pay with: cash and crypto.
- coolcase 1y agoGold being the ultimate. Cash can be diluted and crypto has unlimited supply (via alt coins). Gold is backed by physics and minted in neutron stars!
- briansm 1y agoStrictly speaking, directed energy is the ultimate. Both crypto and gold are both just embodiments of energy, gold being the physical embodiment (via mining and refinement) and crypto being the virtual embodiment.
- coolcase 1y agoNot really. Gold has no more energy than carbon per gram. E=MC^2. And total energy is unavailable. Carbon had more available chemical energy. (Why we can burn coal not gold). Bitcoin doesn't store any energy. Bitcoin is like a F1 car going around a track forever, with your name scribbled on it.
- _Algernon_ 1y agoBoth gold and bitcoin are a variant of "proof of wasted energy" or more euphemistically "proof of work". Why that makes it valuable is beyond me, but it isn't really a new thing considering the historic value of gold being much more than its utility as a material.
- briansm 1y agoThe 'value' in them is that they demonstrate that energy is currently so cheap and abundant to Us that we can waste it frivolously. It's a sort-of flex, showing off, a demonstration of (energy) wealth. Humanities's peacock feathers.
- briansm 1y agoMaybe I didn't explain it well, gold and bitcoin are the 'memory' of used energy, they are not energy sources themselves. I think of them as representations of the idea that energy is (currently) so abundant and cheap that we can waste it on mining things like gold and crypto, a fundamentally ridiculous concept in terms of real actual human needs. Once that stops being the case (when fossil fuel starts running out globally), the whole thing - cash, gold, crypto, stocks, bonds, property - everything falls apart.
- notpushkin 1y agoBitcoin isn’t valuable because of used energy. The energy here is just a way to limit the rate Bitcoin is produced, and to help prevent double spending. Bitcoin is valuable because people accept that it’s valuable, same as with cash, gold, crypto, stocks, bonds, property. The price of an apple is $2 is because I offered it to you for $2 and you bought it.
- eimrine 1y agoThe people appreciate the value exactly because of used energy (entropy), if you want to rewrite Bitcoin history you are going to spend no less then it has boon spent. The limit of producing of bitcoins is not related to energy.
- notpushkin 1y agoYeah. I mean, people value the utility of it: it can be used to transfer value over the Internet, and you can’t steal it by changing values in the DB. PoW is just a means to an end here. I think we largely agree on that.
- ivewonyoung 1y agoYou could make eimrineCoin that's an exact clone of bitcoin, but it'd be extremely unlikely to reach a fraction of BTC's market cap, because others won't consider it valuable although it's mined with energy.
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- immibis 1y agoGold has unlimited supply too (via alt metals, e.g., steel)
- coolcase 1y agoPeriodic table enters the chat :). Touche tho.
- surgical_fire 1y agoA currency has to be accepted in order to perform its role. Good luck buying groceries or paying the mortgage with Crypto.
- windward 1y agoI already can't buy things I want with Mastercard and Visa
- notpushkin 1y agoWhich is why I have a couple bank accounts. If these banks decide they don’t want to work with me anymore (happened a couple times already), or if they decide they don’t want to send money to, say, a particular country (hint hint), I’ll have crypto as a last resort. (You conveniently left out “cash” from your reply. Cash. I’ll buy groceries with cash, if I can’t use my card.)
- johnisgood 1y agoThere are some stores that do accept BTC, but it is not widespread. It is mostly coffee shops though, not grocery stores.
- notpushkin 1y agoAnd it varies from country to country. (In any case, I wouldn’t use BTC for everyday purchases – it’s too volatile, and transfers are too expensive. As long as we’re stuck with fiat-based economy, stablecoins are the way to go, IMO.)
- endre 1y agothere is invariably a vantage point at which non-fiat payments are accepted. this may be crypto, given that there is still infrastructure available for it to operate, but that's unlikely imo.
- _Algernon_ 1y agoThis is a strange viewpoint considering that crypto is 100% reliant on some of the most complicated and high-maintenance infrastructure ever built by man: the internet. If "everything else fails" the internet has failed, and crypto will be worthless. Gold will probably still have some value, unless shit really hits the fan.
- notpushkin 1y agoWe’re talking about different “everything else fails” scenarios. Basically, I’m concerned about my bank accounts being frozen (happened with my Revolut account for example).
- sofixa 1y agoThe solution for that is to have redundancy via multiple bank accounts, ideally in multiple countries. Then nothing short of planning a serious terrorist act can get you kicked out of all accounts.
- ferbivore 1y agoIs that really the case? Per https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/money-laundering-and-aml-compliance/ https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/money-laundering-and-... you can be pretty much completely debanked for only a couple of SARs/STRs, and it doesn't seem particularly hard to have one filed against you.
- immibis 1y agoAre you a resident of multiple countries?
- sofixa 1y agoDon't have to be - fintechs like Revolut, Wise, N26 are based in different countries, but service customers in a decent chunk of Europe.