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Basically, the author is saying that the absurdity of Dogecoin made him realize that most currency is intrinsically worthless, with the only reason that it has

Basically, the author is saying that the absurdity of Dogecoin made him realize that most currency is intrinsically worthless, with the only reason that it has value being a state power or arbitrary group of people (as in the case of cryptocurrency) has assigned it one... also known as fiat. A very old and evident observation. Not exactly enlightening, but there you go.

ProblemFactory 13y ago
> with the only reason that it has value being a state power or arbitrary group of people (as in the case of cryptocurrency) has assigned it one... also known as fiat. While that's true, a state has much more power in "assigning" value to currency. They have the power to levy taxes on all economic activity in their territory, and the power to demand payment of those taxes in the national currency. If you have a job, do business, or make any other sort of profit in the U.S., you must pay taxes, and you must pay them in USD only - otherwise the state will throw you into jail. This means that there is always a demand for USD, no matter which other currency you use for transactions.
steveklabnik 13y ago
To be clear, _I_ already knew this. I'm saying that I think that it might lead _other_ people to reflect upon the nature of money.
- belluchan 13y ago
  Why dogecoin? Why not megacoin, that's also pretty absurd.
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    > Megacoin , Your Global Currency. Your Modern Wallet. Global, Anonymous, Secure. Sounds pretty serious business to me.
    - shurcooL 13y ago
      Are there any crypto-currencies that are not anonymous? I like secure, modern, low cost transactions, but I don't like the anonymity. I want a currency where everyone knows how much I spent, what I bought, and it applies to everyone. Does that exist?
      - steveklabnik 13y ago
        Every transaction to every address is public with blockchain technology. The tricky bit is associating an address with a particular human... This would affect any attempt at making something like this. I'm not sure that you can enforce the human/address connection in software.
        shurcooL 13y ago
        > I'm not sure that you can enforce the human/address connection in software. It's a hard challenge, but not impossible. Online banking (mostly) works because it's possible.
        steveklabnik 13y ago
        That's not enforced by the software. And a person can have more than one bank account.
      - GeneralMayhem 13y ago
        Just Tweet your Bitcoin address. All Bitcoin transactions are inherently public in that everyone knows which addresses have sent how much to which other addresses; the only anonymity is that nobody knows who (as in which real-world person) owns/controls the address.
        eurleif 13y ago
        Or if you really want to prove it, use your Bitcoin address to sign a message containing your Twitter ID.
amark 13y ago
Yep. Pretty silly to write a whole article about it.
Johnie 13y ago
I thought I was reading economics 101.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  Spoiler alert: you were.

ProblemFactory 13y ago

> with the only reason that it has value being a state power or arbitrary group of people (as in the case of cryptocurrency) has assigned it one... also known as fiat. While that's true, a state has much more power in "assigning" value to currency. They have the power to levy taxes on all economic activity in their territory, and the power to demand payment of those taxes in the national currency. If you have a job, do business, or make any other sort of profit in the U.S., you must pay taxes, and you must pay them in USD only - otherwise the state will throw you into jail. This means that there is always a demand for USD, no matter which other currency you use for transactions.

steveklabnik 13y ago

To be clear, _I_ already knew this. I'm saying that I think that it might lead _other_ people to reflect upon the nature of money.

belluchan 13y ago
Why dogecoin? Why not megacoin, that's also pretty absurd.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  > Megacoin , Your Global Currency. Your Modern Wallet. Global, Anonymous, Secure. Sounds pretty serious business to me.
  - shurcooL 13y ago
    Are there any crypto-currencies that are not anonymous? I like secure, modern, low cost transactions, but I don't like the anonymity. I want a currency where everyone knows how much I spent, what I bought, and it applies to everyone. Does that exist?
    - steveklabnik 13y ago
      Every transaction to every address is public with blockchain technology. The tricky bit is associating an address with a particular human... This would affect any attempt at making something like this. I'm not sure that you can enforce the human/address connection in software.
      - shurcooL 13y ago
        > I'm not sure that you can enforce the human/address connection in software. It's a hard challenge, but not impossible. Online banking (mostly) works because it's possible.
        steveklabnik 13y ago
        That's not enforced by the software. And a person can have more than one bank account.
    - GeneralMayhem 13y ago
      Just Tweet your Bitcoin address. All Bitcoin transactions are inherently public in that everyone knows which addresses have sent how much to which other addresses; the only anonymity is that nobody knows who (as in which real-world person) owns/controls the address.
      - eurleif 13y ago
        Or if you really want to prove it, use your Bitcoin address to sign a message containing your Twitter ID.

amark 13y ago

Yep. Pretty silly to write a whole article about it.

Johnie 13y ago

I thought I was reading economics 101.

steveklabnik 13y ago
Spoiler alert: you were.