Just got very lightly flamed by another user for making fun of crypto and was told that Lemmy and crypto have “the exact same advantages and disadvantages”. Now I disagree heavily there, since even if it shares some principles I’d argue that the scale of the problems change when you’re talking about a global finance system versus a social media platform filled with beans. But it did get me curious- how many of you are crypto supporters?
i’m generally anti-crypto. i’m not against it fully, i think it has a purpose but that purpose is not unstable, highly volatile investments, meme coins, or play-to-earn games.
What is the purpose then? To me it just seems like a solution looking for a problem, and that’s not a good way to make solutions.
i suppose i should have said it could have had a purpose. i think it was initially conceived as a way to make private purchases, perhaps of things one might not want tracked back to them. for a simple example, i always pay cash when i visit a dispensary, even though many of them take cards now, because i don’t care for my bank to know that i am making that purchase. if i could pay with cryptocurrency at the dispensary, keeping that transaction more private, i would. but crypto has ceased to be a private currency, and turned into extremely volatile investments. who would want to make a purchase with crypto when it could skyrocket in value the next day and you’ve suddenly spent more than you thought, or the vendor has made less than they thought when the values plummet?
as it is now, it has no real purpose. it could have though. you are right that as it stands it is a solution looking for a problem.
right now it’s purpose is to tell me who i should avoid
Private? It’s in a public ledger right, I think monero does some scrambling, but most crypto is a lot less private than paying in cash.
your comment is a moot point. i was saying that it could be private and while it is probably mostly associated with people trying to purchase illegal goods crypto tumblers are a thing so that is something that can anonymize your crypto. also, you can’t pay with cash online so there is a utility of something that can facilitate anonymity in transactions online.