I was wondering what viewpoints and opinions this community has when it comes to cryptocurrency.

Personally, I’m not against it, but I’m not for it either. I like the concept of bringing back cash anonymity, and also decentralization (obviously). Although I don’t think it will be viable for at least another decade.

  • karashta@kbin.melroy.org
    1911·
    9 months ago

    It’s not real currency, it’s a token.

    I can’t use it to pay my taxes to the US federal government and it must be traded in for actual currency to do so.

    Just like a token at an arcade.

    They are also vehicles of wild speculation… And unlike stocks (where I gain partial ownership of a company) and bonds (where I gain a claim on their monetary inflows and primacy if the venture crumbles), crypto gives me… What exactly?

    I don’t get to be an owner or a creditor. I become… Holder of a mining incentive?

    I’m sorry it’s not what a lot of people seem to think it is.

    • LemmyHead@lemmy.ml
      4·
      9 months ago

      You can also not use euro to pay for your federal taxes in USA. You can however convert your euros to USD in order to pay for them. If you think euros are more trustworthy and give you full self custody, then it’s a good reason to hold your money in euros . Plenty of people do that in the world; they store their money in USD rather than their inflated less reliable national currency.

      Victim to speculation? Unfortunately yes, but same thing goes for stocks, even basic foods and raw materials nowadays. What do they give you? Whatever matters to you: full privacy? Full ownership? Freedom of movement for your money? Not one central entity deciding on the amount that’s printed? Voting power in the tech that’s being built? Most stocks nowadays don’t give you anything as well, but the fake belief on how much it’s worth and a lot of people agree nowadays they don’t represent true value of the company in many cases (Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc.). You don’t get voting rights, you don’t get dividends. A lot of Cryptos do give those.

      Having said those counter-arguments, of course there’s flaws too and frankly more with the majority of them. It’s those select few that could matter on long-term