If only there were some other major currency, maybe controlled by some larger union of countries so that one country's poor decisions can't tank it

The fact that they stopped due to volatility kind of proved my point.

Apparently GameStop are considering it too.

For example, I mainly hold crypto that I’ll be using for payments, or those I deem technologically interesting.

I’ve already made many crypto payments, know how they pretty much work, and prefer using them than paying by card, because fuck the banking system and those greedy visa/mastercard that takes huge cuts from payments. Also, anonymity benefit: don’t always want my name to be known, for example when donating to an individual or particular cause

I certainly wouldn't keep anything in cryptocurrency. I would transfer it to something stable.

For example, I mainly hold crypto that I’ll be using for payments, or those I deem technologically interesting.

I’ve already made many crypto payments, know how they pretty much work, and prefer using them than paying by card, because fuck the banking system and those greedy visa/mastercard that takes huge cuts from payments. Also, anonymity benefit: don’t always want my name to be known, for example when donating to an individual or particular cause

Apparently GameStop are considering it too.

Funny to hear from the company that went all in to the point it renamed itself. The metaverse failure seems to have a big impact

Fundamentally, no. That's just what it's become.

I agree and in fact I feel the same with AI.

Fundamental cryptocurrency is fascinating. It is mathematically sound, just like cryptography in general (computational complexity, one way functions, etc) and it had the theoretical potential to change existing political and economical structures. Unfortunately (arguably) the very foundation it is based on, namely mining for greed, brought a different community who inexorably modified not the technology itself but its usages. What was initially a potential infrastructure for exchange of value became a way to speculate, buy and sell goods and services banned, ransomware, scam payments, etc).

AI also is fascinating as a research fields. It asks deep question with complex answers. Research for centuries about it lead to not just interesting philosophical questions, like what it's like to be think, to be human, and mathematics used in all walks of life, like in logistics for your parcel to get delivered this morning. Yet... gradually the field, or at least its commercialization, got captured by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, regulators, who main interest was greed. This in turn changed what was until then open to something closed, something small to something required gigantic infrastructure capturing resources hitherto used for farming, polluting due to lack of proper permit for temporary electricity sources, etc. The pinnacle right now being regulation to ban regulation on AI in the US.

So... yes, technology itself can be fascinating, useful, even important and yet how we collectively, as a society, decide to use it remains what matters, the actual impact of an idea rather than its idealization.

I do hope you're being real careful with your opsec if anonymity is important to you. Generally speaking, more people will know who paid who with crypto compared to bank transfers. Chains like Monero are an exception of course and yes, there are ways to anonymize other wallets too, but it requires a great deal of care, more than I personally trust myself.

You've got a valid point for the card payments where there are huge fees the merchant has to pay (nearly 2% for many I think), but bank transfers are infinitely cheaper (free) and instant, compared to paying gas fees and waiting. Obviously this is not true for all banking systems yet, but it's getting there.

Why would they in the first place? It would be like a newspaper buying gold. If investors want to buy bitcoin they can just do that.

I don't know what you're saying. If I charge a particular amount for a loaf of bread and then the cryptocurrency value drops halfway through the day then that person still has the bread but I now don't have the money.

The whole point of currency is to get away from the fluctuating value of exchange that everyone had to deal with when we used to buy things with gold and semi-precious stones.

It would be better to state how it is a scam

Apart from that, well no big company or country profits from it. You’re not paying someone that’s actively trying to fuck you over. You’re not paying to fund a capitalistic villain that wants all the world money. You’re paying for an, at least the original goal was, uncensurable means of payment that’s decentralized and doesn’t rely on a government or a company.

A pseudonymous and trustless way of paying people. Believe in the maths, not a regulated entity that might seize your money at any time.

It’s the cypherpunk's wet dream and I view it as such.

Most people only view it as investment and "ponzi scheme" because they don’t care about this. They don’t care about not giving too much power to a few individuals and don’t hate banks.

Any country can just print money and make what you have worthless, and it’s often done in poor countries as a way to wipe debts or similar bs. Crypto can shield them against that, which is probably the reason why it’s more used in those kind of countries (or in countries with oppressive governments)

Bitcoin is one of the cleanest cryptos. It’s old, doesn’t work that well, but it’s not owned by anyone and it has a strong identity

For anyone saying it’s only perceived value and doesn’t rely on anything, well it’s a bit like any market. How does it really differ from stocks for example? And crypto actually relies on the way of creating coins: mining, minting… which is known. If you don’t agree with it, don’t use it. The limited number of coins plays an important role in the price.

In what way is it?

I think they didnt say part of their reasoning. Crypto is useful to buy things that are either illegal or not socially acceptable/available in your local area.

I think you may have misunderstood. I'm saying people call it a scam for a variety of reasons, so when someone says it isn't a scam, I'm asking which way of calling it a scam are they saying it's not a scam in relation to.

I like GNU Taler, and I would like there to exist not just such a payment system, but also an electronic currency system without blockchains (global synchronization is a pain), unfortunately currencies are not like most applications.

I also wrote two smartass paragraphs completely wrong after this, and now thinking about it - Taler is as good a solution as possible. It's basically what can be done. You can't decentralize an issuer or a bank, except for the BTC way. If you can, then you can't plug it in seamlessly , you need some synchronization (would be a shame if a failed transaction made it into Taler as passed).

If I understand that correctly.

Gosh. It's year 2025, I've achieved nothing. I was blabbering on these subjects in year 2011! I'll be 29 in less than a month. But so cool that someone is making the humanity better.

I thought your point was it was never happening? I provided examples where it did happen in the past and where its happening now. Volatility of the price vs USD is not the biggest issue if the payment processor gives the vendor USD back after the transaction. If the vendor believes in crypto, they can decide to keep it as well. Had Valve chosen to hold their crypto earnings in 2016 for a few years, they'd have seen even larger profits. But thats beside the point. I personally believe they canned it more because of transaction fees. At the time, bitcoin network was oversaturated due to an explosion of popularity which reduced it to unusable levels for everyday transactions.

You should be focusing on why other vendors are still supporting crypto and asking yourself why.

The purpose of a system is what it does. Crypto is used to bypass regulations, generally for illegal or immoral things. Its also been used as a ponzi scheme over and over, I guess we call them rug pulls now but its the same bullshit.

Crypto is for gamblers or drug addicts, generally. Sometimes they are both. Sort of reminds me of the mortgage crisis in 2008 with people saying it wasnt the system just people abusing it. The system was built and modified to enable abuse.