Cryptocurrencies Are Detrimental to Society

Would you be willing to attempt to disprove any one of these in a comment-reply?

> I'm using a cryptocurrency for feeless, instant microtransactions in a browser based game. It happens to be a near ideal solution. That, said I won't force it upon anyone. It is a purely voluntary proposition.

I think you just made the point of my article again for me, thanks ;)

The volatility of crypto just don't provide a real alternative to regular currencies though.

Fiat Currencies are Detrimental To Society

How would you explain the inner workings of fiat currency to someone in simple, understandable terms?

"Imagine if the person in your neighborhood with the biggest house ran a printer in his garage that printed off paper that said "1 Buck" on it, and instead of giving the pizza delivery guy silver coins in exchange for their service, gave them bucks. Also he demands you pay him "$1 Buck" a week or else he'll take a buck worth of your stuff every week and if you can't pay he'll break your legs. And if you started printing your own "1 Buck" notes, he will come and lock you in a cage."

This explanation seems perfect to me because it illustrates the absolute insanity of all fiat currencies in one simple sentence.

It captures the unimaginable unfairness of maintaining fiat currencies. And it also captures the dark side of fiat currencies: perpetuation of a system of sovereign violence.

At this point fiat currency enthusiasts are rolling their eyes and sigh. This point has been made many times over. I know, I'm definitely not the first to criticise fiat currencies this way.

I do have a simple challenge though:

Can you please show me the benefit to society of fiat currencies?

>Cryptocurrencies have existed for eleven years, they should have something to show for right now.

IMO this argument is pretty seriously flawed. We tend to think of revolutionary technologies as "overnight successes" but that's rarely the case.

If we had abandoned the smartphone 11 years after the first attempt at, we would never have the iPhone. If we had abandoned combustion engines 11 years after their first attempt, we never would have had the automobile. New technology is hard and requires a lot of tinkering.

I also think the author fails to capture what people look to as the potential of crypto. While there is a definite subculture of neo-Austrian economics, a lot of us are also interested about the ability to structure new forms of digital markets, make money programmatic, and increase the structural privacy of the internet.

People in general are detrimental to society, regardless of what currency we are using. Your argument is pretty weak considering conventional currency has been used for illegal and immoral activities since it was a thing, and even before that there were illegal trade in goods and services. All your examples in your arguments have been around long before cryptocurrency, with the exception of ransomware, which still was around prior to bitcoin, but i will grant you is much easier now. Nothing new really except a new payment method. It all comes down to the fact that there is a percentage of people out there that are not "good" people, with the definition of "good" relative to your perception of the situation. this will always be the case, regardless of technology. Cryptocurrency problems, are just a symptom of a greater problem which is human nature...which you cannot change.