> Cryptocurrency is sustained by a mix of money laundering, vaporware, fraud, ransomware, gambling, and delusion.
The thing is none of that matters. Cryptocurrency is a currency and anyone treating it otherwise and getting burned can't blame the currency for it.
The thing is the *sole criterion* for the viability of a currency is acceptance.
Some examples:
* 90% of USD doesn't physically exist and has no intrinsic value whatsoever. The fact that everyone the world over will accept it in trade defines its viability.
* Stones of Jordan (SOJs) in Diablo II. Terrible, currency because most of the games in the item were worth less. But that didn't matter. They were all anyone would accept. The fact that it was within a game didn't matter. Within the scope of the game they were about all that was accepted.
* chipped gems in Diablo II. They had value in modifying other items and were more granular than SOJs. Some people would even accept a large number for an SOJ.
* (D2jsp) Forum gold (Diablo II). You can buy it with USD (or other currencies I suppose, probably BTC too), and use it to buy items in the game.
* Credit cards - almost every place in the world accepts them, and in theory it's because they're moving a government backed currency... but wait.
* Icelandic Kroner - perfectly viable...but only in Iceland. At least for the most part. Like nobody in the US is going to let you buy gas with 1 ISK.
* Yuan - perfectly viable...but only in Japan. Same as ISK, but japan.
Some negative examples:
* Again, Credit cards - If you were to try to start your own payment processing company that works exactly the same as say, Visa, but nobody has heard of your company it doesn't matter, no one will take it.
* Zimbabwe dollars - hyperinflated to the point of 100 trillion dollar bills. Which people would accept a wheelbarrow of for a roll of toilet paper. Not accepted, so no value.
> It has no social benefit except helping end first dates fast.
* This just isn't true. I've used it to buy weed in a state where it was legal and it worked great. Meaning that you can buy things the government thinks shouldn't be allowed to.
* It allows money laundering. Whether or not you agree with it, it's something it provides.
* Banks and the government can't control you via seizing or freezing it. This one is incredible. The internet has a history of payment processors unilaterally destroying businesses - for example Wikileaks, and many types of porn or sex related services, many of which aren't illegal.
Crypto provides freedom from authoritarianism and that's wonderful.
The overarching axiom is, acceptance is the only thing that matters. Stupid, crazy, nonsensical, non-divisible, non-government backed, all don't matter if people just accept it in trade. And even the best well designed, feature rich, secure, safe, environmentally friendly currency isn't worth a damn thing if no one accepts it. The dumbest, most authoritarian controlled, slow processing, high fee currency with a massive carbon footprint to create more of can still be viable if it has widespread acceptance.
The key is nothing matters except acceptance. And people accept crypto, especially BTC and the other early coins. So they have value.
So no, it's not for us in tech to speak out, because it's not our decision. If people accept crypto, it's a real currency. If people don't, it isn't.
Another way to look at it...what if I told you there was a new scam coin that had 27 trillion in circulation, an unlimited supply, and 1% of people own 30% of it. Oh wait, that's USD.