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> If you're using it as a currency then you might keep $50 worth in your wallet Because that $50 in my wallet might be $25 or $100 by the time I need it.
What does that matter? If you're only holding $50 then your maximum exposure is $50. And if it turns into $100 then you're not exactly complaining about it.
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People don't really buy things on a daily basis with gold either, and 99% of its valuation is based on speculation.
You’re right that gold isn’t used as a currency and that it is a speculative asset. But 99%? Hardly. The majority of gold is used for jewelry or in electronics manufacturing.
I feel this is some kind of trick answer....
https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-in...
Around 53% of mined gold is used in jewelry (46%) and technology (6%). 47% is in investment and markets.
But this doesn't really properly break down how much jewelry is purchased as a type of investment hedge in places where markets are not stable. Unfortunately there is no easy way to separate out jewelry purchases for enjoyment/fashion verses alternate wealth holding.
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Not expensive? Is that a joke? At the moment the average transaction fee is almost $4, but cases of more than $10 or $20 are not uncommon. It has been as high as $50 as well. It's just too expensive and/or too slow to work for day to day payments.
$4 per what? Do you even know? Have you heard of the lightning network that is a fast transaction layer built on top of Bitcoin?
I have heard about this mystery thing that supposedly solves all of Bitcoins problems.
Except that it's been years and it's still not ready, you still have load it up via the expensive transactions and you have to use third party services to get a somewhat useable UX.
Lightning is even more of a joke than Bitcoin is.
Crypto does have utility, but there's only room for one: bitcoin. Everything else is just a me-too derivative that can add nothing except the possibility of central control (like the "digital dollar"). The ability to instantly transmit the hardest asset known to man (harder than gold, in the sense of inflation resistance) does have utility, regardless of what critics say. It has downsides too: the ability to be lost…
> People on HN are smarter than me, and they all seem to hate bitcoin with passion, but I haven't yet understood why "Hate" is a strong word, but I dislike Bitcoin because so much of its value doesn't come from utility, but from speculation. People rarely buy Bitcoin to actually use it, but instead because they hope/expect the price will go up. And that's what leads to cases like SBF. > and understand that the dollar…
If global oil output had to decrease due to, for example, peak oil, dollar value would collapse very quickly, because all of a sudden, monetary mass would be excessive compared with declining economic activity.
Crypto does have utility, but there's only room for one: bitcoin. Everything else is just a me-too derivative that can add nothing except the possibility of central control (like the "digital dollar"). The ability to instantly transmit the hardest asset known to man (harder than gold, in the sense of inflation resistance) does have utility, regardless of what critics say. It has downsides too: the ability to be lost…
You say it is inflation resistant, but after a period of massive deflation, it has seen inflation rates that would make an African dictator blush, and now it is back to deflating. Things that are inflation resistant don’t rise AND fall wildly in relation to gently inflating assets like USD. They have a pricing curve which would be completely flat when priced in real (inflation adjusted == real) dollars. Bitcoin is no…
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So you don't believe in the existence of Ethereum Classic?
Does it still exist, with people actually using it? Is that what you were referring to originally?
That's not supposed to happen if everybody follows the supreme leader.
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> No one is hiding the fact that by buying crypto, you are exchanging your legal working currency for nothing more than an entry in a database with no real guarantees of any kind --- legal or otherwise You just described the modern banking system. Yes, the government will give you guarantees for your stored funds to some extent , but when shit hits the fan, you are on your own (example 2008 financial crisis). > All c…
I own stocks that pay me dividends - a share of the company profits. The company manufactures tangible goods, sells them to people, and then distributes some of the profits from these sales to shareholders. The shares I own are a claim on some portion of those profits. There are plenty of companies that pay dividends. The logic behind stock buybacks is that it achieves a similar end for investors with favorable tax t…
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Traditional ACH transactions take days because they're not even transmitted to the other bank until the end of the day. Then you have to wait for their response. Credit cards are even worse. All you get instantly is whether the card info is valid and has that much credit. But it could be a stolen card or a customer who issues a fraudulent chargeback, and you may not find out about that for a month or more. Meanwhile…
When I pay something via credit card in an online store, my bank's app gives me a transaction notification within 3-5 seconds. I don't know whether that means that the transaction has been fully settled, but at least it appears to be moving through the system rather quickly. > Traditional ACH transactions take days because they're not even transmitted to the other bank until the end of the day. From what I hear in th…
Actually, the FedNow system, which will provide very fast transactions, is currently being deployed in the US:
https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow/about....
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Cryptocurrencies are scams in much the same way MLM schemes are scams. Everyone knows what they’re buying into. But their expectations of outcomes are greatly skewed by the vested interests of existing participants.
MLM schemes are a scam because the premise is that you'll make money, but there is no creation of value and the increase in value just comes from the increase in users. Once you saturate the market, the last people to get in are left holding the bag. They lose their money so someone else could get it. Cryptocurrencies increase in value as more people use them, but they don't fall to zero as a result of becoming wides…