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Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

economist.com

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Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#11

Post by swalsh »

Crypto should be taking off in use in the AI age. Right now I have credits I paid open AI for so I can use their API. I have anthropic credits, I have some credits in a video generator app.

A2A is becoming a thing, and now it's a realistic thing to potentially expose an agent on a public endpoint to do useful work. Agents working with agents is a very clear future direction.

But everything is a closed ecosystem. But with the addition of a few extra fields to an Agent card (chain name, accepted tokens, cost) and perhaps a transaction addition to the task/send interface. We could build a network of agents working for agents. Compatible with each other. It doesn't have to be all on-chain. It's just the economic layer. You host the agent, the agent accepts payments. The agent makes payments. All the crypto tech we need already exists.

Use USDC, don't have to worry about speculation driving up costs. Use a network like SOL, AVAX, SUI and the transaction will be finalized in seconds.

Credits should be transferable, and not locked in little ecosystem.

We could take it one stop further. Prices could be dynamic. If GPU usage is high, cost should be high. If demand low, price should be low. Outages are a pricing issue, not a technical issue.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#12

Post by jsheard »

tacker2000 wrote: post #9
rimbo789 wrote: post #4

Crypto was a huge mistake. It should have been rigorously regulated right out of the gate to the point of being unusable for anyone. I have yet to see a use case that doesn’t amount to buying drugs or defrauding rubes.

Who should regulate it? Due to its nature it is inherently extremely hard to regulate.

The technology is hard to regulate, but the exchanges where the overwhelming majority of fiat-crypto trades happen are regular old businesses which can be regulated or sanctioned just like anything else. Blockchain magic wouldn't stop the feds from seizing Coinbase's assets and hauling Brian Armstrong off to prison if they wanted to.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#13

Post by pawelduda »

simonw wrote: post #5

That's the thing where if you have significant assets your family members get kidnapped until you irreversibly transfer those assets to criminals, right? I'm not sure how crypto continues to gain mainstream adoption in the face of that , no matter how much excitement there is for it in the current US administration. My previous argument was that a technology where losing your password means you lose your net worth wa…

Kidnapping and ransom existed before crypto

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#14

Post by pydry »

simonw wrote: post #5

That's the thing where if you have significant assets your family members get kidnapped until you irreversibly transfer those assets to criminals, right? I'm not sure how crypto continues to gain mainstream adoption in the face of that , no matter how much excitement there is for it in the current US administration. My previous argument was that a technology where losing your password means you lose your net worth wa…

That's sort of the point, I think. It's like buying an index tracker in the underground economy.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#15

Post by imhoguy »

simonw wrote: post #5

That's the thing where if you have significant assets your family members get kidnapped until you irreversibly transfer those assets to criminals, right? I'm not sure how crypto continues to gain mainstream adoption in the face of that , no matter how much excitement there is for it in the current US administration. My previous argument was that a technology where losing your password means you lose your net worth wa…

Kidnapping for ransom was a thing in human history even before money was invented. And money could be lost in many other irreversible scenarios, like fire, government confiscation or devaluation.

So was speculation.

Crypto is just another value carrier. Password is just a risk factor, like trust in govt is.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#16

Post by frainfreeze »

BillinghamJ wrote: post #10
cherryteastain wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending money without government interference to relatives living in countries with strict foreign exchange controls (Argentina, Lebanon, Turkey...) is one quite legit use case.

Legit from whose perspective though? Around an authoritarian government maybe widely viewed as reasonable/justified, but doesn't sound legitimate to those governments

Wild argument

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#17

Post by resource_waste »

rimbo789 wrote: post #4

Crypto was a huge mistake. It should have been rigorously regulated right out of the gate to the point of being unusable for anyone. I have yet to see a use case that doesn’t amount to buying drugs or defrauding rubes.

If you can be objective enough to consider that not everyone likes keeping fiat currency, it was an interesting alternative.

Bitcoin generally appreciated, where fiat had inflation.

While the transaction costs/speed have eliminated this, there was a few years of my life that I both sent money to friends and used a Bitcoin debit card.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#18

Post by BriggyDwiggs42 »

BillinghamJ wrote: post #10
cherryteastain wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending money without government interference to relatives living in countries with strict foreign exchange controls (Argentina, Lebanon, Turkey...) is one quite legit use case.

Legit from whose perspective though? Around an authoritarian government maybe widely viewed as reasonable/justified, but doesn't sound legitimate to those governments

To some particular psychopath out there, I’m sure murder seems fine.

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#19

Post by mannycalavera42 »

cherryteastain wrote: post #7
rimbo789 wrote: post #4

Crypto was a huge mistake. It should have been rigorously regulated right out of the gate to the point of being unusable for anyone. I have yet to see a use case that doesn’t amount to buying drugs or defrauding rubes.

Sending money without government interference to relatives living in countries with strict foreign exchange controls (Argentina, Lebanon, Turkey...) is one quite legit use case.

Let's not assume foreign exchange controls are always bad. Not saying they are not ... in some cases

Re: Crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset

#20

Post by rcxdude »

swalsh wrote: post #11

Crypto should be taking off in use in the AI age. Right now I have credits I paid open AI for so I can use their API. I have anthropic credits, I have some credits in a video generator app. A2A is becoming a thing, and now it's a realistic thing to potentially expose an agent on a public endpoint to do useful work. Agents working with agents is a very clear future direction. But everything is a closed ecosystem. But…

Sure, but a) this doesn't require blockchain, and b) there's no incentive for the various players to make credits portable.
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