Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. Ultimately cryptocurrencies are a negative-sum game in that they take in real money and just move that money around, while spending some on overhead. In contrast, imagine investing in, say, a new fast-food franchise joint. They money you put in there is used to acquire assets that are used to produce goods that people will pay to consume. If it's a well-run business, the value of the outputs will be more tha…
> imagine investing in, say, a new fast-food franchise joint Let us imagine instead that you want to invest in Burger King. You buy some shares in Restaurant Brands International (QSR). When you own those shares, what does that actually mean - how is that connected to the purchase of burgers? I think share ownership is often a better metaphor for many cryptocurrencies than fiat currency. Especially when considering s…
But if you buy a Bitcoin, you own no productive asset and therefore are entitled to no profits. At one point the theory was you could trade it for something useful, like other currencies. But it's a pretty bad currency, so people mostly have stopped pretending it is useful for that.
There are answers to the rest of your questions, which are complicated and depend on exchange and jurisdiction, but people can look up the details if they want.