The abstractions and tech which cryptocurrency works on is fragile in most of the same ways as the layers that came before it (credit cards/banks/etc).
Try to look at all this holistically.
How many people and resources do we dedicate on this planet to keep track of money, economy, mine the coins, cash the checks, swipe the cards, keep the lines working?
All of these abstractions make trade faster and more liquid but honestly it really feels like dimished returns in the grand scheme of things.
So many people make money by keeping track of money. So much resources. I can't even fathom it.
Bankers, store clerks, amazon servers, politicians, Dunbar, Stock markets, its crazy.
How much do we allocate to this cause, the cause of keeping track of "who owns what"?
This is not rhetorical, If I had to guess, I would guess that 70% of our resources and jobs are dedicated to this nonsense.
Just think we are mining coal out of the real ground just to mine these "valuable" ones and zeros. What the actual fuck?
It all just seems like a waste.
Use my empty clock cycles to mine and keep track of everyone's virtual coins?
I was behind folding proteins and SETI, and all the other distributed computing ideas. It felt meaningful, like I could help change the world and help raise up the human condition...
Thanks to this post, I just learned what "Tethers" are, and I have to say, I'm so fucking disappointed with this part of the industry.
One of the early promises of cryptocurrency was to "sick it to the man and governments". Now its powered largely by greed and consuming our most important resources in breakneck speeds.
I wish you all luck this this "investment", hopefully the planet will survive this next abstraction of "money".