Current Events > Cryptocurrency is amazing. Can't wait for the day that it's mainstream

(+) Yeah! (+)

Making instant payments over the internet without having to worry about a middleman getting in the way is so great

There are still too many places that only take credit cards, which have too many hassles like being put on hold on the phone for over an hour just to tell them to let one $40 payment through, or outright region locking that is impossible to get around. It's a frustrating experience that needs to go away forever
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I have autopay on everything with zero hassle. No idea what you're talking about.

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Squall28 posted...

I have autopay on everything with zero hassle. No idea what you're talking about.

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Also ah yes crypto, literal monopoly money that only has value when converted to USD. Its utterly imaginary and pointless and not doing AT ALL what it was designed for.

Designed to be usable as currency anywhere without exchanging into the regional coin

Gets used as imaginary monopoly money with 0 actual value than USD*

And it consumes way too much power to mine. Wasteful as fuck

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JACKBUTTMOMMY posted...

Who is making you wait an hour to submit a payment? Do it automatically or switch companies.

Buying things in foreign currency sometimes gets put on hold, so you have to call in to clear it

I'm just trying to buy some weeb shit and being on the phone for an hour for a measly $40 purchase just shouldn't be a thing
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Perascamin posted...

And it consumes way too much power to mine. Wasteful as fuck

There are plenty of functional coins in existence right now that don't drain any more energy than banks or paypal would be
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I just want dogecoin to rise to 10 bucks, if it does I'll be out of debt for life.

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This topic brilliantly demonstrates how crypto fans praise cryptocurrencies for doing things that aren't new.

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1337toothbrush posted...

This topic brilliantly demonstrates how crypto fans praise cryptocurrencies for doing things that aren't new.

Yup lmao

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It's beautiful. Because of Crypto I am debt free. And sending money to people instantly with no middleman peer to peer is great too

1337toothbrush posted...

This topic brilliantly demonstrates how crypto fans praise cryptocurrencies for doing things that aren't new.

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Dont forget that anything you buy using crypto as currency you have to then pay taxes on

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Fenrimis posted...

Dont forget that anything you buy using crypto as currency you have to then pay taxes on

Paying taxes on income/gains is pretty normal

1337toothbrush posted...

This topic brilliantly demonstrates how crypto fans praise cryptocurrencies for doing things that aren't new.

I'm praising something for being better, not "new"
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Sounds like you either don't have a credit card or have a really terrible one. American Express pretty much does anything reasonable I've ever asked of them. They also essentially pay me to be a cardholder

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Perascamin posted...

Also ah yes crypto, literal monopoly money that only has value when converted to USD. Its utterly imaginary and pointless and not doing AT ALL what it was designed for.

Every currency is essentially monopoly money. It only has value because you have faith in your government. Without the government, those dollar bills are just wads of paper.

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VideoboysaysCube posted...

Every currency is essentially monopoly money. It only has value because you have faith in your government. Without the government, those dollar bills are just wads of paper.

I know that the government can keep the value of the US dollar relatively stable. I don't know how much I'd be getting paid if I was paid in bitcoin. Within a day I could be taking a pay cut or pay raise.

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Perascamin posted...

Also ah yes crypto, literal monopoly money that only has value when converted to USD. Its utterly imaginary and pointless and not doing AT ALL what it was designed for.

Designed to be usable as currency anywhere without exchanging into the regional coin

Gets used as imaginary monopoly money with 0 actual value than USD*

And it consumes way too much power to mine. Wasteful as fuck

It's shocking to me how misunderstood Bitcoin is. Most people don't realize it took a genius level software engineer to invent, and it solved problems in computer science and economics that had never been solved before.

It's not an understatement at all to say that crypto is world changing and will forever alter the way humans deal with money, the banks, and many other things.

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The funny thing is a lot of times people like TC are talking about PoW coins that take a long time to verify and have massive fees and not instant feeless PoS coins. Not shilling for any coin here, just pointing out you almost always hear people say this shit about coins that it literally isn't true for.

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Rob Cesternino posted...

It's shocking to me how misunderstood Bitcoin is. Most people don't realize it took a genius level software engineer to invent, and it solved problems in computer science and economics that had never been solved before.

It's not an understatement at all to say that crypto is world changing and will forever alter the way humans deal with money, the banks, and many other things.

Please elaborate. The most hype for crypto that I've seen comes from speculators trying to make money off of it. The "amazing" things it can do have all been things that are already possible without crypto. I've yet to see a truly compelling use case.

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ssjevot posted...

The funny thing is a lot of times people like TC are talking about PoW coins that take a long time to verify and have massive fees and not instant feeless PoS coins. Not shilling for any coin here, just pointing out you almost always hear people say this shit about coins that it literally isn't true for.

Exactly. It's because the actual utility doesn't matter. These folks come crawling out of the woodwork whenever the price of bitcoin of bitcoin is high, then they crawl back when it inevitably crashes again. If the utility was what mattered, bitcoin would be the "main" cryptocurrency. It's just a get rich scheme and bitcoin benefits from name recognition.

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1337toothbrush posted...

The "amazing" things it can do have all been things that are already possible without crypto.

This is the value. The difference is that normal people can do it now instead of just privileged corporations or individuals. That's the point of a decentralized world.

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1337toothbrush posted...

Please elaborate. The most hype for crypto that I've seen comes from speculators trying to make money off of it. The "amazing" things it can do have all been things that are already possible without crypto. I've yet to see a truly compelling use case.

You've heard of blockchain, I assume? Bitcoin and crypto are built on top of a blockchain, which is like an open database that uses lots and lots of encryption for its transactions. With blockchain, you can prove that a transaction went from point A to point B without a middleman.

In normal finance, you have your bank as the middleman to prove that you paid your friend money that you owe him for lunch. Imagine if you could pay your friend electronically without the need of a middleman. The money would not go through any bank, financial institution, or government. You could send it to him anywhere in the world anonymously.

What's so bad about a bank, you say? Well think about the 2008 financial crisis. It happened because the banks got greedy, and the whole world economy almost collapsed. Think about all the money the Fed is printing right now and how it will lead to hyperinflation. With Bitcoin, none of that will happen because the software guarantees there will only ever be 21 million coins in circulation.

In summary, having crypto means that for the first time in human history we can possibly destroy the banks.

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Cryptocurrency's value fluctuates right? So if you bought a ham sandwich for $6 worth of cryptocurrency then its value is like 10 times higher you basically just paid $60 for that sandwich?

Stablecoins fix that problem. But yes.

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BigB0ss13 posted...

Cryptocurrency's value fluctuates right? So if you bought a ham sandwich for $6 worth of cryptocurrency then its value is like 10 times higher you basically just paid $60 for that sandwich?

Yes, in the same way that if you're in Canada on holiday and you buy a sandwich for CA$6, then the value of the Canadian dollar goes up, you basically just paid more (probably not $60, but the same idea still applies) for the sandwich.

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1337toothbrush posted...

Exactly. It's because the actual utility doesn't matter. These folks come crawling out of the woodwork whenever the price of bitcoin of bitcoin is high, then they crawl back when it inevitably crashes again. If the utility was what mattered, bitcoin would be the "main" cryptocurrency. It's just a get rich scheme and bitcoin benefits from name recognition.

Oh I know. I have made a lot of money speculating on crypto, but the utility is absolutely in no way related to the price outside of psychological aspects influencing speculation. A great crypto project will function just as well at any price point, and if it is meant to be used as a currency it should ideally be a stable coin.

I really dislike the weird cult like shilling because a lot of times these people aren't even trying to get rich. They're literally volunteer bag holders trying to recruit more bag holders to the fold. If the concept of "HODL" makes sense to you, congratulations, you're a bag holder. I bought Bitcoin at $500 and sold it at $17,000. Do I regret it? No, because I then bought more at $3000 and sold it at $48,000. Most of these people bought at or near the all time high and will hold through a loss instead of any kind of rational strategy because "future gains" or "it's about the tech". It's just psychological coping for having been on the losing side of a zero sum game.

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samurai bandit posted...

This is the value. The difference is that normal people can do it now instead of just privileged corporations or individuals. That's the point of a decentralized world.

Do what?

Rob Cesternino posted...

You've heard of blockchain, I assume? Bitcoin and crypto are built on top of a blockchain, which is like an open database that uses lots and lots of encryption for its transactions. With blockchain, you can prove that a transaction went from point A to point B without a middleman.

In normal finance, you have your bank as the middleman to prove that you paid your friend money that you owe him for lunch. Imagine if you could pay your friend electronically without the need of a middleman. The money would not go through any bank, financial institution, or government. You could send it to him anywhere in the world anonymously.

What's so bad about a bank, you say? Well think about the 2008 financial crisis. It happened because the banks got greedy, and the whole world economy almost collapsed. Think about all the money the Fed is printing right now and how it will lead to hyperinflation. With Bitcoin, none of that will happen because the software guarantees there will only ever be 21 million coins in circulation.

In summary, having crypto means that for the first time in human history we can possibly destroy the banks.

Think about how many times bitcoin has crashed.

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samurai bandit posted...

Stablecoins fix that problem. But yes.

Stablecoins such as tether which isn't actually backed 1:1 with dollars? It's a scam.

Trumble posted...

Yes, in the same way that if you're in Canada on holiday and you buy a sandwich for CA$6, then the value of the Canadian dollar goes up, you basically just paid more (probably not $60, but the same idea still applies) for the sandwich.

The magnitude of the fluctuations is the problem. Comparing it to the Canadian dollar is disingenuous.


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1337toothbrush posted...

Think about how many times bitcoin has crashed.

If you're speculating to make money this is absolutely essential though. If it doesn't fluctuate wildly you are better off speculating on something else.

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1337toothbrush posted...

Think about how many times bitcoin has crashed.

What is your definition of a price crash? It used to be worth less than a penny, and today its over $55K.

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ssjevot posted...

If you're speculating to make money this is absolutely essential though. If it doesn't fluctuate wildly you are better off speculating on something else.

Or you could invest in something with a reasonable rate of growth. You got lucky with your speculation, but that doesn't make it a good investment. If wild swings are the mark of a good investment, then penny stocks are a better investment than well-established companies by that metric.

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1337toothbrush posted...

Or you could invest in something with a reasonable rate of growth. You got lucky with your speculation, but that doesn't make it a good investment. If wild swings are the mark of a good investment, then penny stocks are a better investment than well-established companies by that metric.

Investing isn't speculating. I really hope you understand that. I hope you don't consider the crazy shit people do on Wall Street Bets investing, just because it's stocks.

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Rob Cesternino posted...

What is your definition of a price crash? It used to be worth less than a penny, and today its over $55K.

Losing 30+%. A crash has still happened even if the price recovers a couple years later.

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1337toothbrush posted...

This topic brilliantly demonstrates how crypto fans praise cryptocurrencies for doing things that aren't new.

Sounds like you haven't been in a position where you had to fight with your bank over transactions they flagged as fraudulent. I'm ready to look for another bank honestly. The other boon comes from being able to jump between different applications and not needing to "sign up". Just sign a transaction with your wallet and you're good to go.

Banks are quaking in their boots. They're going to have to fight to survive when crypto hits its stride in adoption. The decentralized world is super seamless and has zero hassle. To give an example, I applied for a loan with a bank and they wanted multiple cheque stubs, a letter from my company stating I worked there, and a bunch of IDs. It took a few weeks to get verified for a $3K loan with no credit. With crypto? It took me 10 minutes to get a $1000 loan, but I had to overcollaterallize and put up essentially $2K (it's lower than this, but this is cleaner) worth of assets. I had a good 60 days to pay it back and it cost me $13 in fees and interest in total. This was back in 2019, I'm curious to see what kind of ways they'll make loans more accessible to the common man in the crypto world.
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ssjevot posted...

Investing isn't speculating. I really hope you understand that.

Of course it's not, which is what I'm trying to differentiate here.

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Trumble posted...

Yes, in the same way that if you're in Canada on holiday and you buy a sandwich for CA$6, then the value of the Canadian dollar goes up, you basically just paid more (probably not $60, but the same idea still applies) for the sandwich.

I don't know why people would use that type of currency to pay for anything then. I'd just see it as investment or whatever and sell when it's too tempting not to sell.

samurai bandit posted...

This is the value. The difference is that normal people can do it now instead of just privileged corporations or individuals. That's the point of a decentralized world.

Lol, wtf?!

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Sad_Face posted...

Sounds like you haven't been in a position where you had to fight with your bank over transactions they flagged as fraudulent. I'm ready to look for another bank honestly. The other boon comes from being able to jump between different applications and not needing to "sign up". Just sign a transaction with your wallet and you're good to go.

Banks are quaking in their boots. They're going to have to fight to survive when crypto hits its stride in adoption. The decentralized world is super seamless and has zero hassle. To give an example, I applied for a loan with a bank and they wanted multiple cheque stubs, a letter from my company stating I worked there, and a bunch of IDs. It took a few weeks to get verified for a $3K loan with no credit. With crypto? It took me 10 minutes to get a $1000 loan, but I had to overcollaterallize and put up essentially $2K (it's lower than this, but this is cleaner) worth of assets. I had a good 60 days to pay it back and it cost me $13 in fees and interest in total. This was back in 2019, I'm curious to see what kind of ways they'll make loans more accessible to the common man in the crypto world.

There are problems with the banking system, but that doesn't mean there are no problems with cryptocurrencies. If you send crypto to the wrong address then have fun trying to revert that transaction.

Banks are absolutely not "quaking in their boots". The delusion is real. Then again, you're the biggest cryptoshill on this message board.

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1337toothbrush posted...

Of course it's not, which is what I'm trying to differentiate here.

But I said from the start I am speculating. I also said it isn't an investment and the kind of coins that would be ideal as a currency would be stable, Proof-of-Stake, instant, and feeless. Which means there is no way to make money off of them. And the fun part is that all the people talking about revolutionary tech never promote those. They promote coins that are ideal for speculating, yet most of them aren't even doing that correctly. That's what makes it so ridiculous. I don't care though because I am just speculating and I don't buy the bullshit because the coins that do what they claim they want already exist and they aren't promoting them and instead promote stuff that is slow as shit, wildly unstable prices, and have massive fees.

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Crypto is garbage as a currency. Their only use is for reckless speculation.

People hyping it up just come across like they're in a cult.
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ssjevot posted...

Investing isn't speculating. I really hope you understand that. I hope you don't consider the crazy shit people do on Wall Street Bets investing, just because it's stocks.

Cryptocurrencys are definitely speculative "investing" on a virtual asset.

It's essentially the computer code equivalent to gold. If you're investing in bitcoin your putting your capital on the bet that bitcoin is going to continue to be worth more and more than the american dollar, or essentially any other alternatives you could park your economic value.

And if you think that, I'm not saying you're wrong but I've yet to have anyone give me a convincing arguement of why that is other than that the value has been exponentially inflating over the past decade. Which is more of a result than a reason.

As someone who's pretty tapped into this sort of thing you're playing with fire. But I will also aknowledge that with more risk comes more potential reward.

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I only buy crypto to make money off devoted nerds

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Solid Snake07 posted...

As someone who's pretty tapped into this sort of thing you're playing with fire. But I will also aknowledge that with more risk comes more potential reward.

I think what makes crypto so easy to speculate is the army of cultists who like to "HODL". These bagholders will always be around to "buy the dip". So as long as you didn't buy in at a high price and as long as you take your profits you don't need to worry about being stuck holding the bag, because an army of cultists will buy your bag, hold it, and then write a long Reddit post on why this crash is good and you need to just HODL. Then when the suicide hotline is posted on r/cryptocurrency and people can no longer afford to buy any dips because they already put their entire life savings into it, when that happens, that's when you buy.

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1337toothbrush posted...

There are problems with the banking system, but that doesn't mean there are no problems with cryptocurrencies. If you send crypto to the wrong address then have fun trying to revert that transaction.

Banks are absolutely not "quaking in their boots". The delusion is real. Then again, you're the biggest cryptoshill on this message board.

Accessibility is an issue, sure. But the potential is there. This is the equivalent to the early times of the internet but we're progressing far more rapidly.

DeFi can net you an easy 10% in interest compared to banks' super saver accounts of 0.1% interest. I've used pools that divvy out over 90% in interest. The more you learn about DeFi, the more you use DeFi and understand it, the more it makes you question the future of regular banks. The only thing they have right now is accessibility but even that is going to continue diminishing as now there are applications to convert your public address into something more readable and there are projects out there aiming to resolve the issue of misclicks and accidentally sending assets of what you did not intend to send.
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Sad_Face posted...

Accessibility is an issue, sure. But the potential is there. This is the equivalent to the early times of the internet but we're progressing far more rapidly.

DeFi can net you an easy 10% in interest compared to banks' super saver accounts of 0.1% interest. I've used pools that divvy out over 90% in interest. The more you learn about DeFi, the more you use DeFi and understand it, the more it makes you question the future of regular banks. The only thing they have right now is accessibility but even that is going to continue diminishing as now there are applications to convert your public address into something more readable and there are projects out there aiming to resolve the issue of misclicks and accidentally sending assets of what you did not intend to send.

There is a reason why interest is high. Also, your loan example is hilarious. You had to put up almost double the money in cryptocurrency to get a loan of real money. Why not simply convert to real money without the loan?

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1337toothbrush posted...

There is a reason why interest is high. Also, your loan example is hilarious. You had to put up almost double the money in cryptocurrency to get a loan of real money. Why not simply convert to real money without the loan?

First rule of a Link marine. Never sell.

But this what people normally do, take a loan out to trade with, and then pay back loan and pocket the profits. The cryptoworld streamlines this practice considerably. And as I said before this was back in 2019, it's going to be interesting to see how they make loans more accessible. I can see NFTs going to be the method in which you can collateralize the deed to your car or house to use to collateralize to take out large loans in the deFi world.
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Well it's not instant transactions but I totally agree, I put my business on (potentially) permanent hiatus because of how much my crypto portfolio is bringing me every day

feelsgoodman.jpg

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ssjevot posted...

I think what makes crypto so easy to speculate is the army of cultists who like to "HODL". These bagholders will always be around to "buy the dip". So as long as you didn't buy in at a high price and as long as you take your profits you don't need to worry about being stuck holding the bag, because an army of cultists will buy your bag, hold it, and then write a long Reddit post on why this crash is good and you need to just HODL. Then when the suicide hotline is posted on r/cryptocurrency and people can no longer afford to buy any dips because they already put their entire life savings into it, when that happens, that's when you buy.

Maybe....unless it falls out of favor of popular zeitgeist.

It's also essentially computer coding. Proponents will tell you it's impervious to manipulation and I'm certainly not an expert on that side of it. But any sign of corruption will send a coin spiralling into a crash as significant as it's rise that it will very likely never recover from.

I'm not saying that will happen but much crazier shit has happened before.

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The non-believers gonna be stuck in poverty for not adapting.

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