load management wrote:shefcurry wrote:load management wrote:yes quite similar to cash in the sense that you can finalize a transaction instantly without a middleman, except you wouldn't have to fly to a different country with a briefcase full of it. It gets transferred digitally! But that is just one tiny aspect about the Blockchain related to the specific "currency" use case. There is a lot to learn!
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You're right. It's a lot like flying with a briefcase of cash. Here are the similarities:
1. If someone steals your briefcase, you're SOL and have zero recource. Just like crypto
2. You still have to convert the cash from your currency a local currency when you get to the foreign country, because the grocery store and gas station won't accept your foreign cash.
3. You have to find someone willing and able to accept a briefcase of cash and convert it to the local currency, which most reputable places won't do.
4. For someone to convert the currency, they're gonna take a cut.
5. The person converting your briefcase of foreign cash is probably operating outside the law and could be shady as f*ck. They might just choose to help themselves the cash in your briefcase (cough... FTX...).
5. If you're moving large sums of money between countries in a briefcase of cash, you're probably committing a crime.
This is not progress.
I have no skin in the game, but I am learning because blockchain is here to stay and most big companies and governments are adopting it. It does seem like those with the most animosity are the least educated.
1) There is risk. Know what you are doing what is necessary to protect your assets. There are billions of dollars worth of crypto sitting safely in cold wallets. Recourse will come with regulation and mass adoption.
2) This is true but you can do this with the click of a button. Just be smart about which currency you plan to trade with so the exchange is available.
3) Same as above - Just dont use a currency that is not widely accepted.
4) All services cost you...
5) That is up to the governments to decide. More regulation will help with adoption. Too much will stifle innovation
6) Most widely accepted currencies have a public digital ledger. Transaction using Eth, Sol Bitcoin etc are completely transparent.
Not a testament to the current state of the tech. It is the wild west right now but that should change.
I take exception to the bolded statement above. I have animosity with crypto because I understand it at a decent level. And more importantly, I understand how corporations use technology to subvert the average person to earn profits. It's funny because you are basically acknowledging this in your post by noting how big corporations and governments will adopt it. My animosity doesn't stem from whether a currency that can transact across borders is good or bad (which ironically is not even a big problem that needs to be solved), my animosity stems from the fact that usage of that currency, and all the other bullsh*t like web3 that comes with it, is an absolute dystopia for the average person. And I get super annoyed when the narrative is instead touted as somehow good for the average person.
You will hear me repeat over and over again in these conversations that a low trust environment (public block chains) are a low privacy environment. This is a very important concept to understand. In order for crypto currencies to work, the details of the transactions written to the chain must be publicly readable and immutable. Imagine a future world where crypto currencies do become a medium of exchange, and every transaction that you as an individual perform are now publicly readable to everyone in the world. Yes, we can hide our identity behind metamask, but this is clearly no better than the current world where our transnational identity is centralized with a bank, or with google, or with paypal. And everyone advocating that you keep your digital wallet in cold storage off of an exchange or a centralized entity? All it takes is for someone get you to transact with them once, and now your entire history of transactions from that wallet can be traced back.
Crypto is a hammer looking for a nail, and every nail it successfully strikes will mean less privacy, more security risks, and more control handed over to corporations. And the corporations you are handing control over to are providing less services, and generally charging more than the current banking industry today. I have no love for the big banks, but they at least provide me with banking services. Crypto provides me only with peer to peer transactions, and with zero safe guards if someone compromises my wallet and takes all my money.
All that said, crypto as a speculative investment is still interesting and compelling. Just recognize it for what it is; a grift by the uber wealthy to wrangle even more control and money away from the average person. And if you view it in this light, just remember, it's not profit unless you sell at the right time.
We the Champs...
