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Opinion | Don’t Get Fooled Again by Crypto (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Most people when starting out are, or at least should be, very uneasy about putting money into things with no underlying value or feasible purpose beyond being bought by a greater fool in the future.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What about cash?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I’ve rarely heard it suggested as an investment, but it can actually be realisticly used to goods and services outside of itself and as such does have an actual purpose, which is more than can be said for any crypto currency.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

There are several cryptocurrencies which are regularly used for purchases. Just because BTC and meme-coins get the media coverage and speculation doesn't stop others being used for transactions.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Cash is inflationary, "by definition" as per current monetary theories, meaning it is designed to lose value over time. Not much of an investment.

Also, I can't use USD, GBP or AUD for "goods and services outside of itself"... unless I exchange them for EUR first, same as any Crypto.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That every currency is not accepted everywhere in the world, though every one you listed is pretty commonly accepted by business and as such you absolutely could by things with them in the Eurozone, is not an argument that they are the same as an casino token.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

They're not legal tender, not at all commonly accepted, and anyone accepting them (mostly in tourist areas) will charge an exchange fee because nobody's going to take them as payment for their bills.

They're all the same as casino tokens though, because they don't have an intrinsic value, like for example an ounce of gold.

Fiat represents the trust an issuing bank has in everyone trusting it at a faster pace than the expiry of its loans.
Casino tokens represent the trust a person has in the casino paying out when getting the token back.
Crypto represents the trust in that someone will want to exchange it for something in the future.

Since the end of the gold standard, economy has been running on trust (aka: credit). These are just different representations of that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I can use cash to pay my taxes. I cant pay my taxes with cryptocurrency.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Sure but you can liquidate cryptocurrency to pay your taxes using fiat.