| ▲ | rglullis 7 hours ago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exactly. Cryptocurrency is useful as as a backup system against failing/weak institutions. Just that. Like insurance, it was not there to make anyone's lives better but simply to become a safeguard to avoid complete collapse. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | astoor 6 hours ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
If it was just a backup against failing/weak institutions it would be relavively benign, but the problem is that it incentivises machiavellian types to undermine society and nation states for their own personal profit - see e.g. The Sovereign Individual[0]. Combined with effective accelerationism[1] you can see why we could be heading towards somewhere a whole lot worse than The Bad Place. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | prewett an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It doesn't even do that. If there's complete collapse, there won't be a reliable network to transact over, and not reliable electricity to run the network and do the processing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | mrhottakes 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It's not even useful for that, it's controlled by those same institutions now. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | munksbeer an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> Just that. Like insurance, it was not there to make anyone's lives better This is revisionism. That is not at all how it started. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | pjc50 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
However, I think there's an argument that the existence of that backup, or at least its marketing, might of itself encourage people to make the institutions fail so they can profit from it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | JeremyNT 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
> Exactly. Cryptocurrency is useful as as a backup system against failing/weak institutions. Just that. Like insurance, it was not there to make anyone's lives better but simply to become a safeguard to avoid complete collapse. Meh, it's arbitrage against slow moving financial regulations. There are times when financial regulations are "bad" in a way that this trait is desireable - i.e. your failing institutions use case - but in many cases these regulations are, actually, there for a reason. And now in practice crypto transactions for "normal" people are performed by bank-like institutions who log every transaction anyway, so this characteristic is really only valuable to the people deeply involved in the crypto world who are using it mainly to do "normal" crimes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | dboreham 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Except it requires institutions in order to work. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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