You don’t think Satoshi Nakamoto had credibility or professionalism? It’s not fair to lump the bad seeds in with the good. Imagine if I said the US Dollar was a scam because drug cartels or AI companies use it.

▲

tired-turtle 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That comparison to USD strikes me as disingenuous.

Currency is a measure of social trust; it allows social contributions to be measured in a fungible unit. Cryptocurrencies erase this concept of social trust under the purported claim that anonymous transfer of “money” is good for society, forgetting why humans created currency in the first place. Anonymity abets money laundering, illicit drug trade, human trafficking/slavery, and CSAM, along with a raft of other antisocial behaviors.

Yes, you can do all of the above with USD, but you’ll have to put a lot more effort into doing so. Hence, it is fair to lump the bad in with the good for crypto (IMO) because it’s unclear how the benefits of crypto outweigh the antisocial behavior it enables. What has society gained in return?

▲

bit-anarchist 4 hours ago | parent [-]

You have it backwards, most cryptocurrencies transactions are, at best, pseudononymous, where, by contrast, cash transactions are anonymous by default.

> What has society gained in return?

A currency technology that doesn't rely on central authority, slavery nor imperialism to exist.

▲

tired-turtle 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I wrote USD, not cash. Most transactions in USD are electronic, not physical, so it’s a little unclear what point you’re trying to make.

▲

bit-anarchist 4 hours ago | parent [-]

USD includes cash. In fact, cash is the preferred payment method for criminal things, contending with Monero, so complaining about its inclusion is certainly something.

Going even further, cryptcurrencies, being distrusted ledgers, still fulfill the ability to test for someone "social trust" within a transaction, anonymous or not. Also, it's not like we, as the whole society, have access to your transaction history at all times with USD (which we do with Bitcoin, funnily enough).

	▲	hparadiz 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Anyone who lives in a country with high inflation and unstable monetary policy can now use crypto to store wealth. Calling crypto inherently bad is pure first world privilege.

▲

5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]