The Cryptocurrencies Thread

[ReaPsTA]

I was planning to buy crypto eventually, but I decided I will invest in stocks instead. My faith in the whole crypto movement has been damaged. People told me it is seperate from banks and decentralised and all, but what are these crypto platforms freezing crypto assets? Most people I know at least are using some form of company that stores/exchanges their assets. And if one of these companies tumbles, what will happen to your money? It isn't protected like traditional currencies, right? I also looked at the articles about stable coins being the future over the last years and how many experts backed that with all kinds of arguments. Now look what happened to them this year.

I think what you're saying here gets at the fundamental problem - Unless you're invested in the intricacies of the tech and the underlying fundamentals of the market, crypto still sucks. None of the stuff happening at the exchanges affects me, because I hold the keys to my own wallets. But is that a realistic solution for most people? The various stablecoin crashes/problems were very foreseeable - if you followed the space. Is that something most people want to do?

Right now, a crypto exchange is a crappy version of a bank.

Furthermore there is/was the whole NFT stuff. I am by no means an expert, but to me it seems like a solution looking for a problem. The vast majority of the expensive jpegs is not even on the blockchain, the link to it is. Who owns the servers to your thousand dollar picture? How long will the server last?

As someone who owns multiple NFTs - In retrospect they were terrible for the space. The attention went away from how to improve the technology to quick gains. Like you said, the image itself not being on the chain undermines the point. But no need to think about that when you're just trying to make a quick buck anyway.

I am willing to be convinced, but none of the crypto fans I know are convincing me, their argument seems so boil down to "it is the future". Almost all sources on the internet are very clearly biased, as most of these article writers are the resident crypto expert that likely has a fat crypto wallet themselves. For (really) rich people and companies the less regulations, the better. I am skeptical of how much that will benefit the average consumer.

As someone who believes in the future, I still completely understand where you're coming from. Legitimate projects don't get enough hype because they don't offer a rocket to the moon. Chainlink, one of the most important pieces of crypto infrastructure, has lost more of its value than Cardano, an Ethereum alternative that's sat and done nothing of interest or value for years. But everybody is waiting for a bunch of rich people to ape into Cardano. Perhaps one day they will be right.

On the other hand, to your point on regulation part of why so little of value is being developed is because the US environment makes it effectively impossible. US internet regulation took years to get where it is now (encryption wars, section 230, right to create downloading technology), but at least the internet was able to evolve and grow during that time. If you come up with any sort of genuine crypto tool that could help people, you will have to fight to get your project listed on a US legal exchange and hope that the SEC doesn't come for you.

For the record, I am not saying crytpo will crash (further) or will not become huge. But to me that seems more based on faith in it's value for investment purposes, rather than actual use cases. There are probably some really promising coins out there in terms of tech, but are those ever getting near the brand of Bitcoin?

Agreed.

[lordxizor]

I was planning to buy crypto eventually, but I decided I will invest in stocks instead. My faith in the whole crypto movement has been damaged. People told me it is seperate from banks and decentralised and all, but what are these crypto platforms freezing crypto assets? Most people I know at least are using some form of company that stores/exchanges their assets. And if one of these companies tumbles, what will happen to your money? It isn't protected like traditional currencies, right? I also looked at the articles about stable coins being the future over the last years and how many experts backed that with all kinds of arguments. Now look what happened to them this year.

I think what you're saying here gets at the fundamental problem - Unless you're invested in the intricacies of the tech and the underlying fundamentals of the market, crypto still sucks. None of the stuff happening at the exchanges affects me, because I hold the keys to my own wallets. But is that a realistic solution for most people? The various stablecoin crashes/problems were very foreseeable - if you followed the space. Is that something most people want to do?

In a crypto Facebook group that I'm in, there are people who will inevitably respond with "not your keys, not your crypto" anytime anyone asks about exchanges. When I'm feeling up for an argument, I will point out that the fact that people need to say this is one of the biggest problems with crypto that will prevent mass adoption. Keeping your crypto on an exchange is the equivalent of keeping your money in a bank. Keeping your crypto in a private wallet is the equivalent of keeping your money buried in a box in the backyard. Exchanges need to be secure, insured, and safe before crytpo will see mass adoption. I get that decentralized finance is part of the goal of crypto, but we need a safe place to buy, sell, and exchange crypto easily.

[ReaPsTA]

I was planning to buy crypto eventually, but I decided I will invest in stocks instead. My faith in the whole crypto movement has been damaged. People told me it is seperate from banks and decentralised and all, but what are these crypto platforms freezing crypto assets? Most people I know at least are using some form of company that stores/exchanges their assets. And if one of these companies tumbles, what will happen to your money? It isn't protected like traditional currencies, right? I also looked at the articles about stable coins being the future over the last years and how many experts backed that with all kinds of arguments. Now look what happened to them this year.

I think what you're saying here gets at the fundamental problem - Unless you're invested in the intricacies of the tech and the underlying fundamentals of the market, crypto still sucks. None of the stuff happening at the exchanges affects me, because I hold the keys to my own wallets. But is that a realistic solution for most people? The various stablecoin crashes/problems were very foreseeable - if you followed the space. Is that something most people want to do?

In a crypto Facebook group that I'm in, there are people who will inevitably respond with "not your keys, not your crypto" anytime anyone asks about exchanges. When I'm feeling up for an argument, I will point out that the fact that people need to say this is one of the biggest problems with crypto that will prevent mass adoption. Keeping your crypto on an exchange is the equivalent of keeping your money in a bank. Keeping your crypto in a private wallet is the equivalent of keeping your money buried in a box in the backyard. Exchanges need to be secure, insured, and safe before crytpo will see mass adoption. I get that decentralized finance is part of the goal of crypto, but we need a safe place to buy, sell, and exchange crypto easily.

You see the nightmare scenario stories in the news of people who lost the keys to their wallets and can't access their money. What normal person is interested in this?

I think people are down enough on banks that they'd be interested in some kind of individualized solution. But it has to function better than a bank to be adopted. Think of the things you can do with a bank:

 - Charge back scam purchases
 - Move money between your accounts without transaction fees
 - View your transaction history in a human-readable way
 - If you lose your bank account information, you can go to the bank, verify it's you, and get new information
 - If there's a bank run or the economy takes a dump, at least some of your cash is insured
 - Depending on the account, earn no-risk interest (even if said interest is low)
 - Send money to people without transaction fees

Where is the crypto technology that can do these things? Why is no one trying to build it? This is not a frivolous question. Jay Powell is currently robbing the American people of their wealth in order to lower inflation. An alternative must be invented.

[XJDenton]

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/cryptocurrency-market-value-slumps-under-1-trillion-2022-06-13/

The Cryptocurrency market has lost 1 trillion dollars in the last couple of months.

[XJDenton]

- Charge back scam purchases
 - Move money between your accounts without transaction fees
 - View your transaction history in a human-readable way
 - If you lose your bank account information, you can go to the bank, verify it's you, and get new information
 - If there's a bank run or the economy takes a dump, at least some of your cash is insured
 - Depending on the account, earn no-risk interest (even if said interest is low)
 - Send money to people without transaction fees

Where is the crypto technology that can do these things?

The vast majority of these things rely on centralisation and regulation. This is antithetical to the entire design philosophy of Crypto.

[lordxizor]

- Charge back scam purchases
 - Move money between your accounts without transaction fees
 - View your transaction history in a human-readable way
 - If you lose your bank account information, you can go to the bank, verify it's you, and get new information
 - If there's a bank run or the economy takes a dump, at least some of your cash is insured
 - Depending on the account, earn no-risk interest (even if said interest is low)
 - Send money to people without transaction fees

Where is the crypto technology that can do these things?

The vast majority of these things rely on centralisation and regulation. This is antithetical to the entire design philosophy of Crypto.

I agree that some of it goes against what crypto is hoping to achieve. I would love to see you having the option to go both ways. You can hold your crypto on a private wallet, essentially being completely decentralized. Or there are crypto "banks" that offer the protections and convenience that people are looking for.

One of the big things that to me will hold Bitcoin in particular back from ever really being a viable currency option is the time it takes to transfer. I can swipe my credit card at the grocery store and be on my way in seconds. The bank backing the credit card essentially has agreed to pay the store, so they let me walk. If I try to pay with Bitcoin, I may have to stand there for several minutes waiting for the transaction to go through because it is not instant.

Crypto has a long way to go to fix some of the inherant problems. I know that part of the reason why there are thousands of different currencies as they're each trying to solve one or more of the problems. But I think convenience and safety is one of the biggest problems yet to be solved.

[XJDenton]

Banks offer the services they do because while you store your money there, they are free to use it/invest it in things that makes the banks money, and they can do that because the currencies they trade in are (relatively) stable in value and freely transferable between any person or entity in the market. Cryptocurrencies are neither.

[Deathless]

I was planning to buy crypto eventually, but I decided I will invest in stocks instead. My faith in the whole crypto movement has been damaged. People told me it is seperate from banks and decentralised and all, but what are these crypto platforms freezing crypto assets? Most people I know at least are using some form of company that stores/exchanges their assets. And if one of these companies tumbles, what will happen to your money? It isn't protected like traditional currencies, right? I also looked at the articles about stable coins being the future over the last years and how many experts backed that with all kinds of arguments. Now look what happened to them this year.

I think what you're saying here gets at the fundamental problem - Unless you're invested in the intricacies of the tech and the underlying fundamentals of the market, crypto still sucks. None of the stuff happening at the exchanges affects me, because I hold the keys to my own wallets. But is that a realistic solution for most people? The various stablecoin crashes/problems were very foreseeable - if you followed the space. Is that something most people want to do?

In a crypto Facebook group that I'm in, there are people who will inevitably respond with "not your keys, not your crypto" anytime anyone asks about exchanges. When I'm feeling up for an argument, I will point out that the fact that people need to say this is one of the biggest problems with crypto that will prevent mass adoption. Keeping your crypto on an exchange is the equivalent of keeping your money in a bank. Keeping your crypto in a private wallet is the equivalent of keeping your money buried in a box in the backyard. Exchanges need to be secure, insured, and safe before crytpo will see mass adoption. I get that decentralized finance is part of the goal of crypto, but we need a safe place to buy, sell, and exchange crypto easily.

You see the nightmare scenario stories in the news of people who lost the keys to their wallets and can't access their money. What normal person is interested in this?

I think people are down enough on banks that they'd be interested in some kind of individualized solution. But it has to function better than a bank to be adopted. Think of the things you can do with a bank:

 - Charge back scam purchases
 - Move money between your accounts without transaction fees
 - View your transaction history in a human-readable way
 - If you lose your bank account information, you can go to the bank, verify it's you, and get new information
 - If there's a bank run or the economy takes a dump, at least some of your cash is insured
 - Depending on the account, earn no-risk interest (even if said interest is low)
 - Send money to people without transaction fees

Where is the crypto technology that can do these things? Why is no one trying to build it? This is not a frivolous question. Jay Powell is currently robbing the American people of their wealth in order to lower inflation. An alternative must be invented.

I work for a technology company that has built some of this functionality on the consumer/banking side. We created a proof-of-concept personal bank account that facilitates money-movement via blockchain and is fiat-backed. We're working with some big players on the merchant/processing side now to try and take on Visa/Mastercard as we can provide instant settlement at a portion of the fees they charge. It's going to be interesting to see if it can be done. It's definitely exciting to be a part of.

[ErHaO]

I was planning to buy crypto eventually, but I decided I will invest in stocks instead. My faith in the whole crypto movement has been damaged. People told me it is seperate from banks and decentralised and all, but what are these crypto platforms freezing crypto assets? Most people I know at least are using some form of company that stores/exchanges their assets. And if one of these companies tumbles, what will happen to your money? It isn't protected like traditional currencies, right? I also looked at the articles about stable coins being the future over the last years and how many experts backed that with all kinds of arguments. Now look what happened to them this year.

I think what you're saying here gets at the fundamental problem - Unless you're invested in the intricacies of the tech and the underlying fundamentals of the market, crypto still sucks. None of the stuff happening at the exchanges affects me, because I hold the keys to my own wallets. But is that a realistic solution for most people? The various stablecoin crashes/problems were very foreseeable - if you followed the space. Is that something most people want to do?

In a crypto Facebook group that I'm in, there are people who will inevitably respond with "not your keys, not your crypto" anytime anyone asks about exchanges. When I'm feeling up for an argument, I will point out that the fact that people need to say this is one of the biggest problems with crypto that will prevent mass adoption. Keeping your crypto on an exchange is the equivalent of keeping your money in a bank. Keeping your crypto in a private wallet is the equivalent of keeping your money buried in a box in the backyard. Exchanges need to be secure, insured, and safe before crytpo will see mass adoption. I get that decentralized finance is part of the goal of crypto, but we need a safe place to buy, sell, and exchange crypto easily.

You see the nightmare scenario stories in the news of people who lost the keys to their wallets and can't access their money. What normal person is interested in this?

I think people are down enough on banks that they'd be interested in some kind of individualized solution. But it has to function better than a bank to be adopted. Think of the things you can do with a bank:

 - Charge back scam purchases
 - Move money between your accounts without transaction fees
 - View your transaction history in a human-readable way
 - If you lose your bank account information, you can go to the bank, verify it's you, and get new information
 - If there's a bank run or the economy takes a dump, at least some of your cash is insured
 - Depending on the account, earn no-risk interest (even if said interest is low)
 - Send money to people without transaction fees

Where is the crypto technology that can do these things? Why is no one trying to build it? This is not a frivolous question. Jay Powell is currently robbing the American people of their wealth in order to lower inflation. An alternative must be invented.

I work for a technology company that has built some of this functionality on the consumer/banking side. We created a proof-of-concept personal bank account that facilitates money-movement via blockchain and is fiat-backed. We're working with some big players on the merchant/processing side now to try and take on Visa/Mastercard as we can provide instant settlement at a portion of the fees they charge. It's going to be interesting to see if it can be done. It's definitely exciting to be a part of.

But then what would be the advantage for the consumer in this scenario? Doesn't being fiat-backed mean it is backed by paper currencies like the US dollar? Doesn't that, and having a bank inbetween, go against several of the major selling points of crypto people often state? (inflation hedge, heavy focus on privacy, borderless trade etc.).

Btw, I am no financial expert at all.

[ReaPsTA]

I work for a technology company that has built some of this functionality on the consumer/banking side. We created a proof-of-concept personal bank account that facilitates money-movement via blockchain and is fiat-backed. We're working with some big players on the merchant/processing side now to try and take on Visa/Mastercard as we can provide instant settlement at a portion of the fees they charge. It's going to be interesting to see if it can be done. It's definitely exciting to be a part of.

I wish you the best of luck.

[Cool Chris]

I have no idea what a Shibu Inu is, but I have, like, 100k of them, and it is up 92% today, and 323% this week.

[lordxizor]

Good for you. I sold mine a long time ago. I was up 700% at the time and it dropped a ton after that. Fun to see alt coins going back up again.

[Chino]

I forgot I still had 3000 Dogecoin sitting around and it's up 132% in the last month 

Thanks for the reminder!

[axeman90210]

I'm so tempted to drop another K into doge. It's bad. Am also addicted. It's like a casino at this point.

That's all it's ever been "investing in crypto" just sounds cooler than "playing roulette or the slot machines over and over"

[cramx3]

I've held one Eth coin through the last couple years.  Don't plan on "investing" in this stuff anymore, but when it inevitably all drops again, I might put some money into it just to sell when it gets pumped up again. The whole crypto market, to me, feels like it's controlled by a group of people milking the average person via hype.

[XJDenton]

I've held one Eth coin through the last couple years.  Don't plan on "investing" in this stuff anymore, but when it inevitably all drops again, I might put some money into it just to sell when it gets pumped up again. The whole crypto market, to me, feels like it's controlled by a group of people milking the average person via hype.

That's because it is.

[Cool Chris]

Aaaaaaaand we're back down 15% today.