this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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Cryptocurrencies are a tool, similar to how money is a tool. You can't blame money itself for all the scummy shit done using it, similarly for cryptocurrencies.
Now whether it's about their impact to energy consumption is a whole other deal that I too dislike about it, but it's a really good anonymous funding tool without being under the influence of payment brokers.
A knife is a tool. Knives can be used for food and violence. However, knives do not persuade their users to buy as many knives as they can, they do not incentivize manipulating others to do so too, nor do knives inherently encourage violence. The exact opposite is true for crypto"currencies" because these are multi-level marketing pyramid schemes. As soon as one joins the Crypto Cult one benefits from recruiting new members—often by indoctrination and/or demagoguery.
@arsCynic Newsflash: any currency under the Sun works like that. And stocks. And options. And any other form of speculative wealth.
And most of wealth on Earth is just that - speculative. The gold standard was abolished long time ago, and, some might say it's for the better. Look it up.
Yeah, that paper in your pocket isn't based on anything tangible. It's just paper we agree is valuable. It's not real in the same way a knife is.
Crypto is just a little bit more open about it. It's just lines of math we agree are valuable.
And scams have existed in traditional currencies long before cryptocurrency. Same as currency trading, aka "encouraging you to buy more if it".
So, if you want to hate on anything, hate on a concept of currency and speculative wealth in general. Cryptocurrency is just the latest form of it.
And, frankly, it's just useful for avoiding unfair shit like international sanctions aka some fat cats deciding to bar me from donating or receiving funds
@CaptainBasculin
@arsCynic see also: there's no ethical consumption under capitalism.
@CaptainBasculin
This statement have the following fallacies:
Straw man.
Appeal to emotion.
Ad hominem.
Cherry picking.
Not true Scotsman.
Hasty generalization.
Begging the question.
False dilemma.
Unfortunately that's true for most of them. I believe that monero is the difference though, it is actually used as a currency, not as an investment vehicle