| Bitcoin and other blockchains are not currency, they are platforms and infrastructure. Currently, Bitcoin doesn't have a lot of intrinsic value, but as more and more core services (DNS, identity, etc...) migrate over to the blockchain/s it will eventually increase its value and come out of the _initial_ speculative phase. The blockchain is essentially a globally distributed transactional log, that allows you to build things that require synchronization and consistency, it just so happens that moving assets is the most obvious application. Currently it's pretty slow, but work is being done, specially in ethereum to speed it up. Things like proof of stake over proof of work as well as sharding should make it a lot faster, and capable of processing several thousands of transactions a second. Ethereum is also the next step in the evolution of the blockchain, with the addition of a Turing complete virtual machine it is now possible to execute arbitrary code and have a truly programmable block chain. This allows it to be used for virtually anything without having to roll your own blockchain, for example you can program a truly distributed naming system that would allow alyisyng anything out there to human readable names, from IPs to to arbitrary hashes in a distributed file system, or even fisical people, granted they have a virtual presence of some sort and and a unique hashed handle. The other important aspect of it is the possible symbioses with the distributed/decentralized web or web3 or next web. Decentralization seems to be the theme for the next several years, and I personally am extremely optimistic about some or all of it becoming real and currently actively trying to contribute to it in any way I can. However for decentralization to become economically vaiable an intrinsic way of incentivation is required and this is one more place where the blockchain will be what makes it possible. To sumarize: * Blockchain is a platform not a currency * It enables synchronization on a global distributed scale * "Next web" and blockchains go hand in hand. On the one hand providing the backbone infrastructure required to run some critical parts of web3, on the other providing a transparent digital aset management system which you can build incentivation on top of. On a side note, I wouldn't necessarily trust Buffet and company on this one, for one, it requires a pretty good understanding of the technologies involved to be able to make any sort of informed prediction, and I'm not sure if you can perform any sort of typical fundamental analysis on it at all, which is a common practice in his business line, and yes currently the bitcoin price might be somewhat speculative, but that will change as more and more core infrastructure relies on it. As for scammers, raids and etc... That's pretty common in a nascent complex and deregulated environment such as this, remember the WWW at the beginning ;)? |