[devrandomguy]

They are just exploring the solution space, with minimal baggage to hold them back. The real problem, is that people are trying to make a living off of something that is still experimental / alpha level maturity.

Seems like the people who do understand banking history are unwilling or unable to make any kind of improvements, at least in regards to the issues that digital currencies are working to address.

[NelsonMinar]

Sure, but their youthful experiments are involving billions of dollars worth of money. Or at least they claim it does.

[devrandomguy]

And why is so much money getting dumped into these constructs? AFAIK, it is speculators that are inflating that economy, not the coin devs hyping it as an investment.

If it's any consolation, money doesn't disappear, it just becomes someone else's. It's still in the economy. Think of it as an overpriced research project, that the media went nuts over.

[bduerst]

If you swap out "the coin devs" for "Ty Inc.", then your comment would be relevant about Beanie Babies.

[supermdguy]

But if it works...

[mikeschmatz]

Not sure if there are billions of dollars involved. For all we know, it could be just speculators trading crypto between each other.

I could not find any stats on the amount of fiat flowing in and out of these "exchanges", which, by the way, have zero oversight and tend to disappear every few months or so.