[uyt]

That's disturbingly intriguing indeed.

In theory, what is stopping any stock from being a cryptocurrency (minus the crypto part)? Can anything tradeable with a fixed supply become a currency? What other magic requirement is missing?

[brmgb]

> Can anything tradeable with a fixed supply become a currency?

Yes, very much so (including something with unpredictable supply). Through history, diverse things were used as currency including shells, salt, silver and gold.

The commonly used definition of a currency was coined by Aristotle and is that it's an asset fulfilling three requirements:

- being an intermediary of exchange;

- being a store of value;

- being a unit of account.

You might notice that most cryptocurrencies are not actually currency owning to the first point.

[Jtsummers]

Ease of exchange. I can’t (easily) give you 100 GME to buy a new car. We’d need a particular arrangement which isn’t easy to come by in the current setup.

[bobthepanda]

If anything, cryptocurrencies are becoming more like illiquid equity rather than a currency. I can't exactly go to the store and exchange BTC for milk.

Interestingly, local dispensaries at one point entertained the idea of BTC ATMs to get around the fact that they have no ability to take credit cards due to the illegal state of pot at the federal level, but this was abandoned after a bit because the volatility was too expensive to make this a worthwhile proposition.

[rorykoehler]

What I do is use the virtual crypto wallet in Revolut. Keep money in BTC and when I want to buy something move the exact amount across to the FIAT currency account and tap to pay.

I keep a small float in FIAT so I only do this when it’s the cheaper option.