[shkkmo]

Seems completely on the mark to me. Your dismissals don't seem appropriate to HN.

Please name one good thing crypto helps people accomplish that doesn't involve breaking the law (or speculation.)

[eric_cc]

off the top of my head: DeFi, NFT's, data storage, services for the bankless, decentralized metaverses, insurance, synthetics, music streaming, video streaming, social networks, DAO's, social money

[shkkmo]

I think most, if not all, of those things work fine (and arguably better) without using a cryptocurrency.

[eric_cc]

so you see no value to:

- DeFi

- decentralized data storage.

- a decentralized & censorship resistant video streaming platform.

- Artists getting compensated fairly via NFT's.

- Banking the bankless

- DAO's (btw, how can DAO's work better without being decentralized? hahaha)

- A decentralized and censorship resistant social network

- Sythentics. What is a better solution to tokenizing assets in your opinion?

and on and on..

[shkkmo]

I see plenty of value in many of those issues. Some appear to be just jargon or beg the question. I see zero evidence that cryptocurrency is necessary or even beneficial in solving any of those problems.

[doggosphere]

That's because you think your currency is secure forever.

Ask Argentinians, Turks, Venezuelans, Zimbabweans, etc. what they think about their central banks.

[shkkmo]

I don't think my, or any, national currency is secure forever, but neither is any cryptocurrency. Currently national currencies are, on average, far more stable and secure places to hold assets than any cryptocurrency.

If your national isn't as stable as you like, you can more easily use a different national currency. If your country has capital controls that prohibit this, then you are using cryptocurrency to break the law.

My contention is that so far the only use cases cryptocurrency has been successful in are illegal. If the legal restrictions in those areas were removed, cryptocurrency would no longer be useful there.

[eric_cc]

you don’t believe a protocol like ethereum is beneficial to the above problems? How would you solve it without ethereum (or similar) protocol?

[shkkmo]

How is ethereum necessary or beneficial in solving any of them?