[sadness3]

There seems to be a real under-appreciation by the Hacker News crowd of how profound the use case of cryptocurrencies as simple money is.

Perhaps because we have a sample bias towards people who are served adequately by traditional financial infrastructure, and people who are disproportionately preoccupied with blockchain as a potential component of software systems.

As an example, most kids in starting school today will probably have years of experience being their own banker, using apps on their phones, before they ever step foot in place which employs bankers. At that point they may not bother, since the cryptocurrency ecosystem will already provide all the same facilities. This is profoundly disruptive.

[acdha]

Alternatively, people who are good at analyzing systems and have a sense of ethics refuse to promote a faulty narrative even if they could personally profit from pumping and dumping.

For example, the disruptive experience you describe happens to statistically nobody. The kids you describe are not being their own bankers - almost all of them are using credit card-backed apps, and even if you only look at the few who use cryptocurrencies at all there’s a very small percentage who aren’t reliant on exchanges which are banks for all intents and purposes.

[tsimionescu]

No one is using crypto out of choice for payments. The gigantic transaction fees alone would deter any sane person from using something like bitcoin, and other coins are even less reputable.

The only reasons to use crypto are either for speculation, or for trade where traditional networks can't be used - illegal activities, transfer to/from certain countries.

[sadness3]

Here's a contemporary example: We can, right now, hold USD equivalents in kava.io . It operates on a system which is analogous to fractional reserve banking, except with no middlemen, so your effective interest rate is better by an order of magnitude. It's relatively simple to use. Giving a bank your trust a and a big cut of your returns is going to be a hard sell when that's your normal as a kid.

[byzantinegene]

Terrible comparison, you do know that banks are regulated and insured by the FDIC right? If a bank goes insolvent, your savings will be insured up to USD100,000, but if kava.io goes down (and trust me it will), there goes all your savings.

[tsimionescu]

Sure, you say that now. Let's see what will happen to kava.io during the next financial crisis, or simply 20 years from now.

Banking is by no means a simple or safe operation.

[mempko]

Fractional reserve banking isn't a real thing though...