[SkyMarshal]

Rising inflation and correspondant rising interest rates would have resulted in a major crypto market decline with or without the fraud. Bitcoin had already fallen from $60k+ to ~$20k before the waves of failures even began happening.

All of cryptocurrency is a risk asset. When credit and money is cheap and flowing freely, it flows into risk assets like crypto, driving up their price and forming bubbles. When rates rise and credit and money is no longer flowing freely, it flows out of risk assets into safer havens, popping the bubbles. That's what happened to crypto this year.

The collapses and fraud revelations were a consequence of that, not the cause. Blaming the macro is accurate.

[WeylandYutani]

It's been 15 years now I think? And still cryptocurrency mainly revolves around speculation. It's adoption as a currency has been... lacking.

[SkyMarshal]

Close, almost 14yrs. Launched Jan 2009. Bitcoin's economic design incentivizes saving rather than spending, so it's no big surprise that's what's happening. DeFi currently is all about using loans to make money speculating, so yeah, but it's still kinda new so jury's still out on whether it might develop into something more broadly useful.

[automatic6131]

>but it's still kinda new so jury's still out on whether it might develop into something more broadly useful

Lol. Lmao, even.