[dotty-]

Is cryptocurrency busted? Sure, it didn't replace the global monetary system, but it seems to be a proven technology now. And sure, it had its crashes, but BTC is up 112% over 1Y, and lots of cryptos have legitimate payment purposes.

[mjr00]

> it seems to be a proven technology now.

Proven to do what exactly? A solution for which problems?

Cryptocurrency had billions invested into it and the most valuable product that came out of it was cartoon apes. There's not a single blockchain that replaced the existing financial system, an area it was supposed to disrupt. There's not a single blockchain in use anywhere in logistics and supply chain, an area the blockchain was allegedly going to revolutionize. There's not a single blockchain being used for identity management by serious enterprises.

Most new technologies are overhyped, but blockchain/cryptocurrency is the only one where you can look back and be astonished at how virtually nothing was created. Its most important lasting contribution to society is providing incontrovertible evidence that just because "thought leaders" and deep-pocketed investors say something is going to change the world, it doesn't make them right.

[dotty-]

Whether or not you agree with the greater philosophical goal of Bitcoin, Bitcoin proved the ability to create a system of value using basically just cryptography and with a built-in reward system to incentivize the decentralization of the network -- and it grew enough that it can now operate as a standalone method of payment. It's an amazing feat.

Snowden is correct here: https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1759304612664779247

[ezrast]

It had done all that by 2010, no? The real hype was about what would come after.

I don't think the thesis of most Bitcoin critics is that the math and social engineering involved aren't interesting.

[dotty-]

I don't disagree with you. But the original post was about 1) cryptocurrency as a whole being busted and 2) that cryptocurrency had never provided any kind of value. Those are what I disagree with.

[CatWChainsaw]

Yeah it just requires massive investment in computer components, ridiculous amounts of carbon burning, servers in the Arctic to lower cooling costs, and a few towns full of people subject to more sound than jet engines at all hours of the day. Innovation!

[skydhash]

> Bitcoin proved the ability to create a system of value using basically just cryptography and with a built-in reward system to incentivize the decentralization of the network

AKA micro transactions in games.

[dotty-]

No, because micro transactions in games is a centralized system involving zero cryptography, usually powered by a centralized database by the game developer. Bitcoin is decentralized.

[seba_dos1]

> Bitcoin is decentralized.

Barely, if at all. Technically it can be decentralized, but Bitcoin's design promotes centralization, and the result is that currently Bitcoin can be controlled by either two entities (AntPool and Foundry USA) or three (one of the former ones plus F2Pool and ViaBTC) - and it's not going to get better.

[serial_dev]

... A solution for which problem...

[adultorata]

Good luck sending 10 BTC worth of USD from a US bank to China or Russia, or ANY bank without raising eyebrows and getting your bank account locked/frozen

[heyoni]

You don’t send bitcoin to a country! Maybe the act of buying the bitcoin gets your account frozen but certainly not the sending.

[xboxnolifes]

This is pretty much trivial.

[x3sphere]

Well, I hold crypto, but admittedly it's kind of failed as far as payments are concerned.

I used to use BTC quite regularly for payments back in like 2014-2015. But now, it's too expensive to move around due to fees so I just hold it. The same can be said even of ETH - the fees are too high to interact with a lot of the DeFi stuff.

There are 'layer 2' solutions that tackle the fees issue but uptake of these has been slow.

It's why they pivoted to calling BTC a store of value years ago. The payments side of crypto is kind of disappointing.

[glhaynes]

Maybe a better example would be the more general "blockchain". There was all sorts of talk just a few years ago about how it was the most revolutionary technology since the Web and every business was going to be affected by it.

[astrange]

> but BTC is up 112% over 1Y

What's the risk-adjusted return and correlation with other securities? Those are both more important than share price.

Since it doesn't pay dividends in USD, its USD value is only achieved if you go around convincing everyone else to stop selling it so that you can sell it. Which I think conflicts with it being used for payments.

[infecto]

As a consumer there is practically speaking zero legitimate payment purposes available to me. Sure there are a couple of niche services taht offer BTC payments alongside credit cards...but my grocery store does not accept BTC.