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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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Crypto were a good idea on paper, they could have rid us of centralized banks and provide fully anonymous transactions, instead we got massive exchanges that require your identity to do anything, massive speculation, money laundry, ponzi schemes and GPU shortages.
At this point I don't even care anymore about what it could have been, fuck crypto.
Turns out, banks aren't a terrible idea after all. Losing your password or mistying on a transaction is no biggie, thanks to banks. With crypto you are always one typo away from losing your whole life savings.
Might not be an issue to a great crypto bro, until it actually happens and than is an issue.
Plus, banks actually serve an important economic role. When you put money in a savings account, the bank can lend it out to someone else as an investment, allowing enterprising individuals access to startup capital to build productive businesses or even just mortgages to buy homes, while also providing a quite safe means of storing your savings. Essentially, they connect those who have spare capital with those who need capital. And sure, there's a lot of tomfoolery that goes on in the industry, but the core idea of banking is good.
That is true, but technically speaking crypto does the same, just in a really dumb way.
When you buy crypto, you essentially give away real money for something worthless, so the real money is free, while you have nothing except the expectation that some bigger idiot will give you real money for your worthless coins.
But contrary to banks, there is no check whether it's useful to give the money to that person (e.g. checking whether the investment is sound) and there are no guarantees at all that you'll ever see that money again, as the owners of bored apes can attest.
Massive exchanges - you're free not to use one, there are so many ways to get around using the biggest
Massive speculation - the established cryptos (btc, eth) are alright in that regard nowadays, still far from stocks of course, but it's gonna get better over time
Money laundering - there have been countless reports that cash is used for the absolute majority of money laundering, not crypto
Ponzi schemes - they exist everywhere, and it's not that hard to not fall for one, just stick to btc and eth
GPU shortages - growing pains, has largely been fixed, shouldn't happen again
You're just picking out the worst points you can, I suggest you look at things more objectively, life's better that way
That's why I stick with Bitcoin only