What the hell is (a) bitcoin?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

There seems to be another hype round going about crypto, specifically the web3 stuff claiming that crypto can be the the foundation of something really useful beyond my three item list above, so I’m thinking of taking another reading dive to try and understand if there is any there there. Unfortunately, the writing on this seems to alternate between people obviously just talking up the speculative assets they own and an overlapping group that seems to only be able to talk in terms of incredibly vague abstractions or write thousands upon thousands of words while managing to say very little.

Are there any believers on here who could make the case using some concrete examples or someone who could point me to any actually decent writing on the topic?

This is very much not the optimist's case, but it seems to be written in response to whatever could pass as the concrete example for optimism you were looking for: https://t.co/pjKOw0Ib7W (shortlink due to censored word in title)

[Jocephus]

i dont know anything but here's an article i saw

https://gizmodo.com/mycryptowallet-coll ... 1848171247

MyCryptoWallet Collapses and Leaves Bitcoin Traders Stranded: Report

[AdmiralKird]

I had around $2 in bitcoin from 2014 that would have been worth around $400 or so by now but whatever type of online locker it was in went bye-bye around this time last year and I didn't figure out how to pull it out in time, nor did I really care about it.

That Stephen Diehl blog is magnificent, TT.

[ghostrunner]

I checked my balance on Coinbase for the first time in a while. I got $20 worth of a few different coins about 3 years ago out of curiosity. It's currently worth about $90. I find the whole thing kind of gross now that I'm more familiar with how it works. I have yet to see what makes it significantly different than fiat currency. Doesn't reassure me that it's theoretically more democratic.

Crypto guys will be very dismissive of fiat with stuff like "money printer go brrr" which seems like an amazing lack of self awareness.

Seems like if we got to a point where fiat became worthless, what you'd really want to have is physical assets.

I'm still completely lost with NFTs.

With all of this it just feels weird that the power goes out and "poof". I know that's true of my bank account, but I don't pretend otherwise or go around extolling the virtues of the banking system to anyone who'll listen.

[Superorganism]

NFTs make no sense to me.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I checked my balance on Coinbase for the first time in a while. I got $20 worth of a few different coins about 3 years ago out of curiosity. It's currently worth about $90. I find the whole thing kind of gross now that I'm more familiar with how it works. I have yet to see what makes it significantly different than fiat currency. Doesn't reassure me that it's theoretically more democratic.

Crypto guys will be very dismissive of fiat with stuff like "money printer go brrr" which seems like an amazing lack of self awareness.

Seems like if we got to a point where fiat became worthless, what you'd really want to have is physical assets.

I'm still completely lost with NFTs.

With all of this it just feels weird that the power goes out and "poof". I know that's true of my bank account, but I don't pretend otherwise or go around extolling the virtues of the banking system to anyone who'll listen.

If the power goes poof at your bank, isn't that at least insured by the FDIC with some form of backup information somewhere though?

Also, yeah, in a dystopian world where your needs are reduced to shelter, water, food, safety, not sure having 10 bitcoins in your wallet is going to do you much good. Though, there are large areas in between todays world and the world I just described where virtual currency serves a purpose, perhaps.

[G. Keenan]

Another force I suspect is driving the crypto craze is that it's mostly unregulated, and therefore presents a moment in time for spectacular profits (or losses) among active-trader types looking to evade capital gains. If you're a sophisticated trader comfortable with the volatility in crypto, you're in your element. These are the guys at the top of the pyramid. Beneath them are a sea of retail investors who might feel more comfortable betting on crypto via a free app trading platform, than say talking to a more traditional financial advisor in a suit and tie type of investment experience.

It also speaks to our American get rich quick culture. Way more fun to buy a lottery ticket than dollar cost average into a diversified basket of index funds.

[Superorganism]

My brother who worked 60 hours a week the last 20 years pulled $20k of home equity out to buy an alt-coin last week. It’s now worth $4k and seems dead. Middle class guy with 3 young kids.

Crypto is driving people to bad places.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

My brother who worked 60 hours a week the last 20 years pulled $20k of home equity out to buy an alt-coin last week. It’s now worth $4k and seems dead. Middle class guy with 3 young kids.

Crypto is driving people to bad places.

Damnit man. That's tough to hear. There are a lot of pump and dump schemes out there that have no regulation and the founders are starting to get more mainstream financial guys to get in on the action.

[Smith Corks One]

NFTs make no sense to me.

Mike Shannon could explain it to you.

I think I mentioned it on here before, but I once had 40 bitcoins. Yep. Of course, they were only worth $5 apiece at the time, and were purchased for the specific purpose of procuring goods from a, shall we say, less than above-ground marketplace named after a famous ancient trade route to China.

The thing is, after those forays, I had somewhere between 1 and 3 BTC left in my wallet that I had absolutely no memory of how to access. I had to go back 2 computers and I spent the better part of a day digging around trying to figure out how to get back to it, but to no avail.