• Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
  • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    It gains value because people want it and people want it because it gains value

    This describes pretty much all moneys.

    Cryptocurrencies have a lot of problems, but being a medium of exchange without intrinsic value is not one of them.

    • Ciderpunk@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      People generally don’t trade currencies as commodities or treat them as investments. When the same people promising crypto is totally a currency actually start treating it like a stable currency to exchange for goods and services and not an investment or commodity to be traded, I might revisit it. For now, the evangelists refuse to walk the walk.

      • Entropywins@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        A metric shit ton of people use currencies as investments. Forex trading is pretty big and been around a long time.

        • Ciderpunk@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I said generally. Your parents who get paid in local currency for their job are not trading in foreign currencies. The fact that rich people can find ways to squeeze more money out of just about anything isn’t a win for cryptocurrencies.

          • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            The main test is to give cryptocurrency to my grandparents and they should be able to figure that out and do their grocery shopping. I pity the people having to explain how to use cryptocurrency to my grandparents at the cash register.

              • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Not really. “Take your card out of your wallet, and instead of putting it in the machine and typing your pin, you just tap it against the screen”

                Vs “well, ok. I set up a wallet for you. No it’s not a real wallet, it’s on your computer. Anyway, your wallet has this huge long code that you can’t remember, so keep it safe, because if you lose it you lose all your money, ok? Right, well before you buy anything, you’ll need to register with an exchange, there are a number of exchanges, like XYZ, so sign up with one of those, then — wait what do you mean you don’t know how? Just give them your email and whatever else they need… you don’t know your email address? Christ on a bike. Ok we’ll sort that out soon — anyway, back to the exchange… go onto their site and trade your cryptocurrency (the weird money in your wallet… no not your real wallet, grandad, your computer wallet), now you need to wait a while for the transaction to happen and you to receive your money. Now you can go to the shop and pay by card. Amazing, isn’t it? And it’ll only get better when everywhere accepts [coin], I’m sure that’ll happen any day now!”

          • Tachikoma741@lemmy.today
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            6 months ago

            My parents do this regularly. There are many Latino American families who regularly exchange USD to PESO and vise versa.

      • sazey@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You have obviously have not heard of forex and the vast quantity of money that flows through it on a daily basis if you think currencies are not traded as commodities, nor have you heard of places like Argentina or Turkey apparently if you don’t know currencies are treated as investments.

        There are many many scams in cryptoworld but there is no need to throw out the baby with the bath water as it were. Crypto can and is being used as valid alternative to fractional reserve issued currency; the thriving and resilient darknet proves it so.

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          generally

          I don’t think that’s how the typical guy/gal you’d bump into on the street uses their bank balance.

    • sazey@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I appreciate and applaud anything that can even attempt to separate state and money. That will imho be the best thing for humanity since the separation of state and religion.

      • Tachikoma741@lemmy.today
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        6 months ago

        I look forward to the day VISA and MASTERCARD become obsolete! Please save my aunt’s small business from predatory transaction fees. ♥

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I have no like of transaction fees but… you know they exist in the cryptocurrency world right? And that they’re generally higher? Those transactions take work and aren’t done out of charity.

          • Tachikoma741@lemmy.today
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            6 months ago

            Buttcoin is pretty slow. To my understanding many other coins have already evolved past Bitcoin’s slow ass speed.