• EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I recently noticed a number of bitcoin ATMs that have cropped up where I live - mostly at gas stations and the like. I am a little concerned by it.

    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Do you really think that paper money covered in colonizers and other slavermasters is going to last forever?

      • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        Found the diamond hands.

        Crypto currencies are still backed by and dependent on those same currencies. And their value is incredibly unstable, making them largely useless except as a speculative investment for stock market daytraders. BitCoin may as well be Doge Coin or Bored Ape NFTs as far as the common person is concerned.

        I hope your coins haven’t seen a 90%+ drop in value in the past 4 years like the vast majority have.

        • areyouevenreal@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Cryptos obviously have serious issues, but so do fiat currencies. In fact all implementations of money have one problem or another. It’s almost like it’s a difficult thing to get right and that maybe it was a bad idea in the first place.

        • cucumberbob
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          2 months ago

          What do you mean by “backed” here? I think I’m misunderstanding but I thought (and a short google seems to confirm) that currency A being backed by currency B means the value of A is fixed at a certain amount of currency B, and there is some organisation “backing” this with reserves.

          Not trying to shill/defend crypto, just confused on terminology :)

          • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            2 months ago

            I mean that crypto currencies are essentially the same as stocks. They have no worth on their own, and their value is tied to converting them to other currencies.

            And this conversion rate fluctuates constantly. What one bitcoin is worth today is not what it will be worth tomorrow. In order to buy something with a crypto currency, companies have to first check how much it’s worth in fiat currency.

        • aiccount@monyet.cc
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          2 months ago

          That’s why you stick with Bitcoin instead of running after whatever flashy new super duper coin that assholes trick fools into buying.

      • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        lol

        Forever? No, of course not.

        But paper currency is backed by a nation state, so I’m betting it’ll be around a bit longer then a purely digital asset without the backing of a nation, and driven entirely by speculation.

        I’m not even anti-crypto. It was novel idea when it was actually used entirely as a currency, but that hasn’t been true for quite some time.