i did come around. I get the idea very well and always liked it. The issue is how it was implemented. If cryptos were only traded for fiat just like any other asset on the face of this planet, it would be great. But Tethers distorted the whole thing, making it Ponzi. My mistake for missing out was to not acknowledge that just because price is fake/manipulated one can not join the wave. I missed it and it is ok. Will wait for the crush, if it does not happen, life goes on.
But I'm, 52 years old... As for solid support of said argument, go check the figures of how much DeFi is transacting per week. $80billion locked in. Doubled over the last 2 months. Will probably hit $1trillion by the end of the year. That's A LOT of value being stored and A LOT of value being transferred, and all without a central authority. https://defipulse.com/ And that's just DeFi. Then add in stable coin business, crypto business and other assorted protocol business and you've got one massive bigly proto-economy been built right in front of our eyes. And the best part - few know about it, yet...
Who is borrowing all this money, and what is it being used for? Why would you pay 6-8% to borrow billions of dollars of highly volatile computer tokens, which have little to no "real economy" use? In the age of zero rates, p2p lending, Kickstarter and GoFundMe etc. not to mention essentially limitless capital being pushed through formal VC channels by dumb mega-whales like the Vision Fund, it's very hard to believe that DeFi is in a position to relieve any actual constraints on economically sound finance. What seems more likely is that the vast bulk of this activity ultimately winds up supporting speculation on crypto prices, with a small portion of it diverted to fund the infrastructure (the few who sell the shovels). Financial engineering to enable speculation based on leverage has been a feature of bubbles throughout history, and I don't see why this one is any different.
Even more pathetic. So, it's all just a lottery ticket for you then. Last chance to become rich overnight. Got it. Well good luck to you then. Let me tell you a secret: becoming rich quickly has never provided a single human being with true happiness in life. It's the decades of hard work to build something and by letting others share in and also participate, to feed others' families, and to then look back at all the accomplishment that provides true happiness. If you honestly think that 10 million in your account tonight and you buying a big ass powerboat makes you happy while you sail put of Miami harbor then you truly have not understood life at all.
still better to have 10 min than not. But yeah crypto only real purpose so far is speculation. Nothing more and nothing less.
It's also supposedly good for white-collar crimes like money laundering and ransomware. That could keep its popularity up and support speculation by traders/investors.
On the other hand, the US dollar, the Euro or the Pound are backed up by what? Hmmm... I don't seem to recall... let me see.... Oh wait, by nothing, I remember now.
US dollar is backed by might of our country both military and economically. Plus it is world reserve currency.
That's probably why the US is currently the world's largest debtor. In other words we have money now because we borrowed it from another country (mainly China and Japan, via Treasury bonds). If these two countries alone decide to get their money back (Trillions of dollars by the way) game over for the US dollar.