isn’t it so convenient how easy it is to launder money with crypto?
Depends on the coin, but the most popular ones have 100% transparent transactions, so it’s actually not great for money laundering. There are a lot of obfuscations techniques, but those exist w/ digital fiat transfers as well. The most popular crypto exchanges are KYC, meaning they require a paper trail for any exchanges. There are options to move money between cryptocurrencies w/o using a KYC exchange, but doing anything w/ fiat is a lot more difficult without going through a KYC exchange.
If you want to launder money, it’s a lot easier to just deal in cash.
There are cryptocurrencies designed to hide/obfuscate transactions (e.g. Monero or Bitcoin Lightning network), but you still have to interact w/ a KYC exchange at some point, which gives your local tax authority enough details to catch you when you try to cheat on your taxes.
What rights is crypto protecting?
That’s the wrong way to look at it IMO.
To me, it provides a check against national monetary policy and the major payment networks. If you live in a country with rapid inflation, your options are basically buy a different store of value (gold, cryptocurrencies, another nation’s currency) or get screwed. Likewise, the major payment networks tend to charge 3% for all transactions, perhaps higher for international transactions, whereas cryptocurrencies give you an alternative method of payment.
Cryptocurrencies don’t protect rights per se, but using them is an expression of your right to transact with others however you want.
We’re talking about a vehicle where entire governments can pump up the value and reap the inflated price.
That describes fiat a lot more than cryptocurrencies, but in the opposite direction. You’re at the mercy of your central bank w/ most fiat currencies, whereas your local government doesn’t have any control over cryptocurrencies, they can merely interact like any other market participant can. Yes, they have a lot of money at their disposal, but governments also tend to need to do things transparently, so there are already checks against governments intentionally manipulating values through massive transactions.
Crypto is just another empty, ultra-capitalist “American Dream” promise shrouded in tech.
If you look at the crypto scams that exist, sure. But also remember that any new thing gets jumped on by people looking to make a quick buck. Look at all of those “stock tips” channels on YouTube (or any form of collectible, for that matter), those tend to just be pump-and-dump schemes. The fault here doesn’t lie with cryptocurrencies, it’s merely that it’s very liquid so it’s easy for someone to cash out.
That said, it actually has very little to do with capitalism or economics at all, it’s more of an anti-government initiative, similar to the whole idea behind the fediverse (can’t shut us all down).
It’s freedom of money. That simple.
It shouldn’t be forced on anyone, but if you appreciate a cryptographic way to own your money securely (USDC or otherwise), decentralized monetary networks give you ways to do that.
I work fulltime in the industry and the racket that is the traditional finance system is the one that resembles a ponzi/fraud/scam more than crypto in my mind.
Exactly. The core of the problem is the finance industry itself, they’d be scumbags regardless of the medium of exchange. Cryptocurrencies merely give you alternative method for transactions.
For every scam someone shows me about cryptocurrencies, I could probably show 10 with fiat currency.
The main “problem” with cryptocurrency is also its main selling point: crazy swings in value. That’s not great for regular savings, but it’s basically proof that there’s no central org messing with the currency and that value is determined purely based on supply and demand, just like gold and, to a lesser extent, stocks (stocks often pay dividends and provide voting privileges). And since it’s transparent, you can see any attempts to mess with valuations, which is less true for central banks.
crazy swings in value
There’s plenty of trustworthy stablecoins now. And lending platforms have far better yield than a tardfi savings account.
You don’t even need to speculate on some volatile token to move your savings onchain. Do it for the usd rate.
You’ve hit on another problem with the industry, and that is the fact that we are focused on the speculative network or project coins when retail would benefit so much from the network without changing their unit of value. They can just use USD.
We need to stop trying to sell Bitcoin as store of value or eth/sol as gas and start just onboarding usd.
