Is cryptocurrency a speculative asset or a currency?

The Bitcoin white paper describes it as a "purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash."

However, many argue now that it is an asset rather than a currency, largely due to the volatility of its price. Cryptocurrency in general, has struggled to find a genuine use case outside of speculative investment. NFTs can be seen as signifiers of status or luxury items, but this is far from settling the question of their inherent value. Many also pin their hopes to crypto gaming, yet the games themselves have yet to be developed, and it is not clear how the presence of NFTs will enhance the actual gameplay - it remains for crypto gaming to develop games that anyone actually wants to play for their quality as games. Another development is decentralized finance, which seems to simply be a rotating of funds between assets and functions essentially as a ponzi scheme. It raises the question, what is the genuine use case for cryptocurrencies, and will their main appeal always be as a vehicle for risky, yet profitable speculative investments?

I should have bought some bitcoin when it was $200 and then sold it when it hit $60,000.

when i heard on the news that visa and mastercard and paypal were cutting off payments from people who wanted to donate to wikileaks - - that was the moment i knew the REAL utility of bitcoin

Most NFT's are gonna crash

      True dat.

That's what I hope happens. But the price would need to stabilise long term for this to viable right?

price stability is a function of denomination

I will tell you the real fucking truth about crypto.

It is for criminals to purchase the most taboo things ever and was not ever meant for the general populace to consider valid.

Crypto was around much longer than most think to trade things no morally correct human would trade in. Think weapons, videographic content, hitmen etc.

This is not a joke currency, get the fuck out of that world, it's not a place you just dip your toes in.

Also, you may say 'haha but they don't get caught'. The vice chairman of Bitcoin got caught laundering money for drug dealers on Silk Road. Fuck these parasites and stop thinking it's secure.

People trade in Bitcoin since 2015 but crypto has been around since '08-'09 and the moment it emerged the most nefarious people took advantage.

more criminals use $cash$ than crytpo

therefore

$cash$ should be outlawed

As 3RU7AL pointed out, there may be a use case for such alternative technologies if the restrictions being placed on people are actually unjust - e.g. banks cutting off donations to Wikileaks. I pointed out many problems in the OP, but if the price were able to stabilize and the use cases for cryptos improved, they could also become a powerful vehicle for investing, and help many people to reach financial freedom who otherwise wouldn't. We are talking about handing financial tools otherwise only available to the rich, to large segments of the population who wouldn't otherwise have access to them. Of course, in such a shift every stage is not going to be smooth. But I would also point out that decentralized digital currencies have many inherent benefits over traditional currencies, foremost being the ease and speed of making payments.

If we imagine the difference between the world in which anyone could make an instant payment to anyone else using a digital store of value, versus the world in which such payments are heavily regulated with the amount of friction involved in the current system - we could consider that opting for the latter simply because of the edge cases in which the technologies involved are used for "taboo activities" is in effect placing a ceiling over the wealth and standards of living for a large percentage of the population. And we could make the same argument regarding the internet itself, computers, etc. While I pointed out the problems with reaching its goals, the potential I hope to see for crypto is essentially a massive redistribution of wealth - from communities that have intergenerational, consolidated wealth, to communities that have an internet connection and are motivated and intelligent.

criminals use phones

allphonesshouldbebanned

3RU7AL uses strawmen, therefore all strawmen should be brutal.

feel free to present a better example

Crypto was made for criminals to trade online without the government able to pinpoint the start and end of many transactions that happened via it.

Your turn.

genetic fallacy

your turn

also,

factually incorrect

It's not about who it's from, it's about how it's used.

The only thing that separates it from normal cash is the fact that it's convenient for people who want to make illicit purchases. There is absolutely nothing about crypto unless one lived in Zimbabwe during its hyperinflation, that makes it lucrative and reliable as a currency.

To me bitcoin is not currency because it is not recognized as currency to pay debts. You cant use it to pay bills and taxes. It to me it represents more of a pyramid scheme. You need a constant flow of new money to make it have value. It would collapse if it didn't draw in new money to prop it up. It has no hard intrinsic value.

Can it not be both?

you're describing fiat

El Salvador becomes first country to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency [**]

SEIGNIORAGE is the difference between the face value of money, such as a $10 bill or a quarter coin, and the cost to produce it. [**]

Unless crypto is is valued as part of the international monetary system. Then I fail to see it's value as an asset.....Ergo not an asset.

Just a pseudo currency traded between members of insular groups.....Who ultimately need to be part of the bigger system.

Even in El Salvador the value of bitcoin, will have to measured against the value of the dollar.

And by the way.

NABO is an Interesting character.

One to watch.

Uh I don't live in El Salvador and neither does 99.9% of the worlds population. And how's that working out in that third world shit hole anyway? They probably lost the ability and skill to make coins and currency LOL

SEIGNIORAGE is the difference between the face value of money, such as a $10 bill or a quarter coin, and the cost to produce it. [**]

SEIGNIORAGE is the difference between the face value of money, such as a $10 bill or a quarter coin, and the cost to produce it. [**]

And your point is what? Cash will always be king no matter what is costs to make. It works 100% of the time every time. Bitcoin ya that only works when the internet and  electricity works.