Comment on Just 137 crypto miners use 2.3% of total U.S. power — government now requiring commercial miners to report energy consumption

• TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’m well aware.

  But far, far, far, far more people use it as currency. Exchanging it for goods and services is clearly the main use for it.

  Crypto is used like a stock.

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  • deafboy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    There are people who ride the bike as a means of transport. Then there are people who build their entire identity around riding a bike. That doesn’t mean one or the other rides it wrong.

    A token of value can have multiple different usecases at the same time.

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    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Bikes are used as a mod of transport. That’s what everybody uses them for.

      Crypto isn’t really used as a currency. It is used like a stock.

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  • FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    In addition to using it as a currency, sure. But as I asked rigatti, is that a problem? At worst one might perhaps argue that the name "cryptocurrency" is misleading, but I've never cared much about semantics like that.

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    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You’re saying “in addition to using it as a currency” as if that’s actually what people do with crypto. They don’t.

      And yeah, it is a problem. It renders it useless outside of as a bit of gambling on the side.

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      • FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Alright, so let's call them cryptotokens instead. I've always preferred that myself, it's a much more general description of what they do. It doesn't change what they are but if that term makes you happier we can go with that.

        It renders it useless outside of as a bit of gambling on the side.

        Hardly, there are lots of things you can do with these things. A ledger is more than just money, it's a database. You really can't think of useful things that could be done with a completely decentralized and permissionless database?

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• rigatti@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  But faaaarr fewer than those who use it for transactions. In the crypto world it’s reversed.

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  • FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Is that a problem?

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    • General_Effort@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yes, the price fluctuations created by speculation make it hard to use for payment. How do you agree on a fair price when you don’t know what the “money” will be worth in a few weeks.

      The deflationary effect caused by hoarding currency, as is done with bitcoin, would bring about a Great Depression scenario in a real economy.

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      • FaceDeer@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        If you need the token's price to be stable then there are stabletokens specifically designed for that.

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