So any other fiat currency not your own is not real?

No, any currency that is not widely accepted and is not able to be used to pay for necessities is not a real currency. Fiat currency is government issued. Crypto is in no way a fiat currency.

If you end up with “real” money, where’s the scam?

Let’s see… extreme volatility, lack of regulation, lack of consumer protection, the fact that many ICO’s have turned out to be scams really points to crypto being a scam. Not to mention that whatever profit you think you made in no way offsets the damage to the Earth from using more non-renewable energy than even AI (which is saying A LOT).

Got evidence to support that? Sure, you can also confirm with 30 seconds of Duck Duck Go.

Bitcoin- 173.42 terawatt-hours used in 2020-2021. It has increased since then.

UN Study: unu.edu/…/un-study-reveals-hidden-environmental-i…

AI is estimated to ramp up to using 134 terawatt-hours by 2027. This means they use much less than that now, and are estimated to be below 2020’s bitcoin power consumption after ramping up for 3 more years.

Study, paywalled but with sources listed:

www.cell.com/joule/…/S2542-4351(23)00365-3?_retur…

Bitcoin also uses over 60% non-renewable resources compared to AI which much more heavily leans into renewable in data centers. It’s not even a contest, crypto is extremely bad for the environment.