Ask Lemmy

Same as their past: Get-rich-quick schemes, outright scams, massive wastes of electricity, criminal funding tools, investment instruments that aren't backed by actual companies making anything (and are therefore 100% speculation)... and sometimes some interesting technology.

They will continue to be a ponzi scam that hopeful idiots will keep losing money on.

It has its fans and niche uses, but I think it has too many problems to be viable as a real currently. It's volatile, is prone to hacks, lacks consumer protection, doesn't scale well, and has a huge carbon footprint. If the global banking system had things like gas wars and a "possession is ownership" philosophy then society would collapse.

My most positive but realistic prediction: Bitcoin is gonna stay around as a pump-and-dump scheme to make the rich richer. Other cryptocurrencies will slowly fade away including (as one of the latest) ETH. They are not suitable as a currency and are more of a ~~gambling~~ investment opportunity. Per default, most cryptocurrencies are a privacy nightmare, especially Bitcoin.
There are exceptions. XMR is fairly stable in value and is actually really close to what many people want: cash but digital. If GNU Taler takes off, there's will be a more comfortable option for paying while retaining privacy, making XMR more obscure.
I assume laws and the state will also have an influence, especially with the climate catastrophe questioning the immense amount of energy necessary to run all of this. Even if crypto were more efficient if it replaced fiat, it's not gonna happen. There's hard power preventing it. Both at the same time is reckless when there are people dying.
Also money sucks in general so best case scenario it gets thrown onto the trash of history.

inb4 crypto shills: Remember that there are people whose income and investments depend on people believing bitcoin is more than gambling.

As long as it’s treated as an investment rather than an actual currency, it will never be taken seriously by the general public and will never become mainstream. It’s also too volatile without regulation, so people will naturally be apprehensive with their money being at risk of completely losing value any time.

I'm not really opposed to the idea of cryptocurrencies. I think being able to exchange value without having to go through any middle-men (i.e. banks) could be valuable. It's kind of like cash in that sense but digital.

I am however very opposed to the execution so far:

1. Wasteful proof-of-work algorithms that spend way too much electricity.
2. Treating them more as ~~stocks/investments~~ gambling instead of as an actual currency.
3. New cryptocurrencies seem to crop up every day. This is more of a pyramid scheme than actual innovation at this point.

If those three improve, then maybe it will actually be okay. It's unclear whether (1) will happen ever, as anyone leaving the proof-of-work cryptocurrencies behind for other less wasteful ones just make mining more valuable for the ones that are still mining the proof-of-work currency (as far as I understand). But maybe it will eventually be better, though it doesn't seem that way right now.

(2) happening is a little more likely - it would likely slowly happen if people started using it for actual payments and goods. If goods had a price based on a cryptocurrency, the value of the cryptocurrency would be more stable (I would guess; disclaimer I am not an economist or anything like that). But still, this is not too likely to happen, at least it hasn't happened yet in any big way.

(3) is also problematic and not likely to change any time soon. It seems like we will never agree on using just one of the cryptocurrencies and if we don't, I can't really see it taking off.

So generally, unless something changes with how cryptocurrencies are currently handled (ironically, maybe nations need to step in and "bless" a single one for anything to change), I don't really see a bright future for cryptocurrencies.

I think that frankly, we need them around but solely for transactions. treating them as anything else or positively promoting them under some pump and dump scheme is a big NO. But for example, using something like monero over TOR to buy a VPN to avoid censorship under a dictatorship? yes, we begrudgingly need it around for stuff like that.

They will continue to be used for shady business, they will eventually consume more energy than all of Europe combined, they will never be a legit currency used for normal stuff.

It has potential but everyone is going about it wrong.

I expect that Elon or some other famous person is going to use Dogecoin again to scam their fans and make a quick buck in the near future.

I like that Ethereum's system changed to use far less energy and thus emit less carbon.

I guess Monero can be useful if you want to buy drugs online or whatever, which I'm fine with.

I know that some people feel really strongly about crypto, either positively or negatively, but I'm mostly disinterested. It's not going to become a particularly useful currency any time soon and it's way too volatile, so if I ever decide to invest in something I'll pick normal stocks instead.

Fuck banks and fuck the banking system.

Paying for shit through my browser via an almost-immediately settled transaction is great and I wish it was more commonly accepted. Lots of growing pains ahead but the concept isn't going anywhere. There's also plenty of valid criticism of current implementations but writing off the entire idea is just foolish.

Get rich quick schemes, gambling (speculation), rug pull and pump and dump fraud, dodging taxes, malware ransoms and other illegal activities. Just like it has always been.

Unfortunately while it has legitimate uses, realistically it is used more often for crime and gray area activities. Which is a shame because the technology that enables it is interesting.

Meh

A few years back before Bitcoin crashed, EVERYBODY was making bullshit coins and tokens. Way too much hype. Bitcoin fell and a lot of the bullshit died off. Bitcoin, Etherium, and even little ol Dogecoin is climbing now. When the prices surge up, I sell a little, when the price dips back down, I buy it back.

I take little bits of profit at a time, and I hope the value keeps climbing so it can turn into a significant investment, but if not, it isn't going to ruin me, it's not my retirement plan.

They will be the only way to transact without being surveilled or without requiring the permission and approval of banks, payment providers, and governments. They will continue to displace banking systems in parts of the world where those are corrupt and do not have basic functionality. They will continue to enable people to do business and cooperate across borders. If we remain long enough without a unified world government, I believe the credible neutrality of cryptocurrency, which is higher than any fiat currency can have, will likely cause one of them to become the global reserve currency.

It'll make a comeback and we'll get another wave of FOMO and scams