Are cryptocurrencies not named Bitcoin ever actually used in legal commerce? It seems to me like most of the demand for cryptocurrencies is coming from speculators intending to sell them to a greater fool...
I do not know enough about them to be able to give you good answers.
But the policy question of whether to bother collecting or donating any free Stellar seems obvious to me; this opportunity is monetarily zero risk and takes minimal time. Even if one has lots of reasons to avoid jumping into actively managing a portfolio of cryptocurrencies, this policy decision is extremely one-sided, which is why I’m posting it.
Someone who puts zero probability on ‘cashing out’ the Stellar in future for themself should still donate because there is a reasonable probability that MIRI will be able to make use of them. (In fact, such a person should just donate all their Stellar, but I’m not sure how many people really would be that confident that they wouldn’t cash out themself.)
A depressing number of people on Facebook, where I’ve seen the MIRI FB post link Shared, have posted in the comments ranting their two cents about cryptocurrencies and why cryptocurrency sucks and Ripple sucks and Stellar is doomed and bla bla bla. All these complaints share the property of being irrelevant to the policy decision of whether to actually follow up on this specific opportunity.
I’m not saying this is necessarily what you’re doing, but if you are, cut it out, and if not, be aware of how it comes across, and that regardless of intention, it can derail and discourage others from bothering. I’m not trying to be hostile, but I am upset, because it seems like a predictable consequence of your comment (regardless of intent) is that people hastily pattern-match this post to ‘Haha cryptocurrencies haha pyramid scheme’ and close the tab feeling cynically good about themself rather than just doing the damn thing. So long as your comment is at the top of this thread and reads as it does, I think it is doing more harm than good, though hopefully this comment will serve to mitigate that effect.
If lots of people come to value Stellars then they will have legitimate value.
The “if” is the stumbling block. Bitcoin is valued because of the anonymous transactions it makes possible. Dollars are valued because the US government buys and sells in dollars, and similarly for other state-run currencies. Is there any example of a currency which no longer has any such tie to anything outside itself that gives it value, and is accepted only because people accept it?
Fiat currency has a built-in demand because the issuing government accepts it for payment of taxes. Other than that, well… it is kind of hard to spend Euros in the United States...
Are cryptocurrencies not named Bitcoin ever actually used in legal commerce? It seems to me like most of the demand for cryptocurrencies is coming from speculators intending to sell them to a greater fool...
I do not know enough about them to be able to give you good answers.
But the policy question of whether to bother collecting or donating any free Stellar seems obvious to me; this opportunity is monetarily zero risk and takes minimal time. Even if one has lots of reasons to avoid jumping into actively managing a portfolio of cryptocurrencies, this policy decision is extremely one-sided, which is why I’m posting it.
Someone who puts zero probability on ‘cashing out’ the Stellar in future for themself should still donate because there is a reasonable probability that MIRI will be able to make use of them. (In fact, such a person should just donate all their Stellar, but I’m not sure how many people really would be that confident that they wouldn’t cash out themself.)
A depressing number of people on Facebook, where I’ve seen the MIRI FB post link Shared, have posted in the comments ranting their two cents about cryptocurrencies and why cryptocurrency sucks and Ripple sucks and Stellar is doomed and bla bla bla. All these complaints share the property of being irrelevant to the policy decision of whether to actually follow up on this specific opportunity.
I’m not saying this is necessarily what you’re doing, but if you are, cut it out, and if not, be aware of how it comes across, and that regardless of intention, it can derail and discourage others from bothering. I’m not trying to be hostile, but I am upset, because it seems like a predictable consequence of your comment (regardless of intent) is that people hastily pattern-match this post to ‘Haha cryptocurrencies haha pyramid scheme’ and close the tab feeling cynically good about themself rather than just doing the damn thing. So long as your comment is at the top of this thread and reads as it does, I think it is doing more harm than good, though hopefully this comment will serve to mitigate that effect.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES ARE HARD MODE
True. At worst, this is a waste of a small amount of time and electricity.
::signs up, sends all the Stellar he can::
I still think the most useful digital currency is the Magic Online Event Ticket. ;)
Do you think this is also true of normal fiat money like dollars? If lots of people come to value Stellars then they will have legitimate value.
The “if” is the stumbling block. Bitcoin is valued because of the anonymous transactions it makes possible. Dollars are valued because the US government buys and sells in dollars, and similarly for other state-run currencies. Is there any example of a currency which no longer has any such tie to anything outside itself that gives it value, and is accepted only because people accept it?
Gold comes close, although admittedly it has a few practical uses.
Fiat currency has a built-in demand because the issuing government accepts it for payment of taxes. Other than that, well… it is kind of hard to spend Euros in the United States...