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A comment on Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto. Parent comment

Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by onepointsixC on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:33AM (#26153669)
All the Y Combinator companies combined have created value.

What has Bitcoin created?

I struggle to come up with an answer which isn't overwhelmingly just a way to fund illicit activities, for which sure there's always been a market, but it's a far cry of it's origins. Who actually uses bitcoin for transactions today other than extortionists hackers and drug dealers? Everyone who owns is just planning to HODL and hope that it will become equivalent to an infinitely high fiat equivalent. Had bitcoin succeeded we wouldn't be talking about insane valuations. We would be using it every day no different from a credit card.

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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by marvin on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @09:26AM (#26154117)
Bitcoin has pioneered a new asset class that can be transferred over the Internet and is not dependent on a central authority.

I don't own any cryptocurrency and can't put a dollar valuation on such an achievement, but it's certainly not an everyday thing.

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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by PragmaticPulp on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @06:40PM (#26160337)
Bitcoin didn't create that. Whoever was behind Satoshi Nakamoto created that.

And then it was duplicated across 1000s of other coins. The only advantage Bitcoin has in 2021 is that it was the first and most famous.

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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by koolba on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:54AM (#26153860)
> What has Bitcoin created?

The biggest impact on the world from bitcoin's creation was not a democratization of finance, it was a widespread mechanism to facilitate payment of blackmail.

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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by r3dk1ng on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:41AM (#26153757)
I am neither a drug dealer nor an extortionist. I used bitcoin to buy a router from Newegg a month ago.
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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by onepointsixC on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:44AM (#26153788)
Then you're in the overwhelming minority of bitcoin users.
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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by hanniabu on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:21PM (#26161399)
Not at all, you're just wrong.
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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by akvadrako on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:57AM (#26153881)
You paid a $20 transaction fee for a router?
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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by saalweachter on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @08:20PM (#26161394)
Please, the anecdote alone is worth far more than $20.
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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by rkagerer on Wednesday February 17, 2021 @05:45AM (#26164970)
Who actually uses bitcoin for transactions today?

I used it to buy the phone I'm typing this on:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25598831

Despite the run-up since, I'm still happy with that transaction!

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Re:Bitcoin surpasses $50K as major companies jump into crypto by vultour on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @06:40PM (#26160336)
Created? Oh it's still creating - pollution.
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