> Many cryptocurrencies provide value while video games suck time and value.

You don’t really expect anyone to take your defense of cryptocurrency seriously with a statement that hyperbolic and dismissive, do you?

Since the games industry is making up almost a quarter of the M&E economy, which is the single largest industry segment in the US, it’s evident that games provide a transfer and store of value to the economy. People who create games are effectively mining, so there is an apparent creation of value too, one that also involves creativity and skilled labor, unlike crypto. You can even read about the “value chain” of the games industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_industry#Value_chai...

Just last year’s video game revenue in the US alone is equal to two thirds of the entire market cap of ETH as I post this, and of course the industry's revenue is growing every year, and the global games industry is much larger than the US alone. Crypto will become bigger eventually, but it’s not today. (And which is larger is actually irrelevant, you compared apples to orangutans, my point is simply that it’s a pretty bad idea to try to falsely claim the financial value of games is negative.)

I don’t even play games that much, because you’re right they do suck my time, so it’s an awkward position to be defending them, but the least you could do if you’re going to spout about the “value” of games and crypto is start from the truth and financial reality of the markets.

I’m sorry, spit my coffee over the keyboard. What value does cryptocurrency provide other than sucking the world’s electric energy for meaningless calculations?

I am glad you asked. The value that cryptocurrencies provide boils down to 3 main things:

1) A store of value.

2) A transfer of value.

3) A creation of value.

Bitcoin provides a store of value by still letting you buy a pizza with your Bitcoin both now and in the future. It’s price has always been highly volatile but after every 4 year cycle, it has been worth more in every major world currency.

Stellar Lumens, Algorand, Dogecoin, and to a lesser extent Bitcoin, & Ethereum provide a transfer of value by letting you send money across the globe.

Ethereum is the poster child for a creation of value by allowing people to permanently deploy smart contracts to the Ethereum mining network. These contracts include ERC20 stablecoins like MakerDao’s Dai, USDC, lending platforms like AAVE and Compound, DeFi exchanges like Uniswap, Yield aggregators like Yearn.finance and Curve.fi, and DeFi coin converters like 1inch. Back in 2017, the only compelling Ethereum platform (or DAPP) was CryptoKitties which were the precursor to today’s NFTs. I think NFTs are in a bubble but nowadays there is a much more compelling and diverse lineup.

Value that basically doesn’t exist without real money behind it? That can be used as… well, money without the energy waste?

Yes, some of them can be used without the energy waste. As far as value goes, Dogecoin likes to say on it’s website, 1 Dogecoin = 1 Dogecoin. It’s done a pretty good job at holding that value, lol

Despite what any website might say, all of the hype and “value” of crypto always comes back to dollars. If you take that away, I don’t see how anyone will want to stick around short of super hardcore techies.