They're not currencies, they're speculation.
People want to spend currencies, why would you ever spend bitcoin when it's designed to always increase in value?
Governments are their citizens, they're just people we picked. If you hate the people that are running, there's a built in solution, get someone better to run. That's the fundamental part of democracy, anyone can run for office.
Why is a central control over money supply bad? Lets you attempt to control the boom/bust cycle.
Or they see benefits in the technology?
> People want to spend currencies, why would you ever spend bitcoin when it's designed to always increase in value?
It's possible some of the other cryptos are more suited for currencies. Bitcoin may be more of a store of value like gold, or maybe it's volatility will decrease over time and it would be more suited for a currency. Right now we don't know, but I'm not going to write off the whole sector due to that.
> Governments are their citizens, they're just people we picked. If you hate the people that are running, there's a built in solution, get someone better to run. That's the fundamental part of democracy, anyone can run for office.
I think the normal citizen is so far removed at this point. At least in the US, it's essentially a two party system, and they are both rather full of shit. I still vote though, because why not? But I don't think the system is working well.
> Why is a central control over money supply bad? Lets you attempt to control the boom/bust cycle.
I hold USD. I'd like for it to stay valuable. I have a government that seems to value equities more, and wants people to spend their USD. They print and borrow money like there's no tomorrow. I think this is a bad option, and I'd like there to be alternatives.
Land, collectibles, natural resources, Bitcoin: as long as they are priced in USD and USD is constantly devalued year after year - prices will rise.
So a) Bitcoins become harder to make, and b) The total possible number of Bitcoins goes down.
I think a lot of people are missing that cryptocurrency is still a very new concept. Both the bulls and bears. It's going to take some time to work it all out and that's okay, just like with any technology. We're talking about something invented in 2008, that's 12 years. It's unsurprising that there's a lot of kinks to be worked out. It typically takes 20 years for a technology to start to mature. I mean hell, the internet is a lot older and we still have a lot of things to work out.
Will crypto be useful in the long run? Who knows. I think it holds some promise but I do think people vault over sell it and people also dismiss it too quickly.
No one is forced to use crypto. No one is forced to mine it. No one is forced to use it at all. Is this not democratic? The users choose whether they want to use it, miners choose whether to mine it, and the "lack of accountability" you suggest, I just don't agree with at all.
Crypto removes the need for government fiat. There is no need for a central authority any more over money supply. If you don't like it, fork it, or create a new crypto, and market it. See if it catches on. The democracy of the people will decide whether to use it or not.
Some cryptos also have voting / governance rights, so the users can democratically vote on protocols, directly. In comparison, if I want a law to change at the federal level in the US, first of all there has to be a bill created in support of it (which I have almost zero control over), and then I can call my senator and ask that they support that bill. At that point they can choose to listen or not. I assume they will just do whatever is in their interest to stay in power and support their friends in government that supported them before, not to mention the lobbyists. Even my vote for president in the US in the end is decided by the electoral college, not by the popular vote. How is all of that democratic?
I understand the energy concerns with crypto, but since you are figuring in a zero carbon footprint, I disagree and think you completely miss the benefits that crypto offers over existing systems.
In the end, time will tell and I think there's almost no way that blockchain and crypto won't play a major part in future economies and governance.