Let me dryly discuss this because I feel people are being too gut reaction here

There is a "real world use case" that most would agree with, just cynical. Borrowing and lending crypto is not a taxable event. You can have a capital gain on the blockchain and borrow stablecoins against it, indefinitely delaying taxation. At the same time, as of this moment you can wash trade crypto and tax harvest any new bottoms, making this tax favorable (a common assumption here is that crypto is an expected value 0 gambling game).

Example in the wild https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1465002539603185668

In this way, it resembles high finance trades e.g. that Matt Levine of Money Stuff used to do to lower client taxes

Yes, thanks. I actually saw this tweet. I think he has a point. Has he not?

I know people who get a loan on their stock portfolio. For that they need to apply for the loan at their bank. This takes time and could be denied. But, if you get it you have a nice lever to play with (basically re-invest in stocks).

The principle is exactly the same with DeFi, isn't it?

If there was a regulated issuer of S&P500 indexed coins then indeed these platforms would provide normal margin investing. If crypto lives a lot of stuff will go away and hopefully a lot of tokenized promised governed by laws will enter (because that is the only smart contract to real contract bridge). But I doubt the lending platforms would budge.

>> So borrowing and lending is no real world use case?

People have been borrowing and lending for centuries before blockchain.

I don't get it. People have been sending messages before the internet as well?

And surely people enjoyed a meal before mastering use of fire, so what good is technology anyway?

There are more efficient, less environmentally-damaging technologies that should be used instead.

"On the current trajectory, Bitcoin miners will surpass coal miners as a major contributor to greenhouse emissions."

source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Bitcoi...

Yes, for energy production. GPUs do not have a CO2 byproduct.

Yes, and with a far smaller carbon footprint than blockchain-based messaging.

Depends on your definition of "real world" I guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization

You have a three day old account and all you do is post negative comments about crypto. Seems like a lowly way of life.