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Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by smoldesu on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:18AM (#30058645)
I think the bigger issue is that Bitcoin has nothing backing it. It's value (and in turn, volatility) is driven by popular demand for the "asset", so even if there is some insane moonshot scenario where we do adopt it into the financial system, there's a very real chance that the price will collapse with little or no chance for recourse. That's the biggest issue, and it's one that's inherent to Bitcoin's nature as a decentralized currency. You'll hear diamond-hands Redditors complain about how Bitcoin "shouldn't be a fiat" and other such yarns of fiction, but the truth is that it doesn't have any desirable qualities that a centralized currency does. There is no bail-out, if Bitcoin fails then no sane person is going to let the global economy fail with it.

Simply put, there's just no path forwards where Bitcoin retains it's value long-term. Other crypto is harder to grok (often intentionally so), but I suspect they'll meet a similar fate once the media attention blows over.

Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by tobrien6 on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:20AM (#30058693)
It's backed by mathematics instead of a country. That doesn't make it better or worse, just different, and diversity is generally what people want in their portfolio.
Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by eli on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:24AM (#30058753)
It's not backed by mathematics any more than gold is backed by chemistry.
Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by toufka on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:31AM (#30058845)
Uh, gold _is_ backed by chemistry. If gold were to change nearly any of its chemical properties, it would instantly lose its value. It is stable, generally non-reactive, non-toxic, lustrous, and of generally low abundance - all properties derived directly from its chemistry.

That is actually one of the strongest arguments, to my mind, for why some variant of a cryptocurrency will survive as a store of value. Gold kind of "organically" found its way into value almost precisely because it is backed by the physical laws of nature. Cryptocurrencies went up a level to be backed by the laws of mathematics.

Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by immibis on Monday January 24, 2022 @12:27PM (#30060830)
Gold's value comes from being a Schelling point, not from any particular chemical properties - other than, like, not killing you or exploding.

Bitcoin is also a Schelling point.

Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by eli on Monday January 24, 2022 @11:09AM (#30059415)
Sure and cash is backed by a special linen-cotton blend of paper.
Re:$130B wiped off crypto markets in 24 hours by hypertele-Xii on Monday January 24, 2022 @10:37AM (#30058921)
So, quite a lot then?

Making gold has always been the holy grail of chemistry. It's only valuable because chemistry says you can't make it easily.