This can be said about every bank transaction that charges a fee as well. Not a crypto fan at all (I find it rather silly overall), however this is not a particularly strong angle to attack it from.
“If I have a $50 bill, and I give it to the barber for my haircut, and he goes and buys groceries with it from the grocer, the grocer goes and gets his car washed, the $50 goes from place to place and after 20 or 30 transactions, the $50 bill belongs to somebody and is worth $50.
“Whereas if I pay by card, 1.5% goes to the bank. And then if he takes the money I’ve given him and goes pays for groceries, 1.5% goes to the bank. And after the groceries get paid for he goes to get his car washed, 1.5% goes to the bank. So after 20 or 30 transactions the $50 is gone. The bank has it all. I think that's why they're so desperate to get rid of cash”
2:24:40 https://youtu.be/hGS-wsmbBZc
Electronic funds transfer (including credit cards) increase the velocity of money significantly. This means more transactions, which means more overall wealth creation.
To say nothing of the fact that of that 1.5% fee, I'm recovering most, all, or more than it with things like cashback, rewards points, etc.
Sure, the bill itself is untouched, but the fee is still extracted.
Celcius, FTX, et al the many thousands of shitcoins are all scams or pyramid schemes without merit. Bitcoin, despite that fact that early adopters profit greatly, has many benefits to individuals and society as a whole but many people have simply closed themselves off to the possibility because they're unwilling, for mostly selfish reasons, to even consider the benefits.
And many people have considered the benefits and have rejected the scheme anyway.
I'm curious, though... what do you mean by "selfish reasons"? That implies that such people are making a decision that disadvantages others in order to give themselves an advantage. I'm struggling to see how that concept applies here.
You continue to call it a "scheme" but it was literally invented due to the corruption and malfeasance and "schemes" of the current banking system. Do you call those schemes and scams as well or are those just the ones we've deemed acceptable and necessary for some reason?
FWIW, I think the current system is unstoppable and inflation is necessary theft because that's just how it works but I do believe people should be able to save and not lose value. On a long-term basis, Bitcoin achieves that when essentially nothing else can because we've designed it that way.
We're all "rich" here and I get why most of us simply want that to continue.
If I decide not to use cryptocurrencies, I am not denying anyone else from using cryptocurrencies. My decision disadvantages nobody. There is no social duty to use cryptocurrencies.
Also, if I disagree that cryptocurrency is "beneficial to everyone" (and I do), then I'm not being selfish for not taking part no matter what.
> You continue to call it a "scheme"
I did not intend "scheme" as a pejorative. I meant it to mean "plan" or "system". My apologies for the miscommunication here.
> We're all "rich" here and I get why most of us simply want that to continue.
Umm, what? I honestly don't understand what you mean by this.
This is not the same for say, gold, because gold can be made into, say, electronics which now can be sold for more than the sum of the cost of the components. Stocks pay dividends etc.
Since so fundamentally it's a scam, is it a wonder other scams are built on top?