While I have some sympathy for the folks decrying speculating on crypto, can we be more precise first? Yes, people do speculate on Bitcoin. Does anyone speculate on stablecoins? Uhm, well, no. How many Ampleforth speculators do you know? People speculate on *some* cryptocurrencies, just like people speculate on *all* fiat currencies. So there's no difference in the action or even the object -- people will speculate on currency. Folks have made money on currency fluctuations for a long time now. Why would crypto be exempt?
Is there something about currency that leads to speculative behavior? Let's take a look at modern currency. Modern currency is fiat currency, divorced from anything of real value. Therefore how much people value it, in relation to other fiat currencies changes. This leads to speculation. In short, yes.
Does the same thing apply to crypto? Well, yes. Crypto is also divorced from a physical object of value. However, crypto is also a new and popular thing, so that means additional speculation. Novelty doesn't last, though, and neither does mass-market popularity (just ask any band). People eventually find some other trend to follow. In the case of crypto, I think people will just become used to it, as people have become used to high-speed internet access -- it'll become furniture to the masses, just another part of modern life. However, there is a baseline level of speculation that is worth noting. Because people speculate on currency, people speculating on (some) crypto means that they value it (if even a tiny bit) as a currency.
But let's say you're not impressed by this, and you want people to stop speculating on crypto. How do you propose to stop them? We know that government solutions don't work. There are a lot of crypto projects out there that are seeking to create stable coins to serve as loan collateral, and may make much better mediums of exchange. Those folks are doing something, and that's a good thing. So I see hope here, not despair.
As for the endless stream of people hawking this way to get rich or that way to get rich, I agree that's annoying and 99% BS, but really, it's their lives. I just scroll by that stuff, as I imagine those spazzy hype-bois scroll right by mine. No harm, no foul. (Yes, they are wasting their lives, and it's obvious, but they'll find that out sooner or later.)
Crypto is still in its "gold rush" years. Consider a parallel from history -- California. Lots of people moved to California to find gold when the gold rush hit. Most failed, however, an interesting thing happened. The people that moved there stayed and made a life for themselves. I suspect crypto will turn out the same way. As people get involved in it, they are exposed to new ways of thinking, and next thing you know, they're one of us. Myu-ha-h-ahahaha.
Finally, a lot of the complaints about crypto are really complaints about human nature. I completely resonante with those. I think many people, if not most, are garbage human beings. If you see the state of government in many nations, that says it all. So if the real issue is that garbage human beings misue crypto (like they have natural resources, guns, art, cars, medicine, land, etc), then let's do something about improving the nature of man.
Any ideas on how we do that?
