• Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
  • xlash123@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    I think there was a potential future where cryptocurrency could’ve actually been useful, but it was ruined by scammers, rug pullers, and of course, speculators.

    I’ll still hold a little bit of Monero, since it holds the most potential for being a real currency in my opinion. But otherwise, I fully agree with the sentiment.

    • Tachikoma741@lemmy.today
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      6 months ago

      When the Wild West was around Medicine was used as a scam too. Snake Oil salesmen aren’t very nice people. But that doesn’t mean medicine is a bad idea ya know?

      I agree that there are a lot of snake oil sellers in the cryptographic currencies realm. But that world is basically the digital wild west at the moment to me. I too am waiting to see what happens.

        • locuester@lemmy.zip
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          6 months ago

          Is not currency, as a concept, useful? How about transfer of value over vast distances instantly? Is that not useful?

          • uienia@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Well know you are just using circular logic. The thing is that cryptocurrencies aren’t currencies.

            • locuester@lemmy.zip
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              6 months ago

              I hear what you’re saying. But USDC is absolutely a token on many different ledgers that represents a currency.

              I’ve been deep in decentralized finance for years as an investor and fulltime software dev. I get the whole “hur hur Bitcoin is dum” but you’re really missing the forest focusing on a tree.

              • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                6 months ago

                USDC is absolutely a token on many different ledgers that represents a currency.

                No, it is a speculative investment. If it were a currency it would be something people were using to buy things, accepting for selling things, using to pay taxes and fines, using to invest in something else, etc.

                It’s not a currency, it’s at best some kind of intermediate thing used to buy even more speculative “investments”.

                • locuester@lemmy.zip
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                  6 months ago

                  Didn’t you repeat what I said? It’s a token on decentralized ledgers that represents a currency. Like a number in the database at your bank. No different than that.

                  You deposit your currency at a bank, it’s a number in a database. You earn interest on your investment.

                  Are you saying that is a different concept than usdc deposited into a lending market on a decentralized ledger and earning interest?

                  Also, usdc is accepted places. In fact Stripe is adding it as a payment method very soon. Would that make it a currency, or does it have to reach some level of acceptance? What about PayPal balance? Currency?

                  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 months ago

                    Like a number in the database at your bank. No different than that.

                    Except that my bank stores dollars, not memecoins.

                    Are you saying that is a different concept than usdc

                    Yes, because “USDC” isn’t a currency.