I’ve never been that interested in Bitcoin.
While I’m sure I’ve missed out on making a lot of money with Bitcoin, I don’t like its ties to the dark web, and I don’t like that it probably enables and facilitates criminal activity.
Now, it may be that other cryptocurrencies have these same issues; however, I doubt that they do to the same degree (with a few notable exceptions). I don’t have statistics to back up this claim. It’s just my impression as I’ve learned more about the crypto space.
I’m not opposed to the development of cryptocurrencies. I think there are several very good reasons for humans to want another way of assigning and exchanging value.
It used to be that dollars were backed by gold. This stopped being the case in 1971. This change allowed the U.S. government to print as much money as it wanted.
Now, the primary reason we value dollars is because many people collectively agree that the dollar is valuable. This could change. Some people don’t like that the dollar is tied to the U.S. government. Others don’t like having to deal with the banking industry.
Cryptocurrencies provide an alternative. Most are not tied to a specific government, and many are not directly tied to the banking industry. There are other reasons people find cryptocurrencies valuable, some of which are perhaps even more compelling.
Instead of delving into the virtues of cryptocurrencies, I want to highlight the fact that things change. We live in a world with many complex systems that interact in complicated ways.
This leads to emergent trends. We should not be surprised that a new way of assigning and exchanging value has emerged. Instead, we should learn more about it. We should be curious.
Based on what I’ve read, I don’t think cryptocurrencies are a short-term fad. They are here to stay, at least until we come up with better ideas.
And if I’m still not that interested in Bitcoin, what do I prefer? For now, I find Ethereum more interesting.
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