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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 21st, 2023

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  • Yes, Monero fills a niche, and it’s the closest crypto asset to resemble a currency.

    However, your previous post talked about replacing finance with Bitcoin. Even if we pretend you were talking about Monero, that just means you have a one world currency, and no one at the helm who can guide monetary policy for any one country.

    You shouldn’t need a degree in finance or economics to understand how disastrous that would be, especially for smaller and poorer countries.

    So, Bitcoin and the rest of crypto are all commodities, not currencies. They are commodities with a high environmental cost, and a floor of zero because they have no tangible assets to speak of.

    Monero can fill a niche, and I’m actually happy about that because I like Monero and the principles behind the project. Unless of course you believe that includes delusions of grandeur and replacing all world currency and financial systems, with the magic of the “just the right crypto”.



  • pandapoo@sh.itjust.workstoTechnology@lemmy.worldGuaranteed Crypto Loss.
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    1 month ago

    This has to be a joke right? Satire?

    I mean, it’s one thing to be a long on Bitcoin, or even just see it’s value as a niche commodity.

    But suggesting Bitcoin mining is an energy efficient way to heat buildings, is capable of replacing global finance, or that it creates more tangible benefits than artisanal glass blowers…?

    You know what I can do with a artisanal piece of glass? Hold it, use it, own it.

    You know what I can do with Bitcoin? Speculate that if I hold on to it long enough, I can convert it to actual currency that can actually be used as a currency.

    Unlike BTC, which is just a speculative commodity, with no tangible assets to provide an actual floor.

    The floor on crypto is zero. If I buy a bunch of gold right now, even if the price crashes, I still have a bunch of gold.


  • I can see it now. This great AI mediator will reach the consensus that Eric Schmidt is correct. We shouldn’t worry about meeting our climate goals, we should cook the planet faster to accelerate AI development.

    Eventually of course, the AI will save us.

    Now some of you might think that’s a terrible idea, from bad actors, that simply suits their own greed.

    Don’t worry. The new Google AI wouldn’t leave us without a backup plan.

    That backup plan? If plan A fails, simply reduce human population by 35%.

    Concerned about who will get picked for population reduction? Don’t worry, the AI has it covered…


  • Bitcoin was never meant to be legal tender, and it still isn’t.

    The fact that it’s now a regulated commodity is pretty antithetical to its original purpose, but still, it doesn’t make it legal tender.

    But setting all that aside, you’re right, monetary controls are pretty important tools of a nation state… And your alternative is what? A digital gold standard based on Bitcoin…?

    That idea is so idiotic, that I can’t even start to write out the problems with it, because I wouldn’t stop.






  • This is not me defending any telecom, but locking subsidized phones during the contract period, is one of the only reasonably legitimate use cases for carrier locking.

    And the reason is simple, fraud. Carrier locked phones that have been reported for fraud/nonpayment, can’t be used off network. It doesn’t help recover the cost for the carrier, but it does deter that type of fraud.

    Whereas unlocked phones can just be taken to another network, which means they’re resale value is worth the effort to steal in the first place.

    Now, all that is true, but that doesn’t mean I’m in favor of it, or that telecoms have ever made unlocking fully paid phones easy, they haven’t, so fuck them.

    And before anyone points it out, yes, I’m aware locked phones still have have value for fraud, but that fraud typically has a higher threshold for entry, as it involves having the contacts who can leverage overseas black markets.