• RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    I know this is AI but I get tired of answering this question so this suffices:

    Here’s a breakdown of some notable positive uses:

    1. Financial Inclusion & Accessibility: Reaching the Unbanked: Cryptocurrencies can provide access to financial services for individuals lacking traditional bank accounts, potentially fostering economic empowerment and participation in the global economy. Lower Transaction Fees: Cryptocurrency transactions can have lower fees than traditional banking, particularly for cross-border payments, making it more affordable to send money internationally. Faster Transactions: Transactions can be processed much faster than traditional methods, sometimes near-instantaneously, benefiting businesses and individuals needing quick transfers, especially across borders.
    2. Enhanced Security & Transparency: Blockchain Security: Cryptocurrencies utilize blockchain technology, which is inherently secure due to its cryptographic nature and decentralized verification process, making fraud and manipulation difficult. Immutable Ledger: Once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it cannot be altered, ensuring transparency and auditability of financial activity. Privacy: While transactions are recorded, they are often pseudonymous, providing a degree of privacy for users, unlike traditional systems that may require extensive personal information.
    3. Innovation & Efficiency: Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Crypto is the backbone of DeFi, which aims to build more open and accessible financial systems, including lending, borrowing, and trading platforms. Smart Contracts: Blockchain enables the use of smart contracts, self-executing agreements that automate processes and reduce the need for intermediaries, improving efficiency and reducing costs. Supply Chain Management: Blockchain technology can enhance supply chain visibility and traceability, improving efficiency and accountability, and reducing fraud in the movement of goods.
    4. New Opportunities & Investment: Potential for Appreciation: Cryptocurrency can serve as an investment vehicle, with the potential for significant returns, though also carrying substantial risk due to market volatility. Diversification: Crypto can add diversification to investment portfolios, as its price movements are not always correlated with traditional assets like stocks and bonds. Fundraising: While Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have become less prevalent, blockchain technology offers new avenues for fundraising for businesses and projects.
    5. Other Potential Uses: Governance & Voting: Blockchain can facilitate more transparent and secure voting systems, potentially improving democratic processes. Digital Identity: Blockchain-based digital identities can enhance security and privacy in various online interactions. Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs): NFTs have enabled new forms of digital ownership and creative expression, particularly in the art and collectibles space.
    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      Innovation & Efficiency

      Given the entire way mining under PoW is structured, no, it’s not efficient at all. The more miners, the more adoption, etc. the more power is used and the more rare earth metals are wasted producing the exact same amount of BTC every minute. It becomes less efficient the more it is adopted. It’s completely insane.

        • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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          4 days ago

          We are talking about Bitcoin, a PoW crypto. And let’s say you want to go broader anyway, bitcoin is represents over 60% of the entire crypto market and is the face of crypto. “But let’s just ignore that.”

          • RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            Sure in the case of bitcoin you are correct, but Solana has the most activity amongst ANY chain and Ethereum is huge too…

            • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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              4 days ago

              Over 60% of the crypto market uses PoW. You cannot gloss over this problem. Yes that’s not the same as activity but this is a massively wasteful technology. And let’s not pretend Solana, ETH, etc and other PoS systems are exactly light on power consumption. They’re just a lot better.

              The scaling issue also goes well beyond PoW. More adoption = less efficiency.

                • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip
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                  4 days ago

                  Dude BTC, doge, Monero, all of these use PoW. This is a problem. Monero is one of the poster children cryptos - if not the single biggest one - for daily driver currency potential.

                  PoW is a problem. You will not convince me otherwise. Vaguely gesticulating to “there are other cryptos“ does not change that fact. The amount of computing power used on BTC right now is insane. The difficulty level is insane and wasteful. It is inefficient by design. It is designed to demand more resources the more computational power is thrown at it. Adoption is bad. How do you not see how this is an issue? The entire incentive structure is inverted.

                  • RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world
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                    4 days ago

                    I didn’t say it wasn’t an issue. Stop putting words in peoples mouths. I don’t conversate with folks that do that shit.