As the trendy Drake General Store makes a big song and dance about their decision to start accepting Bunz's new cryptocurrency BTZ, I realize that I still don't understand the point of cryptocurrencies.
I think I have a reasonable grasp on what a cryptocurrency is and how it works (which is probably more than many). I even understand why people might want to use it as a speculative investment (although that's not to say that I approve or recommend it). But why would a store, for example, want to get into using it for day-to-day transactions, when it's really not that user-friendly or convenient?
People may say, well, security, duh. But I don't see our current financial system - cash, credit cards - as being particularly insecure. Sure, there is the odd fraudulent transaction, and even long-term scams and other fraudulent schemes, although that is more a result of online fraud than a fault of credit cards per se. And, given the billions of transactions going through each day, the incidence of such errors is truly miniscule. Plus, whatever proponents may say, cryptocurrency transactions will also be hacked one day soon - it's just the way of the world.
Speed? Just how fast do you want your supermarket VISA payment to go through? Isn't it actually rather nice not to have to pay for a credit card transaction until a month later?
So, no, I just don't get it. Unless, maybe it's something to do with FOMO, wanting to jump on the bandwagon, wanting to appear hip and trendy. Surely, it couldn't just be that, could it?
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