Fiat currency is based on the government’s ability to issue and service debt, which is based on its ability to collect taxes, which is based on the economy it oversees. It’s a bit roundabout but the pieces all connect.
Crypto is supposed the compensation for providing compute resources to a blockchain, which ostensibly backs some application with actual intrinsic value. In that sense crypto is real, but there are no actual blockchains which support valuable applications. The entire thing much more closely resembles a ponzi scheme where real currency is deposited, and then the appreciation it experiences is proportional to the ratio of inputs vs withdrawals, without there being an actual asset creating value.
In both cases the trading value of the currency has almost nothing to do with who originated it, and almost everything to do with how the general public feels about it.
Just like crypto, most “government” currencies are worth what they’re worth only because everyone agrees that they are. That’s called “fiat” currency. And that’s why fiat currency exchange markets exist. The US Dollar hasn’t been “convertible” (redeemable for a fixed amount of precious metal) since 1971, and many other world currencies were already backed in some way by the US Dollar at that time.
The real difference is in the supply.
Government fiat currency is difficult to counterfeit, although the government (or reserve bank) can always make more whenever they want. We trust them not to print more money, increasing the money supply and devaluing the currency. However, this is exactly what has happened sometimes in the past, and no doubt will happen again in the future.
Crypto currency is virtually impossible to counterfeit, and IIRC there’s a finite (but not precisely known) amount of it that can be made, no matter who you are.
Personally, I still use physical fiat currency and no crypto. I’d like to use crypto, but regulation in my country makes it very difficult to use without registering your details with a central authority. And although everyone’s pushing e-money options which are similarly tracked, thankfully I still have the option of using anonymous cash.
I don’t do anything bad or illegal. I just believe that government and big business don’t deserve to know everything I do in my life simply because they want to.
You can use crypto without those registration if you know where to find locals who are willing to trade it for cash. It’ll be just like finding a local dealer.
Doesn’t dread’s captcha force you to check the url? Afaik it makes you fill in specific parts of the url, so that you check that the url you are using is the same one they are using. Curious how the mirror was able to bypass that.
Regardless I just spent some initial investment saving the pgp public keys and making sure they are legit, so that I can use them to verify dread’s mirrors.txt whenever needed. Faster than walking out to the street imo
I entered it into tor browser, no captcha was shown and I landed directly on the site/mirror.
The one post I read, something concerning validation and opsec on markets or dreadforum, had an explanation that if the text they wrote in hyphens differed from the url right under it I was already viewing a mirror, as they spelled out a link.
That was true, the url shown was darkmyurl dot com instead of the actual link spelled out hyphenated.
I was humbled, and have now learned that even asking for the true php keys from you right now is submitting to defeat. The only good opsec seems to be your own
Fake money probably, it allows me to easily buy drugs from online.
If people value it I guess it isn’t so fake. Most “legit” currencies are just the goverment promising you its worth something anyway.
Fiat currency is based on the government’s ability to issue and service debt, which is based on its ability to collect taxes, which is based on the economy it oversees. It’s a bit roundabout but the pieces all connect.
Crypto is supposed the compensation for providing compute resources to a blockchain, which ostensibly backs some application with actual intrinsic value. In that sense crypto is real, but there are no actual blockchains which support valuable applications. The entire thing much more closely resembles a ponzi scheme where real currency is deposited, and then the appreciation it experiences is proportional to the ratio of inputs vs withdrawals, without there being an actual asset creating value.
A government promising it’s worth something carries a hell of a lot more weight than some random tech-bro promising it.
In both cases the trading value of the currency has almost nothing to do with who originated it, and almost everything to do with how the general public feels about it.
Just like crypto, most “government” currencies are worth what they’re worth only because everyone agrees that they are. That’s called “fiat” currency. And that’s why fiat currency exchange markets exist. The US Dollar hasn’t been “convertible” (redeemable for a fixed amount of precious metal) since 1971, and many other world currencies were already backed in some way by the US Dollar at that time.
The real difference is in the supply.
Government fiat currency is difficult to counterfeit, although the government (or reserve bank) can always make more whenever they want. We trust them not to print more money, increasing the money supply and devaluing the currency. However, this is exactly what has happened sometimes in the past, and no doubt will happen again in the future.
Crypto currency is virtually impossible to counterfeit, and IIRC there’s a finite (but not precisely known) amount of it that can be made, no matter who you are.
Personally, I still use physical fiat currency and no crypto. I’d like to use crypto, but regulation in my country makes it very difficult to use without registering your details with a central authority. And although everyone’s pushing e-money options which are similarly tracked, thankfully I still have the option of using anonymous cash.
I don’t do anything bad or illegal. I just believe that government and big business don’t deserve to know everything I do in my life simply because they want to.
This varies wildly depending on the coin.
You can use crypto without those registration if you know where to find locals who are willing to trade it for cash. It’ll be just like finding a local dealer.
Crypto doesn’t have value because tech bros say it does, that’s not how it works.
You just reminded me that it’s been a couple of decades since I Candyflipped. Need to do that again soonish…
Monero my beloved…
I believe in a future where we won’t need money anymore, but in the meantime, Monero is a pretty solid choice.
I tried looking at dreadforum to see how markets work nowadays and found out in a minute I was viewing a mirror that was injecting links
I think I’ll just ask a dude on the street at this point
But then again I am in a country where that would work with 0 negative consequences for me as the user
Doesn’t dread’s captcha force you to check the url? Afaik it makes you fill in specific parts of the url, so that you check that the url you are using is the same one they are using. Curious how the mirror was able to bypass that.
Regardless I just spent some initial investment saving the pgp public keys and making sure they are legit, so that I can use them to verify dread’s mirrors.txt whenever needed. Faster than walking out to the street imo
It’s my first actual visit, and I did what apparently is the obvious faux pas
I googled for dreadforum link, was pointed towards one shown at https://dreadforum.io/
I entered it into tor browser, no captcha was shown and I landed directly on the site/mirror.
The one post I read, something concerning validation and opsec on markets or dreadforum, had an explanation that if the text they wrote in hyphens differed from the url right under it I was already viewing a mirror, as they spelled out a link.
That was true, the url shown was darkmyurl dot com instead of the actual link spelled out hyphenated.
I was humbled, and have now learned that even asking for the true php keys from you right now is submitting to defeat. The only good opsec seems to be your own