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RE: Crypto-what?... WTF is cryptocurrency?!

in #cryptocurrency8 years ago (edited)

Every time I think I understand cryptocurrency I find there's more to it. It seems that anything in limited supply can have a value, even if it's not actually useful. There's definitely a lot of hype around cryptocurrencies that has driven some prices to crazy levels, and then they crash. I'm not a speculator/gambler, so I haven't invested in them. I just love the technology. The people behind it are really clever.

The issues I see with something with Bitcoin are:

  • All that mining effort seems like a waste of electricity. It's become an industry now, but you can only make money where the power is cheap enough
  • There's a limit to how much Bitcoin there can be, so mining cannot go on forever. I think it has to switch to transaction pricing then
  • Can the blockchain keep growing forever? Won't it become unmanageable? Certainly not viable to download it to every device, but I expect there are ways around that
  • Can the blockchain handle the traffic if it goes mainstream?

I understand the Steem blockchain is designed to handle more traffic, but if millions start posting blogs then it will grow really quickly. I know storage is cheap, but that's still an issue.

So many questions, so little time...

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You bring up some very interesting points. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it all, but eventually I'll get there...I think!! I'm not sure I'm ready to invest in it without really understanding the technology. It just seems attractive given it has a finite limit to the amount that can be mined.

Oops. I see I messed up the formatting on that comment. This is what happens when I switch between wiki editing and markdown.

It is hard to know what to invest in when you can't know how good the technology is. There may be security issues that could bring it crashing down.

And what happens if the internet breaks? Yeah, it conceivably could.