Ive learned a bit off a on about crypto, but never got “into it”. When I first started learning it looked like a really interesting concept with a lot of potential uses.

I can’t remember the details at this point, but when looking at bitcoin I remember seeing so many problems. There was the transaction price, speed, and complexity. There was the insanity of all the wasted energy to “mine” bitcoin. Most importantly, it didn’t make sense to me as a currency. Currency needs to be stable, easy to exchange, and easy to use to buy things. Bitcoin always seemed like a really cool prototype that needed a successor or major revisions.

Then the masses (and braindead hype bros and “visionary” corporate types) jumped on it and turned it into the shit show it is today. When people would get excited about it (“price is going up! Gotta buy now!”), it was clear they either didn’t really know what it was or were trying to hype it to get more money pumped into it. When friends or family brought it up, I’d point out that it didn’t really have any use except as speculation. I’d tell them they if they wanted to gamble, go for it, but they should realize that it doesn’t have intrinsic value (just like all the other currencies) and, as it stands, it’s a really shitty currency. Know that people aren’t buying it because it works well. People are buying it because the price is going up.

People have made a lot of money (or theoretical money if they’re still holding), but it still doesn’t seem like it actually gets used for anything but speculation. The $2+ trillion USD market cap for bitcoin makes my head spin. I’ve always thought that bitcoin was a dead end and would eventually be dethroned by something more viable, but here we still are.

I haven’t looked at cryptocurrencies in a while. Any notable progress in the last 5 or so years toward it being more than a money making gamble?

OP’s description of trying to pull the key out when it broke, makes me think the key may also be bound/frozen in the lock. I don’t think you’re supposed to use wet lubricants in a lock, but they may need to use a penetrating lubricant (like wd-40) along with the dental pick.

I don’t think I’ve used ^superscript or _subscript on Lemmy. Kinda didn’t know they existed. And now I want an _excuse to use them^{… So I’m just going to make this comment…}

Edit: I’ve been on Lemmy for over two years. The “new user” icon makes me sad. RIP lemm.ee.

Op:

And people actually show up. like wth. given that it’s 5% population max.

Their view of pride parades sounds pretty negative to me.