I agree, but the currencies mentioned above are much more stable, so only professionals earn on them.

The abundance of speculators on some exchanges and an amateur, in some respects, is very favorable. You can earn on their panic, especially when during the day there are significant fluctuations of a separate cryptocurrency. Although I already and not so much involved in this matter and just monitor some useful tokens at https://changevisor.com/.

3 hours ago, Martin_Burke said:

but the currencies mentioned above are much more stable, so only professionals earn on them.

Professionals and those who are lucky. Same is happening with cryptocurrency, economist are earning a lot from it because they understand how money works, most armature investors get burned if they aren't lucky.

Most investors between 2017- 2018 made a loss while investing it is estimated that +/- 20% of these invested money they loaned.The worst part is that they didn't loose all of it, so many of them believe they can still earn the money back because they have some left. But it is currency and not a casino.

There has been over 200 000 people who have declared bankruptcy after investing in bitcoin, some of these people where rich business owners but only a a few, that is less than a 100.

So a update on cryptocurrency:

Most 3rd world countries and even some 1st world countries have started accepting bitcoin (why bitcoin!?) and is now taxing it. At first it was only taxed under owned property but many of them have now started to apply trade laws to it but as of yet most won't accept any responsibility over it.

In these countries we are seeing the effect of Gresham's law. Mainly because many of them have developing mobile market, either software or hardware, so having a online currency is useful.

A other reason cryptocurrency use is rising is because it is hard to get rid off. People are reluctant to buy new bitcoins so investors looking to cash out have to sell it in small amounts at a time.

I am no financial expert and neither any hard core level investor but I think Crypto's are a bubble. Fiat currency is worse but still I never liked crypto, not saying because I did not get in at the right time or anything, but if I don't get the concept I can't just agree if it is good or not.

Not having intrinsic value does not mean something is worthless.

If the key to your car was the only one in existence and it couldn't be copied, even though the key is, by itself worthless, it's value is extrinsic, it is linked to the car.  Such is the case with the US dollar.  Its value is extrinsic and while how people feel about it definitely affects its value, it's not the only thing that gives it value.  That is, people will not ever believe that dollars are worthless as long as the Federal Government can enforce taxes.  Saying that dollars are worthless because of how people feel about them is like saying food value is based on how people feel about it.

The US government imposes a tax on almost everyone.  Taxes can only be paid with the dollar that the US government creates and failure to pay results in punishments ranging from the loss of dollars to imprisonment.  Thus, at its root, as long as the government remains in power, the value of the dollar is equal to your desire to avoid punishment for non-payment of taxes.  Since we all have to pay taxes and the government has created more dollars than it imposes as a tax, we use the surplus dollars to transact business because dollars meet several of the criteria for "good" money to varying degrees.  Fungible, a store of value, unit of account and medium of exchange.

 A movie ticket is an intrinsically worthless piece of paper, but its value is linked to the expectation of a seat in the theater.  A Walmart gift card is an intrinsically worthless piece of plastic, but it has value as long as the units of currency on the card allow a user to obtain merchandise in the store.  Intuitively, the value of money and tokens is proportional to what can be obtained with them.

IMO, the lack of value and the cause of crypto's volatility stems from the fact that, at its source, it's not a promise for anything.  Worse, it takes work and energy to create.  So it comes into the world having spent energy but isn't the promise of anything a person needs or wants.

Blockchain and Hashgraph are essentially distributed non-centralized consensus engines.  That's it.  I'm certain there are lot's of potential uses for something like that but so far it's not a good replacement for the money our governments create.  

I do wonder though if crypto could take a very interesting role in international finance.  it could become the standard international money.  That is, it wouldn't be the money of any one government, nor would it be widely used in the purchasing of goods and services, rather it could become the money that we trade into and out of when converting currencies on an international level, but that's just a thought.  Take that last part with a grain of salt.
 

16 hours ago, csbrown28 said:

Not having intrinsic value does not mean something is worthless.

Agreed with your whole breakdown ... and I share your concerns when it comes to becoming the standard international currency. Does will some kind of internationally recognized body need to be formed to control / regulate or will the value forever be based on community consensus (supply / demand)? Sorry if I am simplifying too much ... still learning myself.  

23 hours ago, vagrantscout said:

Agreed with your whole breakdown ... and I share your concerns when it comes to becoming the standard international currency. Does will some kind of internationally recognized body need to be formed to control / regulate or will the value forever be based on community consensus (supply / demand)? Sorry if I am simplifying too much ... still learning myself.  

No, no one would need to regulate an international standard, just as no one regulates the exchange value of dollars to pounds.  The price is set by the markets.  International markets exist outside the boundaries of race, religion, and politics.

An international crypto standard would go a long way towards creating a stable cryptocurrency.   You wouldn't see the kinds of wild fluctuations you see now because of the sheer number of people participating and the size of the exchanges.

Smaller nations (especially those that have corruption issues) might choose to adopt crypto as a way to stabilize their economies.  It would also give people a gold substitute if they wanted to flee their national dollar because of inflation and other fears.

As I said, it's just a thought....I'm not even sure it would work.  Truthfully, I don't think Crypto can work at the national level, but I always try to see positives in things, and this was my attempt to see a possible use for crypto.