> where’s anything clearly better than its predecessor?
At the moment, there isn't a single alternative product for a state-free currency as a store of value that has reached the valuation of Bitcoin.
I'm not even a Bitcoiner, but if this isn't proof to you at this point, nothing will satisfy you. The proof doesn't have to convince you it's the future of currency, but it should certainly statisfy the question of "how has blockchain enabled anything new and interesting?".
The truth is, blockchain is less of a technological innovation than it is an organizational one. It is technology that attempts to digitize human organizational patterns as opposed to simply analog processes.
Those selling crypto to the moon and profiting off of the hype certainly ruin it for everyone. The promises, the lies, the failure to deliver is certainly an issue to take up. At the same time, there is quite a bit behind the lies that is worth looking at.
> At the moment, there isn't a single alternative product for a state-free currency as a store of value that has reached the valuation of Bitcoin.
I thought the Bitcoin people stopped referring to it as a currency a few years ago when it became obvious that it had failed to be capable of filling that role? The current “store of value” sales pitch seems likely to follow a similar trajectory since, unlike a reserve currency like the USD or a traditional commodity like gold or real estate, it has no inherent value other than the current social consensus and is thus highly volatile.
This comes back to the same question of what value it offers. Someone who wants buy or sell things defaults to faster, cheaper, and safer options. Someone who wants to save value has faster, cheaper, safer options which have much longer track records of predictable valuation. A devout libertarian who thinks “state-free” is important similarly has a range of options, many of which do not conveniently provide their government with an itemized log of every transaction.
At the moment, there isn't a single alternative product for a state-free currency as a store of value that has reached the valuation of Bitcoin.
I'm not even a Bitcoiner, but if this isn't proof to you at this point, nothing will satisfy you. The proof doesn't have to convince you it's the future of currency, but it should certainly statisfy the question of "how has blockchain enabled anything new and interesting?".
The truth is, blockchain is less of a technological innovation than it is an organizational one. It is technology that attempts to digitize human organizational patterns as opposed to simply analog processes.
Those selling crypto to the moon and profiting off of the hype certainly ruin it for everyone. The promises, the lies, the failure to deliver is certainly an issue to take up. At the same time, there is quite a bit behind the lies that is worth looking at.