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Comment by Domenic_S | Hacker News Reader

> Arguing that central banks and a few other non-elected decision makers should be able to influence our lives by devaluing our savings is... insane

Perhaps, but a currency that devalues based on news, scams, pump & dump schemes, and so forth isn't the solution. Crypto doesn't transfer the power of value to you, it transfers to people with a big enough following - or botnet - to amplify whatever news (false or not) that impacts their crypto the way they want it, up or down.

Your premise is reasonable, but your conclusion doesn't logically follow from it.

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> Perhaps, but a currency that devalues based on news, scams, pump & dump schemes, and so forth isn't the solution.

This is an accurate characterization of the dollar as well.

A common theme in all the cryptocurrency hate is that crypto enables scams, drug deals, etc. It's value fluctuates because of the decisions of a few bad actors. The dollar and every other central bank currency also have these issues.

The dollar recently peaked around a 9% inflation rate.

The euro peaked around 10%.

I could also make an argument that these numbers are actually understated but that's not the point. These are supposedly stable currencies. A person who has saved up ~100K Euros by January 2022 now only has ~90k Euros in January 2023. That's some pretty significant volatility. Unfortunately, the central bank currency's never go back up in terms of purchasing power. They only go down.

> This is an accurate characterization of the dollar as well.

Not in the way you're saying - it's a matter of degree. When Theranos scammed hundreds of millions, the dollar didn't drop in value, nor has that ever happened.

You seem to have unconventional definitions of "stable" and "volatile". Calling a 10% devaluation in 1 year volatile is laughable compared to crypto. For example BTC -65% in 1 month (1/6/18 to 2/6/18) or how about TerraUSD, -80% in less than 1 week, 5/9-5/14/22.

Fiat and crypto aren't even in the same galaxy when it comes to volatility.

I think one of the best cases against crypto, is just how much the volatility in Crypto is a feature not a bug. Crypto is how people will make it rich, and rising 7% in a year doesn't enable that. Imagine a world where crypto routinely beat the major indexes by a point, so bitcoin being worth now around $1500, Eth $200. They would have been one of the most fantastic investments you could have made, and still a robust currency, but how much hype would they have made?

> I could also make an argument that these numbers are actually understated but that's not the point. These are supposedly stable currencies. A person who has saved up ~100K Euros by January 2022 now only has ~90k Euros in January 2023. That's some pretty significant volatility.

And? Is it even coming close to the volatility of the most popular coins?

> Unfortunately, the central bank currency's never go back up in terms of purchasing power. They only go down.

With good reason! Deflation is one of the greatest worries in any economy.

Rome wasn't built in one day, as the total market cap grows, price fluctuation will become irrelevant.

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