Data centres, block chain, tokens, North Korean, Russian and so many more crypto hackers. Money laundering, crypto secrecy in a murky underworld, Stable coin, Binance (co-founder in jail), Bit coin, meme coins, pump and dump, anonymous buyers and sellers, taxing what?
How’s that for the start of a brief missive on my current struggles to understand, engage in or be somewhat interested in the supposed wonderful world of crypto currency?
Of course, I’m from a different age. I mean for crumb’s sake, I still like to pay restaurant and grocery store bills with cash! How crazy can you get? Full confession, I still pay some bills via cheques. Weird eh?
So, count me among that legion of Luddites. But from what I’ve experienced so far, actual paper-based currency bills and coins and cheques are still functioning as part of our workaday world, along with e-transfers, credit and debit cards. You know, the current usable and acceptable ways of doing everyday business, large and small.
Crypto currency is in that other nether world as far as I have been able to ascertain.
A crypto coin can be worth $120,000 today and $40,000 tomorrow and my question is who is doing the assessment? If it’s crypto currency, why is it valued using the old-fashioned dollar as a base? What is its value in crypto speak?
A reasonable young person who has mined and dealt with crypto informed me that there are now thousands, if not millions, of different crypto currency coins and systems out there. So, I’m guessing there is no fundamental central crypto banking or foundation system anywhere?
Mining these coins takes up millions of gigawatts of electrical power. That is much more than it takes to produce a few hundred $100 bills on a legal printing press.
Can I buy a pizza using a one-thousandth of one per cent of a Bitcoin or other crypto coin? You know, the ones that are supposedly “worth” $120K each on Tuesday?
If one is valued at $122,000 real dollars, will the local vehicle dealership give me that fully dressed half-tonne in exchange for that online coin when I click on and send him my apparently valuable coin that’s been mined in North Korea by an unknown miner and graciously handed off to me after sending him or her $122K in some other crypto format? You know, the one that might be worth $130K tomorrow, or maybe $30K? Who knows?
Just who and what agency or government is guaranteeing these re-evaluations that occur every few hours or sometimes, minutes?
I would much rather refer to central monetary fund centres that can rightfully boast of currency valuations that we can understand and are headed up by people named Jerome Powell, or at one time Mark Carney or Tiff or Christine Legarde (European Central bank president). They and their foundations can be held accountable while I have heard stories about how the secrecy within the crypto world is allowing crypto kings and queens to bilk one another at a rapid rate before being arrested for money laundering among other things.
The money they refer to as being laundered, I’m supposing is real money. I say that because as far as I know, crypto currency presently has no overseeing authority that can sort out the legal implications of a trade that has no boundaries, foundation or legitimate status from what I understand.
So, some crypto geniuses are now in jail, others carry online monikers that don’t reveal who they actually are, yet we’re supposed to be eager to do business with them?
The crypto world got a big boost recently by taking in the current President of the U.S. Donnie Deflector. He’s in full hook, line and sinker now that he has been courted and his ego and crypto accounts have been boosted. Last year he wasn’t a fan. This year he is.
So, do you want a Melania meme coin? If so, send $40,000 to Deflector. I’m guessing that’s $40K in U.S. currency and not Bit or Bite coin. He may not be that bright, but he ain’t stupid! He knows promotion when he sees it. Or, as I believe, Deflector and his family are eagerly dealing in both the real and crypto world. Why not? It’s all just a game of billionaire Monopoly for those guys.
So, for now, I’m thinking I’ll be just as happy staying out of the crypto world. Then I don’t have to worry whether I have a Stable Coin, Staple Coin, meme coin or Stupid Coin. I have a blue-coloured Canadian special paper bill and a loonie that will get me a Diet Pepsi and a doughnut when I use the drive-thru. And if I get change, I’m pretty sure it will be in Canadian currency I can put in my pocket. To me, that’s still comforting. Value in, value out and I get a doughnut to enjoy in a relatively peaceful setting.
