• Cryophilia@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    5 months ago

    all money is a social construct used to represent an abstraction of value added through labor.

    That’s the definition of money. It’s not fake. It is an abstraction, but it’s not fake, and we’ve built an intricate system of laws and regulations about it.

    Bitcoin is fake money. It’s not backed by any government or any real rules and regulations. It’s the same as every other “tech” company. Take an existing thing, remove all regulations, pretend it’s a new thing, and pocket the increased revenue.

    • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      5 months ago

      Money existed before there was an intricate system of laws and regulations. Money existed before there were fiat currencies, backed by nothing except a gov’t’s promises. The fact that bitcoin doesn’t have those doesn’t make it any more real, or less real, than any other thing used as currency. It has value because people believe that it has value.

      Gold is much the same way. Gold has an intrinsic value for making things that conduct electricity (particularly because it doesn’t corrode), but all other values exist because it’s both relatively rare, and people have decided that it’s pretty.

        • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          5 months ago

          Currency existed prior to governments; Native Americans in some areas used rare shells as a form of currency; the currency wasn’t a part of their governing process, and by any modern standards, their governments were very loose.