Linus Torvalds has said that cryptocurrencies are simply "a great vehicle for scams"
  • Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
  • shortwavesurferEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    The metal coin has a private key embedded underneath a hologram. The private key has never touched the internet. And so if you throw it away, that value is lost forever. So the metal coin in and of itself does have value. As long as you can physically see that the hologram has not been peeled away and the private key exposed, which would be a dead giveaway, that it has been swept and is no longer of any value.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      And you think you have a one in four chance of a border guard realizing that?

      Because, again, if society is collapsing, food will be insecure, and far more than one in four people know you can eat a chicken. In fact, I would say four in four people know you can eat a chicken.

      • shortwavesurferEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        Well, if the average intelligence level I see around me… They might not know a chicken is edible. LOL. However, only more serious note. It doesn’t seem like it all goes down at once. I mean, people in Venezuela have issues for sure, but they just take their money as soon as they get it and put it into something else that will retain their value. So we won’t go from an ordered stable society to Mad Max where everybody’s stealing chickens from preppers in one day. It would take years to get there.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          Ah, so this is a societal collapse where you have to bribe a border guard to get out of the country but where food is secure. I see. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works in Venezuela, so can you give an actual example of such a situation?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              6 months ago

              Can you provide an example of someone getting out of Cuba by bribing a guard with a metal coin representing a certain Bitcoin value?

              Because, believe it or not, I’ve met plenty of Cubans who just got on an airplane.

              • shortwavesurferEnglish
                1·
                6 months ago

                Admittedly, I have very little actual information on their situation, and it’s more just hearsay. So if you’ve met them, then you would have more information than I do.