Absolutely untrue. I know that if I purchase something for a dollar, it will not be 1.50 or 2.00 when I look tomorrow due to wild currency fluctuations. Good currencies are backed by the full faith and credit of their respective institutions. If theoretically the US government exploded tomorrow then obviously there would be issues but if the US goes down kicking and screaming there's a lot more problems with the world. Cryptocurrencies are not the solution. They are a solution seeking a problem.
Yes, the "full faith and credit of their respective institutions"...this is correct, but still doesn't make me feel like my money will be worth anything. So long as the US Federal Reserve decides it likes inflation, and we have no real commodity to back it, the dollar is as malleable as any other currency. It only has people to back it up...for now, I say I am glad that those people are filled with faith in it...when they decide not to be, we're all in trouble, because nothing will keep it stable.
I'm not 100% sure what you are expecting besides government backing to be honest. Backed by a metal standard or something of the sort? As far as fiat currency goes, it really doesn't get much safer than the US dollar. Going back to a gold standard would be disastrous for the global economy due to gold's wild fluxes. And as I previously stated, if the US dollar is suddenly worthless then there's a LOT bigger problems you have to worry about. Like how to start farming the land and sew your own clothes.
I am not so sure there is a need for regulation for the purposes of stability with a properly distributed cryptocurrency. Some say it needs to be regulated because of potential criminal uses. I say that is nonsense and would like to point out that if the cryptocurrency really is cryptocurrency then regulation of the sort that governments crave will be nearly impossible. Value is another matter. All currencies are fiat no matter who claims they are not. Currency is only worth what people believe it is.
Currencies aren't backed by anything though. They used to be backed by gold, but now it's simply 'We agree this costs this much'. And fluctuations do occur every day. One day a dollar might be worth .50GBP, whereas the next it'll be .55GBP. Fluxes happen, and to say otherwise is just silly. Of course they do. It's why we have currency converters in the first place! Now, you could have meant that they don't fluctuate as much as the various cryptocurrencies, but what you've said is totally incorrect.
I disagree. Cybercrime / theft / hacking and similar crimes are a big enough problem as it is. I think it has the potential to be far, far worse with no one there to hold anyone accountable or stand watch, so to speak. But help yourself... As for currency values being worth what people think they are, there is a pretty definite value to the US dollar today. It's not gonna be worth more to me than you just because I think it should - it's going to take roughly $100 USD to buy a barrel of oil these days - not $50, not $10, not $200. And roughly $1300 to buy an ounce of gold - not $800 and not $2000.
My husband made quite a bit off of Bitcoins last year, but he kind of got lucky buying some just to try it out. He had forgotten all about it and looked it up one day last year when the value was peaking, and cashed it out right then. Very lucky timing for him to remember and check on this! With everything that has happened since then, I'd be scared to invest there now though. Very curious to see what happens in the future though, there are a lot of possibilities for this in the coming decades I think.
Cryptocurrencies have much more variation and risk than commodities. But, with that said I still have some investment in cryptocurrencies just a much smaller investment.
I agree with you OP. Bitcoin in value is worth heaps. It should be mentioned around here more often. In fact, I've seen online vendors now accept it as the norm for payments.
Without proper oversight, Bitcoin and other crytocurrencies are far too risky for me to put too much faith into; but, my interest is peaked to do a little more investigating.
