The obvious answer to the title, based off my understanding, is to be used as a currency. Obviously it’s not the most widely accepted currency right now, but my understanding is that all coins serve that purpose
My coworker mentioned his investments on crypto and said some things that confused me and clashed with my understanding. He said Ethereum is a company (with a CEO) and you buy the company when you buy the crypto (like with stocks). He also said when you buy ETH it’s like an ETF because other coins are built on that blockchain. I asked if he meant that as “They use the same blockchain model, or variations of that model” and he said no; they literally share blockchains with other coins.
He also mentioned being really into game-crypto; Like crypto from a game company? Is it mostly used for microtransactions? He also talked about a coin called DOT (I think) that’s like build to handle the logistics chain. It’s nonsense
Every crypto is a bit different in purpose and technology, but the underlying idea is simple: What if you had an immutable ledger that was secured by the sheer number of copies that existed and were in complete sync with eachother? This ledger is called the blockchain.
Think about your banking history. You can’t go back and change it because it’s just a running tally of transactions. The problem is it’s centralized to your bank. Should they someday decide to make a transaction (or their system gets hacked) and claim you did it, you would have a very hard time proving otherwise. Well, what if there were a million copies of your transaction history? Then if somebody attempted to alter that history, the other 999,999 copies were like “nah man, that is fake as shit”? No single entity can falsify the info! This is called de-centralization.
Now think about all the applications of that simple technology. Let’s say you want to sell a digital asset to me (music, art, etc…). Today, you’d have to trust me to give you the files and I’d have to trust you to pay me. Or, we both have to trust a 3rd party service like Apple Music to facilitate the transaction and charge a fee. What if I could write a contract on the ledger that says “if you send me 1 ETH, this music transfers to you”? Now we don’t have to trust eachother, nor a 3rd party. When the condition is met, the transfer occurs. This is a trust-less transaction and can deal with everything from digital asset transfer to sports betting!
We’re just scratching the surface of this simple idea, so there are a lot of experimental things happening. For instance, de-centralized finance can execute collateralized loans without a credit score. I could write a contract that allowed you to borrow $ from me and the contract itself becomes a custodian of your collateral (Bitcoin). So, you agree that if you don’t pay me back, the Bitcoin you used as collateral automatically transfers to me. Again, we don’t need to trust eachother. You get the loan and I get paid back either with interest or I get your asset.
Blockchain is a revolutionary idea, but right now it’s mostly an idea and an experiment.
>He said Ethereum is a company (with a CEO).
Stopped reading right there. Either your coworker is full of bs or he’s an ultimate troll.
Sounds like you’re good to go!
He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The purpose is whatever you want it to be. It’s the way you use it is the purpose and the way everyone uses crypto is different.
Moon
Crypto is amorphous. It can be used for so many things, but when you try to say that “it is for x only,” it weakens all of the other use cases and you’ll find that it is not particularly good at that one thing.
Crypto is good because it has so many purposes.
“Jack of all trades and master of none,” is a surprisingly apt phrase.
Lol your co worker is wrong about everything
When you buy ethereum it’s simply a currency used to pay transaction fees in the network, not a share in the company
Also vitalik is the ceo of a non profit company not the ceo or owner of the ethereum network. He can’t make changes or control the chain. All changes are decided through governance by votes
If you wanna keep it simple: it can be adopted as currency. Buy now crypto for 40.000$ and buy a house with it when it’s worth 450.000$.
There are a lot of cryptocurrency now but bitcoin was intended to be a currency to be used as an alternative payment system that is decentralized.
If this video doesn’t make you want to learn more about Bitcoin, you probably weren’t going to ever be interested. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wdJFeSY8UVk. Michael Saylor is great at a quick orange pilling of noobs.
Lambos
I disagree with the ETF analogy. An ETF holds positions in stocks. Ethereum does not hold any positions in the tokens created on its blockchain.
Eth is more like TCP/IP. A protocol base layer that other tokens can build on.
U know a ponzi scheme? well kinda like that, but different
It depends on the project… Many different use cases
Create a secure financial system that is free from central actors.
Send, lend, borrow money without a bank, government, or a middleman.
It’s the reason the charts app comes preloaded on your device
Lol your co worker is wrong about everything
When you buy ethereum it’s simply a currency used to pay transaction fees in the network, not a share in the company
Also vitalik is the ceo of a non profit company not the ceo or owner of the ethereum network. He can’t make changes or control the chain. All changes are decided through governance by votes
And eth is not like an etf. When you buy eth you only have eth and not any other erc20 token, unless you buy those separstely
Is this a troll post or what
Purpose of crypto is very open-ended question. If I had to boil it down in one sentence, it would be to perform a task without the need to trust a human intermediary. Finance without a bank, contract without a lawyer, company without a ceo, concert ticket without shitketmaster, etc.
First and foremost a medium of exchange that couldn’t be manipulated
To make me money (supposedly)
Pass the Butter.
Lambo
Buying drugs obviously, duuh.
Crypto does not have only one purpose. It’s not only about being a currency.