Can someone 'splain me like I'm 5. Blockchain?

Here's some more information about when stones were money:

Rai stones

Rai stones were quarried on several of the Micronesian islands, mainly Palau,[5] but briefly on Guam as well. The practice stopped in the early 20th century. Today around 6,000 large rai stones are outstanding on the island,[clarification needed] and several can be seen in museums worldwide.[6][7]

The stones were highly valued by the Yapese and used for important ceremonial gifts. The ownership of a large stone, which would be too difficult to move, was established by its history as recorded in oral tradition rather than by its location. Appending a transfer to the oral history of the stone thus effected a change of ownership.[3]

Some modern economists have viewed Rai stones as a form of money, and the stones are often used as a demonstration of the fact that the value of some forms of money can be assigned purely through a shared belief in said value.

It doesn't matter if money holds inherent value or not. As long as the sheep can be convinced to believe it holds value or be convinced to comply because there is no other option is all that matters. The end game is to do away monetary currency altogether, physical and digital. Your AI survielled social score will be your currency.

originally posted by: RustEShackelFord
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I became interested in it at the beginning of the year, played around with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Money doesnt come out of thin air, it comes from someone else buying into it. As the buyer you are just gambling on the price going up so you can sell it later for profit off someone else hoping to do the same thing. The money you win is a percentage of all the aggregated money input by others

At the end of the day someone has to be holding the bag, like a weird game of musical chairs.

I think you've summarized it quite well. The best way to describe crypto is like going to Vegas. You go through all sorts of machinations pulling levers, playing games and rolling dice. None of this produces any value other than the hopes that one time you might get lucky and win a prize. You can only hope that your prize is worth more money than you put into trying to trying to win it.

So, it's really just another form of gambling, much like the lottery, a sweepstakes, or buying squares at your local bar when betting on a sports team.

The 'value' is hope and nothing more.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What gives fiat currency it's value?

originally posted by: IndieA
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What gives fiat currency it's value?

Lots of factors contribute but ultimately taxation provides a constant demand. Crypto 'currencies' lack this.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk

originally posted by: RustEShackelFord
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I became interested in it at the beginning of the year, played around with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Money doesnt come out of thin air, it comes from someone else buying into it. As the buyer you are just gambling on the price going up so you can sell it later for profit off someone else hoping to do the same thing. The money you win is a percentage of all the aggregated money input by others

At the end of the day someone has to be holding the bag, like a weird game of musical chairs.

I think you've summarized it quite well. The best way to describe crypto is like going to Vegas. You go through all sorts of machinations pulling levers, playing games and rolling dice. None of this produces any value other than the hopes that one time you might get lucky and win a prize. You can only hope that your prize is worth more money than you put into trying to trying to win it.

So, it's really just another form of gambling, much like the lottery, a sweepstakes, or buying squares at your local bar when betting on a sports team.

The 'value' is hope and nothing more.

All investing is a form of gambling really, crypto just much more so.

Not sure Vegas is quite the right analogy is there is no house with the odds in its favour but definitely some form of gambling.

originally posted by: IndieA
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

What gives fiat currency it's value?

Long answer, or short answer?

Short answer - There is a long history leading up to the fiat currency in this country and others. It started out with gold being used as a standard for which the fiat currency could be redeemed/exchanged on a 1:1 basis. This process had to exist for a number of years in order for people to believe the fiat currency was indeed redeemable for the gold which backed it. Once this 'trust' has been established, then the government could venture into fractional banking where banks couldn't necessarily redeem 100% of of the currency in circulation, and part of the reasoning behind this was so the funds could be used as collateral for borrowing. This is a very abridged version, but the important takeaway here is, this was a stair-stepped process and didn't happen over night.

This, in contrast to crypto, which relatively speaking does happen almost 'overnight'. While it's not one 'day' in duration, it is something which starts out on day #1 using the fractional model. But the big difference is...the element of 'trust' hasn't been established before the model goes into effect.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Not sure if this is what anyone is looking for, but for me, investing in some different crypto coins has to do with long shots. Sure Ethereum and Bitcoin will be more stable, but the little ones with a hope and a dream are the lottery tickets I like. One I hold is CSC. It's called Casino Coin. It's intended purpose is to be used in online betting. Small chance it happens, but if for some reason, online gambling was regulated, and using crypto for the transaction was the way things went, and CSC turned out to be the coin of choice for one or many others, I'd hit the winning ticket. If not, it sits there, about the same price I paid for it, sometimes going up for reasons unknown. I have a few others that have promising ideas, if things were to work out, but just as you only need one lottery ticket to be the winner, you only need one of these long shots to be "the one", and you win. Otherwise, you learn some things about new technology, likely make some poor choices, get scammed a few times, and make posts about it.

A few members here clued me into what to look for as far as a utility vs. meme coin (or sh!t coin) as they are known.

a reply to: BedevereTheWise

Yes, this is definitely an interesting element of crypto.

a reply to: network dude

Love meme coins...

DOGE coin is on sale Right NOW!!!

originally posted by: imitator
a reply to: network dude

Love meme coins...

DOGE coin is on sale Right NOW!!!

I thought DOGE would skyrocket with the new DOGE branch in government cracked me up that's what they called it.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

Maybe DOGE will be the official currency of the DOGE Department... ; 0
That would be the ultimate meta move!