“ They really aren’t. A currency is only worth anything if normal people are willing to trade them en masse. For the majority/normal people to trade them en Maße there needs to be an universally agreed upon use for them. A use that taxes give, since no matter who you are, you must pay your taxes in the state issued currency.
Crypto and other alt currency tokens are worthless by definition”
https://reddit.com/r/technology/s/TTK0bCHDDN
Don’t necessarily agree with it, but I get why someone would have that take.
How do we determine the cost of bread in dollars?
The dollar is propped up by smoke and mirrors and the backing of the government. The crypto is just smoke.
It's all up in smoke anyway.
We use currency because direct trade seems barbaric to us, even though the very rich do it all the time.
Yes. Both currencies are actually worthless since the fed stole the gold backing our dollars. But one has institutional force behind it, and one is literally just electrons that vanish when your power is out or your internet is cut. So one is more functionally worthless.
The real alternative currency is metal, and better than gold is a combined holding of lead, copper and brass.
Mostly it's just a convenience and a metric to go by, as opposed to a classic bartering system. Like who honestly wants to haggle over every possible trade or exchange of goods? It maybe made more sense when people lived to be as self-sufficiency as possible.
This is more of a general response to the direct trade/bartering part of your statement.
Of course the wealthy and powerful merely live off of words and favors. That's all they ever do, even in their work, is talk and cut deals. They never actually do anything even remotely hands on.