Been asked a couple of times, what problems does cryptocurrency solve, and what’s its unique value proposition compared to other cryptocurrencies or traditional financial systems. Would love any other users take on this ..
Bitcoin, specifically, solves lots of problems. Other cryptocurrencies, much less. Though the idea of smart contracts and NFTs certainly can be real world solutions to things, but as of yet they've been mostly just used as money making schemes for the creators.
Specifically,
1. Hard currency - Bitcoin gives the world a hard currency. Haven't had one of those since nations stopped tying currencies directly to gold, which was well before the actual official dropping of the gold standard a half century ago. This means you can now save, store, and grow wealth in a currency rather than having to bet it on investment products like stocks.
2. Open global payment network - The world of digital payments is broken up into various walled gardens controlled by the banks. You can't send money anywhere you want, and usually if you want to send money to other countries you have to pay big fees. With bitcoin you can send money to anyone in the world with no restrictions.
3. 24/7 & fast transactions - Now this advantage of bitcoin is starting to be lost, for example the US just started initial deployment of their FedNow payments system which starts moving USD transactions off the old 40 hours a week and takes 4/5 days to make transactions to essentially from what I understand 24/7 and near-instant transactions. But at least over the old system Bitcoin works 24/7 and you get payments in like 30-60minutes which was orders of magnitude more efficient than how digital fiat transactions work, but again, the fiat banking system is now catching up.
4. Sovereign digital money - Digital fiat only exists in banks. Effectively, the bank owns any money you have in the bank, and you are completely under their control. And by extension your money is completely under the control of your government. There is no way to own your digital fiat yourself, and it is unlikely there ever will be. With Bitcoin, you are sovereign over your own money, only you control it. It's like burying gold in your backyard, but digital and you can transact with it whenever you want.
And then of course there are all sorts of use cases for humanity that spring out of these big problem solving features.
Stuff like banking the unbanked, storing wealth long term, better way to save money, transact globally far more easily, bring your money with you when you travel, not worry about exchange rates between various currencies when you travel, saving people in fiscally irresponsible nations from runaway inflation, allowing migrants and refugees to take their money with them, providing financial access to economically repressed populations, providing a financial escape hatch for people under very controlling governments, transacting digital money without bank/govt oversight and control, greater financial privacy, more seamlessly interact in an digital/internet-driven financial world, etc.
Plus there's various big benefits specific to bitcoin mining as well, like strengthening the energy infrastructure of the world, promoting the spread of renewables during this century of energy transition, solving societal or local heating issues in various places, etc.
So, yeah, Bitcoin solves a lot of huge problems with money. There's a reason people call Bitcoin a revolution...because it is revolutionary.
You should honestly laugh when people say Bitcoin doesn't solve anything or isn't useful. It's sorta like asking if electricity solves any problems back when the use of electricity was first invented but barely anybody was using it yet. Yes, it is extremely useful, but the infrastructure of that usage needs to be build out so it takes a while. With electricity you needed power plants and power lines to homes and lights and electrical appliances to be built out before the great invention of electricity for society was extremely useful. With Bitcoin we need L2 payment solutions to be improved and adopted and general Bitcoin adoption to increase and merchant adoption to explode and sensible taxation rules around spending Bitcoin before the great invention of Bitcoin becomes extremely useful.
Whenever you hear someone say Bitcoin isn't useful, or isn't needed (like Gary Gensler saying we already have digital currencies we don't need cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrencies shouldn't exist) that person is either entirely ignorant about Bitcoin or has an agenda which is causing them to lie to you. Most people are still simply ignorant, though there are plenty of people who will intentionally lie to you in order to attack Bitcoin. Knowing these basics about Bitcoin's immense and revolutionary uses and solutions to problems in the world will help you instantly see through the people who are don't know what they are talking about, and allow you to explain to them the facts if you so choose.
