this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Technology
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Why does the US even need crypto though? What problem is that solving? All they need to do is make a government version of Zelle that every bank in the US has to use (in addition to any private tools they like) to settle electric funds transfers and do it for free to the end user and bam, everything from digital cash, with none of the crypto overhead.
You're asking the right question, this is something they don't need and yet they have been pushing this for years.
The phrasing I like is "crypto is a solution searching for a problem".
Crypto enthusiasts start with the existence of crypto and try to fit it as a solution to some problems rather than trying to solve those problems without already having chosen the solution. The reasoning is often flimsy as a result. They're not actually trying to solve a problem and thus won't consider things like "how is this better than a centralized system?".
I guess I thought it was just because of hype, and to say re China - look, we're doing it too. We're not falling behind. I.e. entirely optics and eventually it'll fade away as one of those things that no one cares about.