as long as there are easily accessible networks with money on them there will be scammers to try and exploit them, this is no different than what we have seen with fiat, the biggest difference being that usually you have to use cash only to put out a shingle and be shady. Crypto allowed anyone to "look" legit and have easy access to settlement.

if anything people are learning WHY you want to at minimum control the ramps and ensure there are channels through which there can be trade using strong identity systems. next phase of crypto will look a bit more grown up as it will very likely be coming to the party as an enabler of multiple VRF style auth systems, helping break dependance on social login systems.

Hopefully. The only thing it was ever useful for was buying illegal drugs via Silk Road.

My partner just got a DM on Instagram about... cryptomoney! Funny thing is, if you search the company, the entire first page is about scandals and negative things. And it is on some MLM list too.

So, the grifters are still out grifting.

It's definitely not dead. Market cycles come and go. It's just a matter of time until the next round.

Bitcoin's in the low $29kus region lately (up from $26kus), so it looks like it's going to keep going. Also, big real money investors are now pretty long on cryptocurrency, so there is a vested interest in keeping it around.

Plus, you know, folks buying stuff on the black and grey markets with it. Wish I didn't have to mention drugs, but it's the easiest way to keep getting insulin for folks these days in addition to the usual recreational compounds.

I am just really happy that storage-based crypto died. It made getting hard drives, and used-servers with drive-bays pretty expensive....

Although, https://cryptoslate.com/cryptos/storage/ I guess many more rose to take its place. :-/

I think the real problem with crypto, everyone and their mother has decided to make another stupid cryptos.... and most of them, are completely stupid. The only person profiting, is the person who created it and minted themselves a bunch of coins to hold onto until the value went up.

Don't get me wrong, I think crypto has its place. But, buying pizza at pizza hut isn't it.

No, one thing is the use cases of some to bypass laws.

The other thing is, there will always be people to fall for all kinds of scams, cults, hypes, pyramid schemes so many are still alive as well, there is people out there buying sugar pills and energy healing and Reddit gold.

Most people are shifting towards the AI trend instead. Read a post which somewhat describes it well, people integrate the new trends into their projects to get more investor money. Nothing looks better to investors other than 'We have AI Blockchain nano technology behind our service'.

Last year, 'we have blockchain' earned lots of money. Now it's 'we have AI'. In both cases, the technology probably isn't needed, it is there just to be there.

considering the comments, it’s right now the best time to buy some eth

There are always some new people who believe they can get rich quick by investing in stocks, crypto, NFTs or something else. Why don’t we just write numbers on ping pong balls, throw them in huge transparent plastic sphere, shuffle the balls a few times, pull out a few and give some money to anyone who guessed the right numbers. Oh, wait we’ve already invented the stupidity tax centuries ago.