[pmachinery]

> I don't understand cryptocurrencies.

People buy cryptocurrencies and hope the price rises and they can dump it back into the USD it has always been valued in, before everyone else does the same.

Since spamming forums to inflate the price doesn't work as it did a decade ago, in order to prevent them crashing to the floor, all kinds of nonsense white elephant use-cases have to be imagined/invented.

We all understand cryptocurrencies. (You're just not supposed to admit it out loud.)

[jesusthatsgreat]

Same could be said about the stock market. Lots of companies aren't in profit and would die without the ability to dump shares and without speculators (and indeed the government itself - the ultimate speculator) propping it all up. Many of them die anyway, sometimes right after raising fresh capital from suckers who believed in their vision.

We've been here before in tech with the dotcom bubble. Lots of noise, nonsense and white elephants. Most projects will crash and burn, some will go on to change our daily lives.