I am glad you asked. The value that cryptocurrencies provide boils down to 3 main things:
1) A store of value.
2) A transfer of value.
3) A creation of value.
Bitcoin provides a store of value by still letting you buy a pizza with your Bitcoin both now and in the future. It’s price has always been highly volatile but after every 4 year cycle, it has been worth more in every major world currency.
Stellar Lumens, Algorand, Dogecoin, and to a lesser extent Bitcoin, & Ethereum provide a transfer of value by letting you send money across the globe.
Ethereum is the poster child for a creation of value by allowing people to permanently deploy smart contracts to the Ethereum mining network. These contracts include ERC20 stablecoins like MakerDao’s Dai, USDC, lending platforms like AAVE and Compound, DeFi exchanges like Uniswap, Yield aggregators like Yearn.finance and Curve.fi, and DeFi coin converters like 1inch. Back in 2017, the only compelling Ethereum platform (or DAPP) was CryptoKitties which were the precursor to today’s NFTs. I think NFTs are in a bubble but nowadays there is a much more compelling and diverse lineup.
Yes, some of them can be used without the energy waste. As far as value goes, Dogecoin likes to say on it’s website, 1 Dogecoin = 1 Dogecoin. It’s done a pretty good job at holding that value, lol
Despite what any website might say, all of the hype and “value” of crypto always comes back to dollars. If you take that away, I don’t see how anyone will want to stick around short of super hardcore techies.
1) A store of value.
2) A transfer of value.
3) A creation of value.
Bitcoin provides a store of value by still letting you buy a pizza with your Bitcoin both now and in the future. It’s price has always been highly volatile but after every 4 year cycle, it has been worth more in every major world currency.
Stellar Lumens, Algorand, Dogecoin, and to a lesser extent Bitcoin, & Ethereum provide a transfer of value by letting you send money across the globe.
Ethereum is the poster child for a creation of value by allowing people to permanently deploy smart contracts to the Ethereum mining network. These contracts include ERC20 stablecoins like MakerDao’s Dai, USDC, lending platforms like AAVE and Compound, DeFi exchanges like Uniswap, Yield aggregators like Yearn.finance and Curve.fi, and DeFi coin converters like 1inch. Back in 2017, the only compelling Ethereum platform (or DAPP) was CryptoKitties which were the precursor to today’s NFTs. I think NFTs are in a bubble but nowadays there is a much more compelling and diverse lineup.