this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
95 points (97.0% liked)
Technology
59669 readers
3115 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Every single time anyone mentions crypto always some idiot comes out of the woodwork and starts to have an argument about the definition of fiat.
So let's just say this right now and then move on shall we, If it's currency it's fiat, therefore crypto is also fiat
Fiat is government-issued currency with no underlying commodity and no upper limit. Crypto has no government backing and its issuance is determined by each cryptocurrency system (maintained by miner consensus). Some crypto has upper limits and others do not. I think having no supply limit is the distinction you're trying to define as fiat.
It just means that it is a representation of some other wealth. Gold isn't fiat because gold itself is the thing that has value, currency is fiat because it is a representation of value not in and of itself valuable.
All currency is by definition fiat because all currency is a representation of value. And the crypto Bros keep telling us that bitcoin and similar are currency so they are therefore fiat.
Value of anything only exists in the minds of humans. No value is inherent to anything. You're absolutely correct that gold isn't fiat. But gold could absolutely be used as currency. Its in circulation and used as a medium of exchange. You're also right that crypto is a currency. But its not a fiat currency. Crypto and fiat are both mediums of exchange not backed by a commodity. The key distinction is that fiat also relies on trust from the issuing institution.