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Topic: "Cryptocurrency" - A failure of language usage. (Read 231 times)

legendary
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Language evolves. To even use crypto could be construed as a wrong use of terminology since crypto just refers to cryptography (which well, almost every system online uses some form of it, even database use cryptography).

Not a failure but an evolution of language. Now less people say cryptocurrency anyway and just say digital assets. Tokens. Coins.
sr. member
Activity: 1162
Merit: 253
Whether you use an altcoin (or bitcoin) for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency". I don't know who began this terrible start of the use "currency" after "crypto", but, in my opinion, it shouldn't be formulated like that since none of them are currencies.

A currency is a system of money in general use in a particular country. For example fiat. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. This is how the state works.

Naming them "coins" isn't false, they can be considered as "coins" (Hence "altcoins"). In ancient times, people used to exchange goods with gold coins and there were times when they passed over their national currency with those coins. And that's because they were broadly accepted by anyone, since they were made out of gold.

I just wanted to state that I find it falsely to use the term "currency" over something that can be used by anyone in the world and it is definitely not determined or even acceptable by a nation.


I think that this should be a correct sub-board for this thread.
I invest 50% in Bitcoin and 50% more in dialtcoin because I don't want to store assets in one coin, regarding bitcoin it is called currency or not in my opinion, that's the perception of each because now there are payment companies through bitcoin
legendary
Activity: 3668
Merit: 6382
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Whether you use an altcoin (or bitcoin) for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency". I don't know who began this terrible start of the use "currency" after "crypto", but, in my opinion, it shouldn't be formulated like that since none of them are currencies.

A currency is a system of money in general use in a particular country. For example fiat. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. This is how the state works.

For the sake of discussion, I'll ignore the fact that you are many years too late and this naming won't change.
I'll come to the fact that your... assumptions... are wrong.

Merriam-Webster doesn't really take country/government in discussion when it defines currency. Even more, it tells that in the past even furs were used as currency.

1
a : circulation as a medium of exchange
b : general use, acceptance, or prevalence
     // a story gaining currency
c : the quality or state of being current : currentness
     // needed to check the accuracy and currency of the information
2
a : something (such as coins, treasury notes, and banknotes) that is in circulation as a medium of exchange
b : paper money in circulation
c : a common article for bartering
     // Furs were once used as currency.
d : a medium of verbal or intellectual expression …
     // neither side possessed any currency but clichés …— Jan Struther
full member
Activity: 994
Merit: 105
I understand what you mean, but I also have an understanding of Cryptocurrency which means an asset that can be used in all fiat currencies. I know Crypto as the digital form of Foreign Exchange. But I wonder if in the future there will be a Fiat currency that is digital but has a stable price? Because basically fiat currencies are regulated by the country .. This is just my opinion, if there is an error please correct it ...
hero member
Activity: 3164
Merit: 937
You can call it whatever you want-cryptocurrency,crypto asset,crypto coins,etc...
We have been calling Bitcoin/altcoins "cryptocurrencies" for the last 10 years.Do you think that you will change this,just because you want to?Does it even matter,if it's right or wrong?
The crypto industry has way bigger problems than this one.Mass adoption,handling multiple transactions without the fees going thru the roof,dealing with crypto scams,etc...
I don't like the term "cryptocurrency" because it's too long,but "crypto coins" doesn't seem accurate to me as well.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
Whether you use an altcoin (or bitcoin) for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency".
If you use a fork to scratch your back, that doesn't mean a fork is no longer a kitchen utensil.

altcoins (including Bitcoin)
Your terminology is all over the place!
Altcoins or more precisely alternative cryptocurrencies are cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. They don't "include" bitcoin.

Quote
Saying that Bitcoin is a currency means that, hypothetically, it could replace a national currency if the nation said so.
No it does not mean that.
Saying bitcoin is a currency means you can use bitcoin as a medium of exchange
legendary
Activity: 2044
Merit: 1018
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Bitcoin and altcoins are currencies. You can call them as digital currencies or crypto currencies but I would prefer to call them as cryptocurrencies. Digital is not enough to describe them technically.

They are currencies from the usages as means for exchanges, peer to peer, on centralized exchanges or decentralized exchanges.

Nevertheless, I consider one different usage for bitcoin: storage. Bitcoin is a mean store your asset as same as physical gold bars. Some people will consider some top altcoins have same usage but I don't agree with them. Altcoins are more volatile and vulnerable in price, regulations as they are basically centralized altcoins.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 4801
I don't think "currency" means what you seem to think it means.

A "national currency" is just one type of currency.  Something doesn't need to be under the control of a government to be a currency.  A currency is any money that is in common use.
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 7064
I just wanted to state that I find it falsely to use the term "currency" over something that can be used by anyone in the world and it is definitely not determined or even acceptable by a nation.

I think that Satoshi Nakamoto was one of the first people who said that Bitcoin is P2P cryptocurrency back in 2010,
soon after that Liberty Reserve Exchange and everyone else started to use the same term and I don't see anything wrong with words we are all using.

You can buy Tesla vehicle with Bitcoin and you can buy other things using crypto, but you can also hold it as a store of value especially when fees are high like they are now.


Announcing version 0.3 of Bitcoin, the P2P cryptocurrency!  Bitcoin is a digital currency using cryptography and a distributed network to replace the need for a trusted central server.  Escape the arbitrary inflation risk of centrally managed currencies!  Bitcoin's total circulation is limited to 21 million coins.  The coins are gradually released to the network's nodes based on the CPU power they contribute, so you can get a share of them by contributing your idle CPU time.
sr. member
Activity: 2268
Merit: 275
one that stands out and differentiates between the two between digital currency and cryptocurrency. for example in terms of transparency, which is where digital currency is, we cannot see all evidence of transactions between digital currencies, while cryptocurrency itself has a transparent nature where anyone can see proof of transactions that have been made can be recorded on the blockchain.

but in essence Cryptocurrency can also be said to be a Digital Currency, but not all Digital Currency is a Cryptocurrency (creation and basis of learning algorithms).
then from several other characteristics of Digital Currency that are not crypto-based.

so that there is no wrong analogy between Digital Currency and Cryptocurrency.


legendary
Activity: 2436
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legendary
Activity: 3024
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A lot of altcoins are striving to have non-monetary usage, like being a smart-contract platform, hosting files, managing domain names and so on - I think such projects shouldn't call themselves "currency", because you don't want your money to be mixed with some experimental use-cases and features - money should be focused on security, transaction speeds, retention of value.
legendary
Activity: 2898
Merit: 1823
Whether you use an altcoin (or bitcoin) for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency". I don't know who began this terrible start of the use "currency" after "crypto", but, in my opinion, it shouldn't be formulated like that since none of them are currencies.

A currency is a system of money in general use in a particular country. For example fiat. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. This is how the state works.


By who’s narrative? The State? The Central Bankers? Cowrie shells were used as currency 3,000 years ago. Why not the units of a permissionless, censorship-resistant ledger?

Quote

Naming them "coins" isn't false, they can be considered as "coins" (Hence "altcoins"). In ancient times, people used to exchange goods with gold coins and there were times when they passed over their national currency with those coins. And that's because they were broadly accepted by anyone, since they were made out of gold.


Technically the Goldcoins were used as currency, like the cowrie shells thousands of years before Gold.
legendary
Activity: 3248
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I disagree with the statement that 'currency' is inappropriate for cryptos. You're saying that a currency is "a system of money in general use in a particular country", but what about the word 'currency' signifies that it's necessarily used in a particular country? If fiat is associated with countries, it doesn't mean that everything that falls into the category of 'currency' should also be this way. Moreover, this isn't even the case for all fiat because under your definition EUR isn't a currency either because it's in general use in multiple countries rather than one and isn't issued by the authority of one particular country.
Moving back to cryptos and currencies, for instance, Investopedia defines currency as
Quote
a medium of exchange for goods and services.
And in this case, Bitcoin falls perfectly into the realm of currencies.
legendary
Activity: 3542
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You clearly do not know what a "Currency" or a "Reserve currency" is...

The "Reserve Currency" is issued by the government and it is centralized and controlled by the government. They mint the coins and print the money and they determine the amount that are printed.

A currency is a medium of exchange and it can be anything that are widely accepted as a payment option. I think Bitcoin is slowly but surely going in that direction, because a lot of services and products can be bought with it. (Online & Retail stores)

Most of the governments does not want to define it as a currency, because they do not want any competition for their local reserve currency. They define it as a "Commodity"  Roll Eyes
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 7340
Farewell, Leo
You are probably trying falsely to push the agenda that tells you Bitcoin is not to be used for transaction and with this post try to make a case that other cryptocurrencies aren't exactly currencies either.
No, I don't. I'm just following the definition of currency. Don't get me wrong, I didn't say that altcoins (including Bitcoin) aren't money or mediums of exchange. I said that they're not currencies. They don't represent a nation and a nation can't control them to handle the economy. Some of them don't even accept them. I just believe that the word "cryptocurrency" is being formulated falsely and since they gain more and more reputation every day, we should be aware of the sensitivity of the chosen words.

A currency is not the same with a medium of exchange. A gold coin isn't a currency, but it's a medium of exchange. I guess, same thing happens with cryptos. Saying that Bitcoin is a currency means that, hypothetically, it could replace a national currency if the nation said so. But it can't. Despite the fees and any other of its functionalities:  It can't be controlled by the nation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's because the term "crypto currency" existed really early on, even when bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency project running.
I don't know, it may existed before Bitcoin. What does it matter? No, I'm not referring to Ethereum, this discussion could be exclusively for Bitcoin. It's usually referred as a "cryptocurrency".


To avoid any (other) hating and meaningless replies: I AM A BITCOIN ENTHUSIAST TOO!
legendary
Activity: 2282
Merit: 1023
I just wanted to state that I find it falsely to use the term "currency" over something that can be used by anyone in the world and it is definitely not determined or even acceptable by a nation.
Even if you take the meaning of currency from google it is a medium that can be exchanged for goods and services and you think that the term currency is a false claim  Roll Eyes. Cryptocurrency is included in the new sub section of virtual currencies and you do not need a nation to be called them a currency, it is called evolution with changing times Tongue.
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legendary
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's because the term "crypto currency" existed really early on, even when bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency project running. And when stuff like Ethereum and other projects arose, they were pretty much just all put into one category despite a lot of other projects not actually being created as a 'currency'.
member
Activity: 342
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It is not false at all. I don't know where you want to drag this conversation and what you have been told but a currency is the method you use for your purchases and payments. It represents value and is transferable, thus any cryptocurrency is named correctly as such. A currency is also a store of value because it represents a certain amount of value at a selected time. You are probably trying falsely to push the agenda that tells you Bitcoin is not to be used for transaction and with this post try to make a case that other cryptocurrencies aren't exactly currencies either.

Bitcoin is still being used as a currency but in very limited way. In the future with the yearly increasing average fees it probably won't, as if fees reach thousands of dollars, then it won't be used to buy not even a Tesla. But I see that you try in vain to make a case that other cryptocurrencies don't exist and they are named falsely like that. Nobody said that cryptocurerrencies are national currencies. You need to evaluate a lot when talking about this scale.
member
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We have to understand that Bitcoin or the concept behind it is surely evolving. I am sure that in the past, Bitcoin was more of a medium of transferring money and not so much as money in itself or a currency (though there are some who are arguing the difference between money and currency). Now, with that famous Pizza story, it has become obvious that the day of Bitcoin as a currency started. In the simplest understanding, what can be utilized as a medium of exchange can be considered as a currency. It is therefore easy to conclude why a growing number of people are viewing Bitcoin and the growing number of alts as currency without anybody recognizing its legal standing for that matter like what is reserved for any state. We have to understand that there are many technical understanding in the past that had already undergone transformation or mutation depending on developments affecting it. Hence, the meaning of "farming" today here in the cryptocurrency marketplace is so different from its original meaning...this is just an example of what I mean. Right now, Sushi or Pancake is already not something you can eat.
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1622
Whether you use an altcoin for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency". I don't know who began this terrible start of the use "currency" after "crypto", but, in my opinion, it shouldn't be formulated like that since none of them are currencies.

A currency is a system of money in general use in a particular country. For example fiat. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. This is how the state works.

Naming them "coins" isn't false, they can be considered as "coins" (Hence "altcoins"). In ancient times, people used to exchange goods with gold coins and there were times when they passed over their national currency with those coins. And that's because they were broadly accepted by anyone, since they were made out of gold.

I just wanted to state that I find it falsely to use the term "currency" over something that can be used by anyone in the world and it is definitely not determined or even acceptable by a nation.


I think that this should be a correct sub-board for this thread.

Put exact, technical and mathematical mind into crypto market and he start to create fascinating things. He will become rich. He will start to change word.

Put humanistic mind into crypto market and he will waste time on nomenclature. Who cares man Smiley

"A currency[a] in the most specific sense is money in any form when in use or circulation as a medium of exchange,"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency

You can use bitcoin as well as majority of altcoins as medium of exchange so ... they are currencies. They are not currencies if you monopolize this word such as governments did. We are here to be able to use a medium of exchange that is not inflated and restricted by single entity. For us, crypto believers/enthusiasts, bitcoin is more a currency than fiats are.

legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 7340
Farewell, Leo
Whether you use an altcoin (or bitcoin) for a long or short-term investment, or because it satisfies you as a medium of exchange, it'd be misleading to call it a "currency". I don't know who began this terrible start of the use "currency" after "crypto", but, in my opinion, it shouldn't be formulated like that since none of them are currencies.

A currency is a system of money in general use in a particular country. For example fiat. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. This is how the state works.

Naming them "coins" isn't false, they can be considered as "coins" (Hence "altcoins"). In ancient times, people used to exchange goods with gold coins and there were times when they passed over their national currency with those coins. And that's because they were broadly accepted by anyone, since they were made out of gold.

I just wanted to state that I find it falsely to use the term "currency" over something that can be used by anyone in the world and it is definitely not determined or even acceptable by a nation.


I think that this should be a correct sub-board for this thread.
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