Why Bitcoin Is a Scam

[LevelUP]

One Bitcoin transaction consumes more power than the average household in a month

Bitcoin as a whole consumes more electricity than the entire countries of the Phillippines, Pakistan, or Bangladesh.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for drug, kidnapping, identity theft, and child sex trafficking transactions.

Most people don't care about any negative aspects of crypto and just want to "invest" in it.

You see the price going up, you want in, I get it.  I have friends and family members buying crypto so I hate to be a negative nancy on crypto.

Anyway I'm not going to tell people to buy or not buy it.  Do whatever you want.

Your thoughts?  Have you made money on crypto?

[jsd]

I'm no longer invested, but as far back as 2012 (when you could buy coins for just a few bucks) I had some holdings and made a decent chunk of change. I didn't hold onto it long enough to be one of the initial Bitcoin millionaires or anything, but I'm certainly not complaining on how I ended up.

That being said, I long ago got out of it, and generally agree with your sentiment here.

[Kal Di]

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for drug, kidnapping, identity theft, and child sex trafficking transactions.

Most people don't care about any negative aspects of crypto and just want to "invest" in it.

Your thoughts?  Have you made money on crypto?

There are negative aspects when investing in anything. We hope that CEOs will run their business to turn a profit for their shareholders in an ethical manner, but there are many instances that CEOs don't do exactly that.

It's true that cryptocurrencies is being used for crime, but so is cash. The only difference is that one has a dead person's face on it and the other is an intangible currency.

I have made money from cryptocurrencies and it is one among several reasons why I support them. I don't know any other way for a person to earn 25-75% APY on their investment (versus the stock market that gives you 8% APY on average). With the rising inflation, many people are suffering from negative interest (the bank gives you 1-2% APY minus the 5-7% inflation).

[utility]

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are used for drug, kidnapping, identity theft, and child sex trafficking transactions.

You can make this same argument about cash.

[Pats20]

There’s no intrinsic value. Not tangible

[ss20ts]

As someone who lives a few miles from what was a closed coal burning power plant that has reopened into a crypto plant, I can see the massive negative environmental impact they have. The lake the power plant sits on has increased in a temperature a few degrees in just 1 year. There are hundreds and hundreds of dead fish lining the shore around the plant because of the temperature of the water they dump into the lake. Neither of these were problems when it was a coal plant. I'm not saying coal is great either, but it didn't increased the temperature of the lake or kill fish in large numbers. They're using gas for energy now in massive quantities. More than some of the surrounding towns. We are a rural agriculture area so this is very concerning. There is great concern about what this is going to do to our lake over years. And they're using all of this natural gas for no actual purpose. Nothing comes out of krypto currency.

[LevelUP]

You can make this same argument about cash.

You are correct, in theory, criminals can use cash.  However, large banking transactions over $10,000 are tracked.  Criminals find it difficult to store large amounts of money under their mattress, sort of speak, or move money internationally.  This is what makes cryptocurrency is so attractive to criminals. 

5 REASONS WHY CRIMINALS & TERRORISTS TURN TO CRYPTOCURRENCIES
https://www.cognyte.com/blog/5-reasons-w...urrencies/

[Alpha]

You can make this same argument about cash.

You are correct, in theory, criminals can use cash.  However, large banking transactions over $10,000 are tracked.  Criminals find it difficult to store large amounts of money under their mattress, sort of speak, or move money internationally.  This is what makes cryptocurrency is so attractive to criminals. 

5 REASONS WHY CRIMINALS & TERRORISTS TURN TO CRYPTOCURRENCIES
https://www.cognyte.com/blog/5-reasons-w...urrencies/

I have a generally cynical attitude about cryptocurrency and I don't mind saying that I'm not particularly interested in the topic but what LevelUp has said here seems common sense and almost certainly true.

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If you're at all interested in crime stories then you might like this story
Everything You Wanted To Know About That Couple Arrested For Stealing $4.5 Billion In Bitcoin - Digg

[utility]

Criminals deal with tons of cash. You're right though transportation of funds isn't an issue with crypto.

The other big thing is the only country that I really see backing it is El Salvador (they also have a vested interest in the value going up, since they hold a decent amount of BTC). Currencies are generally backed by a country (or multiple-countries).

I made over a hundred thousand dollars in a short period of time with BTC specifically; a few years back but I've never trusted it enough to hold it more than a very short term. Looking at the prices now of course I should have held out for longer.

[millaterns2]

I don't agree at all!