<story><title>Bitcoin.org removes “fast” and “low fees” from Bitcoin description page</title><url>https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/pull/2010/files</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>codegeek</author><text>I am still struggling to understand the whole crypto currency thing. I just don&amp;#x27;t get it. Clearly, it has become a tool for speculation and quick money for most people. Everyone is trying to get on the crypto bandwagon but to speculate. What is the point ? I thought it was supposed to decentralize currency and make it easy to &amp;quot;transact&amp;quot; with low fees and less redtape. Also I could be really dumb but isn&amp;#x27;t centralized wallets&amp;#x2F;exchanges like coinbase defeating the entire purpose of crypto currency ? Weren&amp;#x27;t we supposed to manage it peer to peer so that anyone could get paid anytime without worrying about borders and boundaries ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bobcostas55</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s the best possible view of crypto:&lt;p&gt;When the internet first got going, everything worked with protocols. Protocols are open, decentralized, interopable. Think email. Anyone can send an email as long as they follow the protocol.&lt;p&gt;Then people figured out that you can&amp;#x27;t make any money from protocols. Instead we got platforms: closed, centralized, and most importantly monetizable. Think facebook.&lt;p&gt;Cryptocurrencies are a way to combine open protocols with making money. Instead of building a cloud-storage business, you build a cloud-storage protocol and make money on the coin that is used within that protocol. ICOs are how you fund development of these protocols.&lt;p&gt;Now, in reality, a huge number of coins are borderline useless or outright scams, and the current valuations are absurd. But long-term I think it&amp;#x27;s a very valuable technology.</text></comment>
<story><title>Bitcoin.org removes “fast” and “low fees” from Bitcoin description page</title><url>https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/pull/2010/files</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>codegeek</author><text>I am still struggling to understand the whole crypto currency thing. I just don&amp;#x27;t get it. Clearly, it has become a tool for speculation and quick money for most people. Everyone is trying to get on the crypto bandwagon but to speculate. What is the point ? I thought it was supposed to decentralize currency and make it easy to &amp;quot;transact&amp;quot; with low fees and less redtape. Also I could be really dumb but isn&amp;#x27;t centralized wallets&amp;#x2F;exchanges like coinbase defeating the entire purpose of crypto currency ? Weren&amp;#x27;t we supposed to manage it peer to peer so that anyone could get paid anytime without worrying about borders and boundaries ?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>theseatoms</author><text>The long-term value will be in the ability to send censorship-proof funds anywhere there&amp;#x27;s an internet connection. The Lightning Network (yet to be deployed in production) is supposedly going to reduce transaction fees and confirmation times.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;but isn&amp;#x27;t centralized wallets&amp;#x2F;exchanges like coinbase defeating the entire purpose of crypto currency&lt;p&gt;This is true. This is my biggest problem with the current ecosystem. If history is any guide, they&amp;#x27;ll eventually suffer from some sort of scandal and&amp;#x2F;or run that drives customers to a superior competitor. This only kicks the can, I realize, and is far from the original vision. But at least each centralized service learns from the costly mistakes of previous ones.</text></comment>