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Waaay early on when cryptocurrencies were regarded as being possible alternative currencies it may have made sense, but now as they appear to have become more like extremely questionable investment products/securities, I'm left confused why anyone still has donation links for them alongside alternatives that provide, y'know, usable money (e.g. Ko-fi/Liberapay/etc.).

Are the donation links I'm seeing just a web artifact like the occasional Google+ share icon on some sites, or is there something more at play?

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[-] jecxjo@midwest.social 40 points 1 year ago

They are being treated just like every other method to send someone money. They aren't using them as investment products, just transaction tools. I'm sure most are pulling the money out of the cryptocurrency as soon as they receive it.

[-] Lumidaub@feddit.de 26 points 1 year ago

I have absolutely no interest in owning cryptocurrency but if anybody wanted to donate some ETH or BTC or USDC or XKCD or MPH or whatever to me, I'd take it, sure (and then exchange for real world money, obviously). Why would you reject free money? Especially if you're a smaller project that doesn't get too many donations anyway.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Cryptocurrency now is closer to being a real money alternative than ever before. Many banks are considering creating their own central bank digital currency to rival some of the benefits cryptocurrencies offer.

Anyone who still has an address up keeps it because

  1. It costs nothing to own a crypto wallet/recieve funds
  2. Cryptocurrency has no borders so anyone can donate
  3. Crypto currently counts as an asset and often isnt taxed until cashed out into a fiat currency.
[-] amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago

Monero is much more private than any other donation method besides mailing someone cash.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Mail stil has to go to a physical address, it's also not trustless as the mailman could pocket the cash. Monero addresses aren't tied to a real world location, just whoever knows the key and there is no mailman to trust for delivery.

[-] ScaredDuck@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago

There's a project I'm using that has a lead dev from Russia, so for him that's the only way to receive money. Crypto has been overwhelmingly overtaken by grifters, but there are still uses that just made easier by a decentralized currency.

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

I've donated over 300$ in crypto, which is 300$ more than I would have without those links existing

[-] ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Was that because you otherwise couldn't have via $ like something to do with nationality, or you just happened to have it sitting around from being an early adopter...?

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

It's easy enough, private, and it has no fees

[-] db2@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

So because Wall Street says it can't be money that means it isn't?

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well yea. Money is a unit of denomination, a means to transact, and a store of value. Crypto is none of those three

[-] db2@lemmy.one 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It is if at least two people say it is. Rocks with holes in them were money once, but nobody today would agree it is so today it isn't. If at least two people agree that something is money then it is by definition regardless of what a Wall Street sociopath says.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Well yes... technically. But honestly the question of "is it a currency" is moot. The ACTUAL question, and where Crypto fails is "Is it WORTH anything as a currency?"

Two people can decide rocks with holes in them is still a currency all they want. And yes... technically that would be true. But a currency only accepted by two parties is by definition worthless.

Crypto is worthless as a currency. Not because of anything in Crypto technology itself, but because the only people who seemingly want it to be are tech bros.

Without MUCH wider support in the real world that doesn't revolve around computer code, replacing thousands of years of accepted practice that already works (imperfectly... but it works) Crypto will always be a niche for a small subset of people.

Saying that Crypto is a currency because some tech bros SAY it is, is TECHNICALLY true. But by that definition, MTG cards, beanie babies, and POGs all qualify too.

[-] db2@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah sure, I'll just go buy something with 0.00000001 of a beanie baby. ๐Ÿ™„

[-] otherbarry@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Since you don't want to use cryptocurrencies no one else should /s

I've donated plenty via crypto so haven't seen it as an issue, if the receiver is cool with it then why not? Also for me it's better than anything PayPal related, I've been banned on their platform so whenever I see any PayPal/Venmo links I just don't donate since it's impossible for me.

And of course if the receiver doesn't want crypto that's fine too, but hopefully they are accepting donations via some method I can donate with. The whole point is to be able to accept donations via some method both sender & receiver can work with.

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago

Your perception of the status of cryptocurrencies seems to be from within a bubble.

this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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