Technology

The more I think of it, the more I come to the conclusion that cryptobros looked at the banking system and broader financial sector, correctly figured out there are a bunch of serious problems with them, and then misidentified the underlying problem as technology used instead of greed.

They are basically focusing implementation details instead of figuring out how to fix the actual source of the problem.

Lots of interesting links there. But the pieces of your arguments are so diverse, there is no single coherent answer. In the technological field so diverse, you can always find bad things, if you are looking for them.

I'll just answer the first and the last point.

In other words, it’s designed to provide pay-off to those who jump-in early, as long as they convince more people to jump in, and assuming they get out early enough.

Here you really are describing a Ponzi scheme. By this logic, every currency (with the possible exceptions of gold and bitcoin) are ponzi schemes. Central banks print banknotes (or X tokens) which are worthless. They only have value because people start to believe they have value. And the central banks use this confidence trick to make money. They more tokens/banknotes they print, the more money they make.

Financial Times might actually have a reasonably good understanding what a Ponzi scheme is

This does not describe a Ponzi scheme. It describes a fiat currency. "Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors". He created an investment fund, not a currency. There is no way you could confuse those two things. And a pyramid scheme is also an unrelated thing. But you're just as capable of looking this up as I am.

Well, I don’t what we call a thing that manipulates them. Sure, it’s not called a “central bank”. But clearly cryptocurrencies can be manipulated:

on a blockchain level (example, another example, and [https://web3isgoinggreat.com/single/juno-accidentally-transfers-36-million-in-seized-funds-to-inaccessible-wallet-address](Juno is thinking of doing this a second time in a row))
on voting power level (here, for example);
on “we will block you from doing any business” level, blacklisted wallets are a thing.
and on monetary “create money out of thin air” level — Tether always claimed that it’s backed 1:1 with cash; well, it isn’t.

Yes there are risks when you invest money in cryptocurrency, just like there are risks in every investment. The market is also much more volatile than stocks, so I wouldnt recommend to put your life savings there. And to be honest, I have never seen anyone suggest that.

Well, as long as you pay the exorbitant transaction/gas fees (which are there because the supply of particular cryptocurrency is capped, and so some form of rewarding miners is needed, apparently), and if you can afford to wait sometimes days for the transaction to be confirmed.

Yes, Bitcoin isnt really usable as a currency (unless you are rich). Has been the case for many years. There are many other coins that can be used instead.

I mentioned Tether above, in that exact context. Consider the following:

Tether is not a real cryptocurrency, exactly because a single company has full control over the supply. Again, I wouldnt recommend you to invest your money in Tether.

Oh and by the way: Tether was in turn used to manipulate Bitcoin prices.

Of course crypto markets are manipulated, just like stock markets are manipulated. If you dont know that then you are really gullible.

So far you have not named a single problem that cryptocurrencies actually solve. You mentioned a bunch of features some claim they presumably have, but not a single actual solved problem. It’s like saying “cars are great, they have wheels, and you don’t need a bus, and they come in all sorts of colors, too!” in response to a question “what problem do cars solve?”

If it doesnt solve any problem for you, then you can simply ignore the topic. The rest of us will still discuss about it.