This was my position until very recently as well but I’ve recently been convinced otherwise.
The trust stuff is actually the least interesting part (though perhaps a prerequisite for it).
The interesting part is the potential for a “universal” api. Instead of having to integrate with every financial institution to support the myriad payment methods out there you can support the crypto currency. That’s a big deal.
It’s not what the crypto libertarians are pitching and I still believe that governmental currency controls will always be a thing but standardizing the actual mechanics of money movement would be huge.
>>The interesting part is the potential for a “universal” api.
This is true both at the application level and the software standards level. An example of the first would be Uniswap. Any one in the world can access this exchange, both for listing tokens, and for trading them, and it is guaranteed to never shut down, as long as the Ethereum network and blockchain exists. This is absolute universality in terms of APIs.
In terms of software standards, the EVM is already used by multiple blockchains, which makes them all share the same address format out of the box, and compatible with software like MetaMask that has tens of millions of installations. I could send Ethereum tokens to your Polygon (an EVM based chain) address, and you would be able to use your Polygon Chain private key to access them. All that you would be required to do is go to MetaMask and switch your network from Polygon to Ethereum mainnet, and the tokens would be appear in your wallet interface.
>>It’s not what the crypto libertarians are pitching and I still believe that governmental currency controls
Government currency controls cannot be a thing any more. Monetary transactions dependent solely on cryptographic authentication, and published to a completely decentralized and immutable platform, totally unmoors money from the types of bottlenecks that state actors could use to control its flows. To control currency requires controlling the flow of information now, and with the universal adoption of the internet, that is not happening.
The trust stuff is actually the least interesting part (though perhaps a prerequisite for it).
The interesting part is the potential for a “universal” api. Instead of having to integrate with every financial institution to support the myriad payment methods out there you can support the crypto currency. That’s a big deal.
It’s not what the crypto libertarians are pitching and I still believe that governmental currency controls will always be a thing but standardizing the actual mechanics of money movement would be huge.