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Salon
Salon
Politics
Lucian K. Truscott IV

Why did we need cryptocurrency?

Let me ask you something: Let's say you have a lot of money, or even just a moderate, middle-class amount of money, and you're looking for someplace to keep it. I mean, you don't just leave money sitting around on the kitchen counter or on a side table next to you on the couch so you can reach over and fondle it as you watch the ads for stuff you don't need, like a Peloton bike, because you already took the one you bought a couple of years ago and put it in a friend's garage sale and managed to get 20 bucks for it, so now you have yet another 20 bucks to add to the money you were already looking for a place to keep.

You could put all your money, including the Peloton $20, in a bank. Of course, if you walk in with a wad of cash and ask for a deposit slip and make a big deposit, that might garner you some perhaps unwanted attention, but hey! A bank is a bank and that's what they're supposed to do, right? Take your money and keep it for you so you don't have to worry about somebody coming into your house while you're sleeping and take it from you.

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