This is true. I have been using computers for many years, before DOS was even created, and long before Microsoft and Apple became public companies. In these decades I have lost a lot of data when hardware or software failed. A lot of people do not have trust in data security for this reason. Most casual users of computers and the internet are not diligent at backing up their data, as I have not been in the past, and realize their poor practices leave them vulnerable to losing their data, which in the case of cryptocurrency is also their valuable treasure. Cryptocurrencies are just data.
Unfortunately, there are very few alternative means of transacting in cryptocurrencies other than the internet. Paper wallets are incapable of maintaining a blockchain. Without the internet over which to communicate transactions, cryptocurrencies are completely impractical, and thus have no value. Along with catastrophes like solar flares and EMPs, the censorship of our communications on the internet is a threat to the value of crypto. The owners and operators of the platforms, services, and infrastructure comprising the internet are extremely experienced at censorship. Because cryptocurrencies are specific kinds of data, they are able to be censored with facility, and this is why I don't depend on cryptocurrencies as money. Neither do I depend on banks, because I do not trust them either. I don't trust fiat, for many reasons, but at least I can hold cash in hand and disburse it at will in person, which I can depend on, unlike banks or the internet.
While cryptocurrencies are not strongly censored today (depending on jurisdiction. I hear Honduras has just banned them entirely), there are increasing examples of them being censored, such as Binance recently delisting Monero. One of the limits to Hive increasing in value is the lack of exchanges listing it. However, even DAO's or other decentralized exchange mechanisms that cannot be ordered by corrupt governments to delist cryptos, such as Rune, are able to be prevented from enabling transactions with cryptocurrencies by being prevented from communicating on the internet. They can just be excluded from using it by censorship, using AI to recognize specific text strings the same way they do posts bad mouthing Anthony Fauci on Twatter.
We don't own the internet. We have to accept the limitations on our use of it imposed on us by the owners, or they can just exclude us. Any cryptocurrency can be excluded from the internet completely by the agreement of all of the owners of that infrastructure. The order of the US government to Binance to delist Monero was a limited act of censorship, and Monero continues to retain value and transactions continue to be possible on the internet via other means, but there is no guarantee that will continue.
This delisting should be a warning to everyone that values their cryptocurrency holdings. We should recognize the threat of censorship to our treasure. I have long advocated that cryptocurrency owners should invest in an independent internet infrastructure we ourselves own, so that our treasure cannot be devalued by being censored. The internet is wholly owned by the legacy financial markets the people that own cryptocurrency consider our enemies. I believe we are being baited by our use of the internet being facilitated while the value of our crypto holdings increases. The more valuable crypto is, the more powerful the extortion value it has over us when we are threatened with it's loss. Many people accepted jabs when their jobs were threatened, for example. If people holding BTC are told that they must accept CBDC or lose the value of their BTC completely, almost everyone will take the CBDC, and BTC can be excluded from the internet with increasing facility using AI. Mike Benz describes in detail how mass censorship has been conducted, and BTC is no more secure or resilient than ISIS.
However, no one seems to care what I think, and I see no evidence anyone is working towards that goal. Blockstream leases a satellite network for that exact purpose, but they do not own those satellites, and the owners can just quit taking their money, or demand any restrictions they want. Blockstream isn't any more secure from USG censorship than Pornhub. Probably less so.
Thanks!
Thank you so so much for your very informative replies. I learnt a lot. Wow! The extent of your knowledge and overall sense of "wokeness" is truly impressive. I advocate those in oppressive countries to build good relationships with their neighbors and practice bartering. If they have limited spaces in their garden, just grow one type of vegetable in each household. When ten households get together, they'll have 10 different types of vegetables to put on the dining tables.
I don't fully trust crypto or fiat either, that is why bartering, physical silver, and physical gold will come in handy. Of course, people with sought after skill sets won't starve or freeze to death either. They can exchange for example, clothes making skill with carpentering skills or plumbing skills.
Hahaha... The Pornhub joke was really funny! 🤣 Keep this to yourself, there were times when I felt that I was being monitored online for data collection purposes, so I visited strings of porn sites to irritate those busybodies.
And more, when danger comes, neighbors can depend each on the other to defend their common wealth.
LOL Salting the data they mine is the only rational strategy IMHO.
🤣🤣🤣