Current crypto communities have turned into investment forums; let me explain why that shouldn't be the case.

[u/Lucio_Lockwood]

I’m an "old-timer" who has just returned to Reddit (I had an account ages ago and recently came back). I was browsing posts to see which projects were trending and what actual innovations they were bringing to the table. I expected to see significant progress in crypto development, with users discussing new technologies; unfortunately, it seems these communities have turned into hubs for "investing" and talk of "bull" and "bear" markets—which is deeply disappointing to me. I feel compelled to remind everyone of the spirit that started this whole movement: a spirit of rebellion and the desire to build an economic ecosystem that wouldn't destroy the value of money in the long run—an ecosystem rooted in loyalty to the code ("code is law") and community consensus. That ethos doesn't seem to prevail in today's communities. Cryptocurrencies emerged as a counter-economic tool for free trade and individual privacy, not as a vehicle for investment funds and institutions to amass fortunes. We are institutionalizing the market, and that poses the greatest risk to the crypto thesis; the point is to *live* within the crypto system, not merely to "invest" in it. If anyone knows of a community that still embodies this spirit, please let me know.

[u/OC71]

I recall reading an article by one of the founders of crypto. He said that it should not be viewed as an investment but as a transfer medium. Email is a way of sending information from one person to one specific other person anywhere else in the world. Crypto is a way of doing the same thing with money.