Lots of ignorance and misinformation here. It's expected, because you'll find lots of that everywhere. I can't blame you guys, as the tech and what it represents is still new and it's only natural and healthy to be skeptical of it, I was (and in some ways still am) as well.
I'm not going to explain what crypto is here, there is lots of info out there if you're interested. I just want to address some things that are being touched on in this thread.
- You don't need to be in any group, or be affiliated with anything or anyone to buy or sell cryptocoins. You can buy Bitcoin with almost any currency and once bought it is yours forever (until you sell of course). Owning Bitcoin (or other coins, but let's focus on Bitcoin for now) is like being your own bank. As long as you have the coins in your wallet, you own the coins, no one else. Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin cannot be hacked. Of course, your Bitcoin can be stolen, like anything else. But what makes owning Bitcoin so attractive to many people is that it's immutable, borderless, trustless and unconfiscatable as long as you keep your private key to yourself. In this regard it's superior to traditional currencies. If you have money on a bank account, that money, in a literal sense, is not owned by you, but by your bank. Owning Bitcoin does not require trust as it is not owned by anyone but you. On the other hand, money in your bank account can be confiscated by any authority. Even in an extreme case like a solar flare frying half of the earth's electrics, it is likely your bank account will be wiped completely to be never recovered again because your money is stored on centralized servers. You will still be able to access your Bitcoin as long as there are a few miners still securing Bitcoin's network.
- I hear people say Bitcoin is a pyramid scam and totally worthless because it only exists digitally and is basically 'nothing'. It astounds me people think this way. First of all Bitcoin is scarce by design, it cannot be printed like traditional currencies can. And gamers especially should be able to realize being virtual says nothing about providing value. It's like saying a game world does not exist and is just pixels on a screen, therefore useless. Traditional currencies are just tokens created as a means of trade and entirely based on trust. Look at how fast a currency can collapse when an economy hits the shitter. It's a false sense of security to think traditional currencies are "real" as opposed to cryptocurrencies being "fake" or a scam.
- Arguments against Bitcoin have been used for as long as it exists: over 12 years now. In the meantime, Bitcoin is only being valued higher and higher each year. Think to yourself why. Is it truly a pyramid scheme and totally worthless just because it's virtual? Or does it perhaps provide a valuable alternative to our ever in value decreasing traditional currencies which have many faulty properties and are in control of a select few people who decide what happens with it?
