Hi guys! I've been thinking about the word 'crypto' recently, wondering about our interest in cryptocurrencies and whether part of the excitement is that there is a kind of secretive mystique to the idea of a currency that relatively few people know about and which can be used for anonymous transactions. On the one hand the root word crypto ( word-forming element meaning "secret" or "hidden," used in forming English words since at least 1760, from Latinized form of Greek kryptos "hidden, concealed, secret," verbal adjective from kryptein "to hide," from PIE root *krau- "to conceal, hide.”
recalls the romance of the old days, of pirate coins, of ciphers, of mysterious encoded messages, of puzzles and lockboxes with multiple keys and other mechanisms set in place to protect the treasure within. On the other hand, and I believe this can be equally true, the block-chain technology itself is immutable, and therefore all transactions will be recorded forever, enabling contracts and other transactions to be more open and straightforward. No one can hide the money trail as they can with fiat money laundering. Is this a contradiction in terms?
What about the desire of some of us that cryptocurrencies go mainstream and bring about a revolution in the financial world, decentralizing it, and making it accessible to all? Is it ironic that something "hidden" and "secret" will potentially become the universal system through which the world transacts business?
I don't know. I'm just asking the question.
There is a slight bit of irony in wanting cryptocurrencies to become mainstream, based on the literal translation of the word.
I like to romanticize it, in a sense, but not akin to something in the past. I romanticize it in a sci-fi kind of way. :)
Silver is my pirate treasure. :D
As it should be! Makes sense what you said.
nice info
Ah the perspective of a linguist is certainly expansive to the monkey mind chitter chatter.. crypto currency, currently changing our mainstream money monopoly! :)
Haha. linguist minds are the most chattering of monkey minds!