The Rise of Bitcoin and Other Stupid Meme Currencies: The Daily Show

Cryptocurrency. Is this some fake (bleep)
some (bleep) nerds made up on the Internet to steal our money
or is it the future of finance?
There is no way all these people buying cryptocurrency
have any idea what the hell they're investing in.
And it's not just Bitcoin.
Ethereum, the number two cryptocurrency,
has risen 5,000% since the start of this year.
Why?
If you imagine Bitcoin as being a gold coin,
uh, Ethereum is a coin that has a magic spell in it.
What the hell does that mean?
I spoke with one of the founders of Ethereum,
Joe Lubin, to find out.
First question, what is it?
What is it?
Ether, the cryptocurrency that lives
on the decentralized Ethereum platform,
it's actually a much more programmable cryptocurrency
-than Bitcoin. -That doesn't mean anything.
What is it?
We created a platform for decentralized applications.
-Um... -Does everyone in cryptocurrency talk like you?
-Pretty much. Yes. -Is it just everyone just going,
"Decentralized... dark web... and drugs online"?
-Exactly. -Does cryptocurrency make you feel angry
and confused? Well, it should.
To make it easier to understand,
we ripped off The Big Short and asked Margot Robbie
to explain it in a bubble bath,
but she said no.
Cryptocurrencies are transparent and decentralized.
When two strangers exchange money over the Internet,
it requires a middleman, like PayPal or a bank,
who takes a percentage of the transaction.
And that transaction is vulnerable for hacking.
Cryptocurrencies are recorded
in a public ledger called the blockchain.
So it's impossible to cheat.
They actually solve a lot of problems with exchanging money
in a global digital world.
Now get the (bleep) out of here! I'm trying to take a bath.
But, still, is that worth a bajillion dollars?
Why do so many suckers on the Internet--
sorry, I mean people-- believe fake money has value?
Ether's real. It's based on faith
in the Ethereum blockchain.
When you get enough people believing in cryptocurrency,
then you can snowball into, uh, something
that a society actually deems valuable,
like the U.S. dollar.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean, the U.S. dollar?
The U.S. dollar is based on faith in the system.
So the only thing backing this money
is belief in the competency of the U.S. government.
-Unfortunately, that's true. -Damn!
CHIENG: So not only is cryptocurrency fake,
all money is fake.
Wake up, Wall Street!
You know money isn't real, right?
All this stuff is all fake.
But Wall Street doesn't care if money is real,
as long as they're making lots of it.
They've been pumping millions into the Bitcoin and Ethereum,
driving the creation of thousands
of new cryptocurrencies.
But how low is the bar for entry?
But let me get this straight.
You took Bitcoin, and you just changed the font to Comic Sans?
And we put a dog on it.
CHIENG: This was the guy to talk to.
So, tell me about the genesis of Doggy Coin.
Well, firstly, it's DogeCoin.
(laughs) But, uh, I created...
Well, why is it "Doge"?
It's actually based on a meme.
Well, it's not "Dog-E-Coin"?
-A lot of people... -E coin? Electronic coin. Dog-E-Coin.
Oh, that's pretty smart, actually.
CHIENG: It's not. But guess what?
This stupid meme currency is worth almost $400 million.
So why does its creator have
some problems with cryptocurrency?
When you see price charts go up and to the right
exponentially, ultimately, it can be a sign of a bubble.
Yeah, bubbles are great. What are you talking about?
-I love bubbles. -People are gonna lose a bunch of money.
CHIENG: And sure, cryptocurrency might destroy the planet
through climate change
and supporting rogue nuclear states, but
this is America!
So I decided to make my own cryptocurrency.
But that has to be an incredibly complex...
Done. That was easy.
I did it. It literally takes ten minutes
to go on a Web site and make your own coin.
Trying to make it rain Chieng Coin and kickstart
the financial revolution.
Do you accept, uh, Chieng Coin?
Chieng Coin's like Bitcoin.
It's disrupting global financial systems...
-Uh... -...using Blockchain technology?
No?
I'll send you money over the Internet.
I'm going to demonstrate. So,
-imagine if I send you this, right? -Mm-hmm.
No, no, but digitally.
-(man mutters) -No, no. Give...
No, give me back my five.
How are people not getting this?
No, I was... I'm paying you. I'm paying you in Chieng Coin.
Get the (bleep) out of my cab! Out of my cab!
-My cab! My cab! -Remember this moment!
Remember this moment when you had a chance
to jump on Chieng Coin, and you didn't, all right?
His loss.
Invest in Chieng Coin!
Just don't ask me how it works.
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The Rise of Bitcoin and Other Stupid Meme Currencies: The Daily Show

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