The word "mint" really takes the meaning out of the word "mine". True though, minting is part of the economics included in mining.
Usually governments mint coins, but no government (or centralized entity) currently operates a legitimate network that matches up with the same properties as bitcoin.
Came here to mention this! Recently I spent some time evaluating snips, doing some research and looking at documentation without actually starting anything.
Decided to dive in, only to realize they blocked new console sign-ups, having been acquired by Sonos. Waste of time, I blame Sonos.
In the context of nascent tech like this, most people just don't know the right questions to ask, unfortunately.
Perhaps in the near future we will be treated to a layman's explanation of the prevalent (and corrupt) usage of federated blockchains, 'exposed' in a Netflix doc. :)
This. Op has either been very, very lucky in his tenure -- or, he has never had to build a site with compatibility requirements targeting >= IE9, Blackberry's browser, or Safari iOS (which is basically mobile IE).
I purchased a laptop on Newegg last year using Bitcoin. Expedia takes Bitcoin as a payment method. Both of these are practical (and in some cases regular) expenditures.
#2 is way off. By definition crypto is decentralized. Currencies that currently have the highest market caps (read: most popular) also tend to be open source -- anyone can contribute, and anyone can run a node and perform PoW/PoS contributions.
There are exceptions (XRP), but for the most part your comment reflects a misunderstanding of "crypto-space".