From Wikipedia:

"Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain."

Reminding the public of this serves to keep them aware of the importance of cryptography in many things other than "things that evil people do and seek to hide from law enforcement" whenever a new initiative is proposed to backdoor your crypto.

Yeah. I always assumed that crypto-currency was short for "cryptographic currency" and cryptography is a fundamental aspect of it. Not really sure what the fuss is about.

Perhaps this stems largely from other uses of the "crypto-" prefix used in entirely other fields, but its use in this instance seems pretty reasonable in my view.

I wasn't really able to satisfactorily vote in the poll since my view is that "crypto-" in crypto-currency does stand for cryptography so my answer would be "Yes", but also "No". I think that the poll question is poorly framed.

my answer would be "Yes", but also "No"

Another small-but-significant reveal as we hurtle towards a Unified Theory of Everything: “Crypto” was actually the name of Schrödinger’s cat

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Schrödinger’s actual cat while he was at Oxford was named Milton ... The cat in the thought experiment had no name, as it was unimportant to the outcome.

Crypto means hidden' or 'secret': https://www.dictionary.com/browse/crypto

However, it has become used to mean something akin to 'pseudo', as in the form of 'crypto-currency', where a 'real' currency can be embodied in paper notes or metal coins.

The 'crypto' part of electronic currencies like bitcoin comes in the security features of the blockchain, which is a form of digital cryptography.

So I'm not sure why Mr Schneier is objecting so strongly to the language evolving. Maybe he's just getting old, like me :o(

not sure I should use secured...

encoded?

traceable?

recorded authority? - but then its just CRAP-currency

"So I'm not sure why Mr Schneier is objecting so strongly to"

Inappropriate and downright lazy overloading of terminology.

"Maybe he's just getting old, like me :o("

Well, yes. We all are. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about. Beer?

here's an idea: write it out.

To me, truncating words and abbreviating them is just snobbish. For the most part, when I see someone saying "crypto", regardless of the intended meaning, it translates basically to, "I think I'm cool", except, I think you look like a goof.

I'm not talking about just the non-word "crypto", here, either. Our industry LOVES spewing letters around and hoping the listener/reader "gets it" (or maybe, just thinks we are cool). Yet, we can communicate a lot clearer if we just spell (or say) it out rather than shortening it. It also respects those that come from other fields -- our three letter acronyms conflict with other three letter acronyms. JUST SAY IT OUT. I spent a lot of time decades ago trying to figure out what Automatic Teller Machines or Adobe Type Manager had to do with networking (and much more recently trying NOT to think of Automatic Teller Machines when someone said "ATM", realized, no, really, for the first time in my career, "ATM" means "Automatic Teller Machines".)

Ok, there are some things that this doesn't help -- saying "Modulator/Demodulator" over "MODEM" or "Random Access Memory" over "RAM". I get that. But I don't think there's a reason for this "dispute". Take the high road.

We could call it "block chain" currency. Same number of syllables as "crypto" and more descriptive. And it leaves the crypto- prefix free so as not to assume anything when used alone. "Crypto- what ?"

How about calling it what it is?

Shirley a simple "Digital Currency" more than covers it?

"Shirley a simple 'Digital Currency' more than covers it?"

No, it doesn't. Any of our currencies are digital currencies, as are tokens stored in one company's database like the virtual currencies used in videogames. Cryptocurrency or blockchain currency, I think either works, is quite distinct because it is decentralized by use of a blockchain and secure by use of public key cryptography (hence why it can use crypto in its name in my opinion). I think from the suggestions that blockchain currency is probably a better name for it, but digital currency is insufficient.

I hear what you are saying, but the vast majority of people, even those who understand the conversation, would not consider the Dollar or Pound to be digital. Bitcoin, on the other hand, most definitely is in the minds of those very same people.

And it avoids overloading the word Crypto, while properly using the word Digital.

They might not think of them as digital, but they are. If we decide on a name because some people don't understand one thing, and by doing so we're inaccurate about the thing we've renamed, we're doing two things wrong. Hence why it isn't a proper use of digital.

The things called cryptocurrencies really do have distinct features from all currencies issued by central banks and from purely digital currencies that didn't have the same goals in mind. It is not unreasonable to use a different term to limit discussion to that type of currency. If we used "digital currency", we would constantly have to add qualifiers to our statements to ensure we weren't talking about someone's SQL database with account numbers and amounts in it. As such, "cryptocurrency" is easier to say and understand than "digital currency, specifically a decentralized one using a distributed blockchain and cryptographic access mechanisms" so nobody will use it. If we dislike "cryptocurrency" as a term, it's a good idea for our replacement to have similar exactness and simplicity as the term we want to replace.

NickHolland: "truncating words and abbreviating them is just snobbish"

Then goes on to use: I'm; doesn't; and don't.

Take the high road indeed.

Plus some communication media are character-limited, so there's a need to convey a lot in a little...

IF

Indeed:

https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-culture/ancient-spartan-retorts/

See number 6.

That would be compression, not cryptography.

Related, yes, but not quite the same. Not even if you squint.

The difference between MODEM and ATM is that:

- MODEM has never been assumed to mean anything except a device for turning characters into a unique sequence of transmitted tones and for performing the reverse operation on a sequence of received tones,

- ATM was coined as an abbreviation of Automatic Teller Machine, and later hijacked by some Adobe flack without the wit to think up his own unique name or mnemonic for a new piece of software.

Note that ATMs used to only dispense cash. It took several years before they gained the ability to ingest it as well, and IIRC they only got called ATMs when they got bright enough to deal with cards carrying the legitimate owner's account information encoded on a magnetic stripe.

There was a previous hole-in-the-wall machine called, IIRC, a 'cash dispenser', which gave out a tenner if you fed it a small plastic punch card. Problem was, the card was swallowed by the cash dispenser and you only got one card. This meant you couldn't get any more dosh until the card had been posted back to you, so about one withdrawal per week or maybe two if you were lucky and the Post Office wasn't on strike.

Err, you missed out the ATM that NickHolland was thinking of:

Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a telecommunications protocol used in networking

There are other possibilities, and wikipedia has a much more comprehensive list than I could come up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM

"MODEM has never been assumed to mean anything except a device for turning characters into a unique sequence of transmitted tones and for performing the reverse operation on a sequence of received tones,"

Wrong. "MODEM!" is also US-Southern shorthand for "May I please have another portion of biscuits[0] and sausage gravy?", often accompanied by appropriate gesticulation toward same.

We won't discus French Politics, this is off-topic enough as it is ...

[0] The savory quick-bread variation of biscuit, of course. Recommended.

Co-opting terms for something else isn't exactly a new occurence now, is it?

We all know that "hacking" originally meant adjusting whatever tech you have to make it do what YOU want it to do instead of what was the original idea, and "cracking" was the malicious variant thereof. Evidently that was already too complicated for the average journalist :(.

Exactly.

On the bright side, such misuse makes for handy filters when trying to sort out who actually knows what they are talking about, and who is parroting things they've heard somewhere.

I'm with Bruce on this one.

I came to say this, but see you already said it better. Have a beer!

Cracking can also be applied to folks who reverse engineer software/hardware. No malicious intent.

Uhm, what about the the use of the prefix in 'crypto-Christian', which goes back to at least the late 19th century? And then in other formulations crypto-Communisit, crypto-Conservative... practising in hiding or underground.

Or the crypto-Judaic societies in Portugal?

I'd mention Cryptozoology ... but there be dragons.

Soon Crypto-Nazis

Who is this "Infosec" ?

jake$ whois infosec

No whois server is known for this kind of object.

jake$

Like a lot of people, I view words first from relevant personal experience, then expand to other meanings. So, having gout, my 'crypto' means walking strangely.

Good luck on that.

After a certain Angelina Jolie movie came out, only criminals got referred to as "hackers"... despite years of precedence in the community.

Compared to the general public, the community in any segment of IT is tiny . As a result, the public use of the word ends up winning despite the protests of the community.

Looking at the poll results it is amazing how many register readers hold degrees in advanced linguistics.

According to the results 28 of you lot do….. or according to the survey that is 17% of the readership….

To understand the fuzz about the crypto meaning.

Lobbyists tried so hard, for years, to teach and talk with dumb politicians what crypto really meant - cryptography.

With cryptocurrency, it got all mixed up.

Now they can't talk to politicians.