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More than a little disturbing. They talk about helping developing economies, but what you can bet this means is that they'll be screwing over those people some

More than a little disturbing. They talk about helping developing economies, but what you can bet this means is that they'll be screwing over those people some way or another. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#2007%E2%80%932008_Subprime_mortgage_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#2007%E2%80%93200... http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/ http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/ This is the end game of cryptocurrencies; not worldwide financial liberation but the same massive financial institutions further cementing their power. Kind of funny that they are looking at Bitcoin at a point where it's more valuable but is more poorly suited to be a currency than ever before. Says a lot.

keyle 9y ago
Wherever there is blood, there are sharks, vultures...
paulmd 9y ago
The problem in hyperinflationary situations isn't lack of access to hard currency, it is usually readily available on the black market. The problem is the lack of affordability of hard currency. How many US dollars do I get for this piece of hyperinflating funny money? Probably not many. Bitcoin is really no different from transacting in US dollars or any other hard currency, in fact it's arguably worse in pretty much every way. And you won't be able to get Bitcoins at affordable funny-money prices any more than you can get dollars. So when you hear things like "Zimbabwe should switch to Bitcoin", just mentally replace that advice with "Zimbabwe should switch to USD" and imagine how that would play out. Harsh austerity measures, deregulation, and privatization to get a few measly millions of World Bank loans that will be gone in no time. Any country that finds themselves in a position where they can't issue their own currency is going to have a real hard time of it. So just think "shock doctrine, but with Bitcoin".
- lazerpants 9y ago
  Umm... You do know that Zimbabwe has used the USD and South African Rand as its currencies since 2009, right? They abandoned the Zimbabwean dollar due to hyperinflation. All I've ever seen there is USD.

keyle 9y ago

Wherever there is blood, there are sharks, vultures...

paulmd 9y ago

The problem in hyperinflationary situations isn't lack of access to hard currency, it is usually readily available on the black market. The problem is the lack of affordability of hard currency. How many US dollars do I get for this piece of hyperinflating funny money? Probably not many. Bitcoin is really no different from transacting in US dollars or any other hard currency, in fact it's arguably worse in pretty much every way. And you won't be able to get Bitcoins at affordable funny-money prices any more than you can get dollars. So when you hear things like "Zimbabwe should switch to Bitcoin", just mentally replace that advice with "Zimbabwe should switch to USD" and imagine how that would play out. Harsh austerity measures, deregulation, and privatization to get a few measly millions of World Bank loans that will be gone in no time. Any country that finds themselves in a position where they can't issue their own currency is going to have a real hard time of it. So just think "shock doctrine, but with Bitcoin".

lazerpants 9y ago
Umm... You do know that Zimbabwe has used the USD and South African Rand as its currencies since 2009, right? They abandoned the Zimbabwean dollar due to hyperinflation. All I've ever seen there is USD.