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Let's imagine a scenario where you're not able to withdraw from a bank due to insolvency. If you're in the US your deposits (principal + interest) are insured u

by cliffy 8y ago

Let's imagine a scenario where you're not able to withdraw from a bank due to insolvency. If you're in the US your deposits (principal + interest) are insured up to $250,000 by the federal government. [0] If the federal government is insolvent your cryptocurrency will be useless because you won't have reliable Internet access and thus you won't have access to the resources needed to make or verify transactions on your block-chain of choice. If anything, people will revert to cash or tangible assets if the federal government fails. No way crypto or technology in general is going to fill that gap. Now tell me, what institution is going to make a holder of cryptocurrency 'whole' again if something goes wrong with their wallet or the block-chain itself? [0] https://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/faq.html https://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/faq.html

viach 8y ago
> If you're in the US This is a quite rare use case, talking worldwide scale. > If the federal government is insolvent your cryptocurrency will be useless because you won't have reliable Internet access There is an option you missed - when a bank is insolvent and the government doesn't care. > people will revert to cash or tangible assets if the federal government fails Why not get abroad and spend there dark ages, caching out your X-coins? > what institution is going to make a holder of cryptocurrency 'whole' again if something goes wrong with their wallet or the block-chain itself? Valid point. But sometimes these risks are smaller comparing to unavoidable perspective of being robbed by government which is trying to escape default.
- FabHK 8y ago
  > This is a quite rare use case, talking worldwide scale. It's not rare: "as of 31 January 2014, 113 countries have instituted some form of explicit deposit insurance up from 12 in 1974." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance
stale2002 8y ago
You are talking about societial collapse using the future tense, as if this is some hypothetical situation. It is not a hypothetical situation. It is happening right now in Venezuela. All you have to do is look how Venezuelans are using Bitcoin right NOW to understand it's value.
- viach 8y ago
  I'm talking about this situation using my own experience , not hypothetical at all. It is obvious my English sucks, oh well ...
- NathanCH 8y ago
  Venezuela is not using Bitcoin on any large scale. And if the people were, they would have lost 30% of their money in the last month. I don't think this is a good argument.
  - stale2002 8y ago
    Losing 30% of their money I'm the last month is an AMAZING deal for venzuelens. The Venezuelan dollar would have lost much more in value during that time period. Volatility doesn't matter when your nation's currency is way way worse. A mere 30% loss in a single month is an amazing deal, compared to what they have to deal with.
bitcoinisqueen 8y ago
>Now tell me, what institution is going to make a holder of cryptocurrency 'whole' again if something goes wrong with their wallet or the block-chain itself? There will be crypto lending banks and multi-sig custodial services to fill that use case. The code and math is open source and has been available for a decade. Unbelievable how HN has tech dinosaurs that can't be bothered to check all the open source implementations available for the particular problem/use csse they are seeking to solve. That is so 2009.

by cliffy 8y ago

viach 8y ago

> If you're in the US This is a quite rare use case, talking worldwide scale. > If the federal government is insolvent your cryptocurrency will be useless because you won't have reliable Internet access There is an option you missed - when a bank is insolvent and the government doesn't care. > people will revert to cash or tangible assets if the federal government fails Why not get abroad and spend there dark ages, caching out your X-coins? > what institution is going to make a holder of cryptocurrency 'whole' again if something goes wrong with their wallet or the block-chain itself? Valid point. But sometimes these risks are smaller comparing to unavoidable perspective of being robbed by government which is trying to escape default.

FabHK 8y ago
> This is a quite rare use case, talking worldwide scale. It's not rare: "as of 31 January 2014, 113 countries have instituted some form of explicit deposit insurance up from 12 in 1974." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposit_insurance

stale2002 8y ago

You are talking about societial collapse using the future tense, as if this is some hypothetical situation. It is not a hypothetical situation. It is happening right now in Venezuela. All you have to do is look how Venezuelans are using Bitcoin right NOW to understand it's value.

viach 8y ago
I'm talking about this situation using my own experience , not hypothetical at all. It is obvious my English sucks, oh well ...
NathanCH 8y ago
Venezuela is not using Bitcoin on any large scale. And if the people were, they would have lost 30% of their money in the last month. I don't think this is a good argument.
- stale2002 8y ago
  Losing 30% of their money I'm the last month is an AMAZING deal for venzuelens. The Venezuelan dollar would have lost much more in value during that time period. Volatility doesn't matter when your nation's currency is way way worse. A mere 30% loss in a single month is an amazing deal, compared to what they have to deal with.

bitcoinisqueen 8y ago

>Now tell me, what institution is going to make a holder of cryptocurrency 'whole' again if something goes wrong with their wallet or the block-chain itself? There will be crypto lending banks and multi-sig custodial services to fill that use case. The code and math is open source and has been available for a decade. Unbelievable how HN has tech dinosaurs that can't be bothered to check all the open source implementations available for the particular problem/use csse they are seeking to solve. That is so 2009.