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The Best Cryptocurrency for International Money Transfer

4 points by smalter 8y ago

elliekelly 8y ago
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in general have many valuable applications and I fear articles like this, advocating its use as a means circumvent U.S. sanctions, will only serve impede the adoption of the technology broadly. I'm an avid traveler and was once stranded in Cuba (before Obama eased travel restrictions) with only $5 USD left, no way of accessing my bank account, additional funds, or even to contact my family in the United States to let them know why I wouldn't be meeting them at the airport when my plane landed. All I could do was wait at the teeny tiny airport, starving, and hope I could talk my way onto the next flight to Miami. I know as well as anyone that there are often good reasons for wanting to usurp these types of sanctions and that the sanctions often have collateral damage to innocent individuals who are simply going about their daily lives. But I do think it's important to consider that when you promote a technology's ability to bypass the intentions of lawmakers and regulators you are also making the case for them to do everything in their power to keep that technology from wider use. This is particularly dangerous because lawmakers have both significant power to impede technology and often a very poor understanding of how it works. I would caution you to keep in mind that this article, and others like it, can cause just as much collateral to progress and innocent people as the sanctions it seeks to circumvent.
- zhu_mink 8y ago
  I hear you and I agree with what you're saying to a certain extent. For cryptocurrency to take off, though, it needs real use-cases. This is as real as it gets.
  - elliekelly 8y ago
    I can think of 1,000 "real use-cases" for cryptocurrency that are far more valuable than sending money to a country facing sanctions in violation of U.S. law. I can probably think of more than 1,000. If you want cryptocurrency to "take off" I can assure you that using it to commit a crime will result in the opposite.

4 points by smalter 8y ago

Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in general have many valuable applications and I fear articles like this, advocating its use as a means circumvent U.S. sanctions, will only serve impede the adoption of the technology broadly. I'm an avid traveler and was once stranded in Cuba (before Obama eased travel restrictions) with only $5 USD left, no way of accessing my bank account, additional funds, or even to contact my family in the United States to let them know why I wouldn't be meeting them at the airport when my plane landed. All I could do was wait at the teeny tiny airport, starving, and hope I could talk my way onto the next flight to Miami. I know as well as anyone that there are often good reasons for wanting to usurp these types of sanctions and that the sanctions often have collateral damage to innocent individuals who are simply going about their daily lives. But I do think it's important to consider that when you promote a technology's ability to bypass the intentions of lawmakers and regulators you are also making the case for them to do everything in their power to keep that technology from wider use. This is particularly dangerous because lawmakers have both significant power to impede technology and often a very poor understanding of how it works. I would caution you to keep in mind that this article, and others like it, can cause just as much collateral to progress and innocent people as the sanctions it seeks to circumvent.

zhu_mink 8y ago
I hear you and I agree with what you're saying to a certain extent. For cryptocurrency to take off, though, it needs real use-cases. This is as real as it gets.
- elliekelly 8y ago
  I can think of 1,000 "real use-cases" for cryptocurrency that are far more valuable than sending money to a country facing sanctions in violation of U.S. law. I can probably think of more than 1,000. If you want cryptocurrency to "take off" I can assure you that using it to commit a crime will result in the opposite.