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You seem to have completely missed the point that there have been severe currency exchange controls in Venezuela for over a decade. These Venezuelans aren't tra

You seem to have completely missed the point that there have been severe currency exchange controls in Venezuela for over a decade. These Venezuelans aren't trading Bolivars outside the country; they are exporting BTC mined with a mismanaged electrical grid to get food, toiletries, etc. imported into the country. Yes, you can buy things with BTC. https://reason.com/2016/11/28/the-secret-dangerous-world-of/ https://reason.com/2016/11/28/the-secret-dangerous-world-of/ > that's a symptom of a piss-poor government. No amount of magic beans will change that, Did it solve their government problem? No. But it resulted in a little more food in the country then there would otherwise be by allowing citizens to subvert their government's financial controls. BTC provides a base level quality of money, that basically acts as an insurance system against the worst governments. Does it have a huge use case in a country with a healthy and functional financial system? No. But if things go to shit in a country, people can still use Bitcoin and safely transfer value online instead of reverting to trading gold coins in person. I know you want all things BTC to be bad. But try to keep it intellectual, not emotional. What about the technology -- do you think it's fascinating that a relatively simple and elegant protocol of incentives and cryptography can result in a self sustaining financial system still running a decade after its release?

arcticbull 6y ago
Of course it can address the needs of a few by stealing power and avoid the government nationalizing a few rigs. That's utterly useless for the general population. > But if things go to shit in a country, people can still use Bitcoin and safely transfer value online instead of reverting to trading gold coins in person. For a small handful of people. That doesn't address the problem on a broad scale. The bar isn't "can Bitcoin address the needs of a small handful of people in Venezuela." Of course it can. > What about the technology -- do you think it's fascinating that a relatively simple and elegant protocol of incentives and cryptography can result in a self sustaining financial system still running a decade after its release? I think it's fascinating a single transaction expends 700kWh (enough to drive a Model S from SF to New York) and produces 87 grams of e-waste -- and yet somehow costs less than $0.50, which is due to the socialization of costs in the form of block rewards, aka inflation. Each BTC transaction actually costs about $70. I think it's fascinating a system brought in to free us from the tyranny of a single entity's ability to freely print currency has had it's pricing entirely subsumed by an entity with the ability to freely print a currency who's symbol is just one character off. Just because something's simple doesn't make it good.
- mtrower 6y ago
  > I think it's fascinating a single transaction expends 700kWh (enough to drive a Model S from SF to New York) and produces 87 grams of e-waste -- and yet somehow costs less than $0.50, which is due to the socialization of costs in the form of block rewards, aka inflation. Each BTC transaction actually costs about $70. A transaction expends 700kWh of energy? Source?

arcticbull 6y ago

Of course it can address the needs of a few by stealing power and avoid the government nationalizing a few rigs. That's utterly useless for the general population. > But if things go to shit in a country, people can still use Bitcoin and safely transfer value online instead of reverting to trading gold coins in person. For a small handful of people. That doesn't address the problem on a broad scale. The bar isn't "can Bitcoin address the needs of a small handful of people in Venezuela." Of course it can. > What about the technology -- do you think it's fascinating that a relatively simple and elegant protocol of incentives and cryptography can result in a self sustaining financial system still running a decade after its release? I think it's fascinating a single transaction expends 700kWh (enough to drive a Model S from SF to New York) and produces 87 grams of e-waste -- and yet somehow costs less than $0.50, which is due to the socialization of costs in the form of block rewards, aka inflation. Each BTC transaction actually costs about $70. I think it's fascinating a system brought in to free us from the tyranny of a single entity's ability to freely print currency has had it's pricing entirely subsumed by an entity with the ability to freely print a currency who's symbol is just one character off. Just because something's simple doesn't make it good.

mtrower 6y ago
> I think it's fascinating a single transaction expends 700kWh (enough to drive a Model S from SF to New York) and produces 87 grams of e-waste -- and yet somehow costs less than $0.50, which is due to the socialization of costs in the form of block rewards, aka inflation. Each BTC transaction actually costs about $70. A transaction expends 700kWh of energy? Source?