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The US with its strong world currency has no use for bitcoin, in fact it is an enemy of the dollar-based economy. For the rest of the world , the bitcoin econom

The US with its strong world currency has no use for bitcoin, in fact it is an enemy of the dollar-based economy. For the rest of the world , the bitcoin economy may become a weapon to dethrone the dollar, and with it a large part of the US influence. Not sure if FOMO, but central government abuses seem to have found yet another competitor.

jqpabc123 6y ago
For the rest of the world , the bitcoin economy may become a weapon to dethrone the dollar Hundreds of thousands of transactions in US dollars occur all around the world every second of every day. Bitcoin can't even handle the currency transaction needs of a large shopping mall. The bitcoin blockchain is limited to about 7 transactions a second. A cryptocurrency of some sort may eventually become a threat to the US dollar but bitcoin is clearly not it.
- cblconfederate 6y ago
  each of those transactions can be $billions. the important bit is that it overrides checks/sanctions etc
  - jqpabc123 6y ago
    The important bit is that bitcoin is not technically capable of being a threat to the US dollar or any other major currency. As currency for use in real world transactions, bitcoin is a huge step backwards.
- alwillis 6y ago
  Bitcoin can't even handle the currency transaction needs of a large shopping mall. The bitcoin blockchain is limited to about 7 transactions a second. That's the main chain only; Lightning Network and side chains have no such limitations. There are over 36,000 lightning channels that can clear bitcoin transactions without using the main blockchain. In a shopping mall scenario, most people would already have open channels with their favorite stores, similar to how store credit cards work today. A cryptocurrency of some sort may eventually become a threat to the US dollar but bitcoin is clearly not it. If it's going to happen, bitcoin will most certainly be it. The dollar is starting to lose its place as the world's reserve currency; Russia, China, Iran and other countries are cutting side deals to use currencies other than the dollar when they can [1]. Sure, smart people will continue to buy their morning coffee with dollars but they won't be saving for a rainy day in dollars. The Fed has already printed trillions and trillions of dollars, with no end in sight; it's just a matter of time before we have either negative interest rates or noticeable inflation or both. Regardless, it's losing its buying power daily. That's why a company like MicroStrategy borrowed $550 million at 0.75% to buy more bitcoin—and that's after a $425 million purchase a couple of months ago. Mass Mutual—an insurance company—just bought $100 million in bitcoin [2]. These and other companies wouldn't have done this if they were confident that the dollar would retain its value. It looks like the beginning of a speculative attack, which was predicted 6.5 years ago [3]. [1] https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ [2] https://www.kevinrooke.com/post/microstrategys-bitcoin-debt-bet https://www.kevinrooke.com/post/microstrategys-bitcoin-debt-... [3] https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/ https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/
  - alwillis 6y ago
    BTW, the Speculative Attack article is available as a podcast: https://pca.st/episode/ecb7a2bf-ad11-467f-b9a4-66f393073603 https://pca.st/episode/ecb7a2bf-ad11-467f-b9a4-66f393073603
  - jqpabc123 6y ago
    In a shopping mall scenario, most people would already have open channels with their favorite stores, similar to how store credit cards work today. I don't have any "store credit cards". Too cumbersome --- and so are "open channels".

jqpabc123 6y ago

For the rest of the world , the bitcoin economy may become a weapon to dethrone the dollar Hundreds of thousands of transactions in US dollars occur all around the world every second of every day. Bitcoin can't even handle the currency transaction needs of a large shopping mall. The bitcoin blockchain is limited to about 7 transactions a second. A cryptocurrency of some sort may eventually become a threat to the US dollar but bitcoin is clearly not it.

cblconfederate 6y ago
each of those transactions can be $billions. the important bit is that it overrides checks/sanctions etc
- jqpabc123 6y ago
  The important bit is that bitcoin is not technically capable of being a threat to the US dollar or any other major currency. As currency for use in real world transactions, bitcoin is a huge step backwards.
alwillis 6y ago
Bitcoin can't even handle the currency transaction needs of a large shopping mall. The bitcoin blockchain is limited to about 7 transactions a second. That's the main chain only; Lightning Network and side chains have no such limitations. There are over 36,000 lightning channels that can clear bitcoin transactions without using the main blockchain. In a shopping mall scenario, most people would already have open channels with their favorite stores, similar to how store credit cards work today. A cryptocurrency of some sort may eventually become a threat to the US dollar but bitcoin is clearly not it. If it's going to happen, bitcoin will most certainly be it. The dollar is starting to lose its place as the world's reserve currency; Russia, China, Iran and other countries are cutting side deals to use currencies other than the dollar when they can [1]. Sure, smart people will continue to buy their morning coffee with dollars but they won't be saving for a rainy day in dollars. The Fed has already printed trillions and trillions of dollars, with no end in sight; it's just a matter of time before we have either negative interest rates or noticeable inflation or both. Regardless, it's losing its buying power daily. That's why a company like MicroStrategy borrowed $550 million at 0.75% to buy more bitcoin—and that's after a $425 million purchase a couple of months ago. Mass Mutual—an insurance company—just bought $100 million in bitcoin [2]. These and other companies wouldn't have done this if they were confident that the dollar would retain its value. It looks like the beginning of a speculative attack, which was predicted 6.5 years ago [3]. [1] https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system/ [2] https://www.kevinrooke.com/post/microstrategys-bitcoin-debt-bet https://www.kevinrooke.com/post/microstrategys-bitcoin-debt-... [3] https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/ https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/
- alwillis 6y ago
  BTW, the Speculative Attack article is available as a podcast: https://pca.st/episode/ecb7a2bf-ad11-467f-b9a4-66f393073603 https://pca.st/episode/ecb7a2bf-ad11-467f-b9a4-66f393073603
- jqpabc123 6y ago
  In a shopping mall scenario, most people would already have open channels with their favorite stores, similar to how store credit cards work today. I don't have any "store credit cards". Too cumbersome --- and so are "open channels".