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This could be a catastrophe. Since BTC is still too unstable to use as an everyday currency, citizens will likely use BTC only as a payment rail and convert to

This could be a catastrophe. Since BTC is still too unstable to use as an everyday currency, citizens will likely use BTC only as a payment rail and convert to USD. The government will end up net long BTC. Any BTC whale in the world could dump BTC and destroy an entire countries economy. They are trading being beholden to the US for being beholden to anonymous BTC whales. Some fucking VCs just took over an entire country. My heart goes out to Salvadorans, i really hope im wrong and this works out well.

chris123 5y ago
Pioneers are often mocked like this, I salute El Salvador ♥
- zaptheimpaler 5y ago
  I don't mean to mock anyone, this scares the hell out of me. I just want to call out what I see here in the hope that some of you might reconsider the implications of what is happening. Everything branded as "new and shiny" or pioneering technology is not automatically better.
krageon 5y ago
> Any BTC whale in the world could dump BTC and destroy an entire countries economy This is true for every single currency ever and so doesn't make sense to invoke strictly for this one. Even your original claim (that it can't be used as an everyday currency) is already demonstrably untrue as there are plenty of goods that can be bought using purely bitcoin.
- zaptheimpaler 5y ago
  > This is true for every single currency ever and so doesn't make sense to invoke strictly for this one It does, actually because the large holders of fiat currencies are governments. Their holdings are public. El Salvador can atleast identify, talk to and negotiate with them. They are at least somewhat transparent and accountable to their own citizens. The large holders of BTC are completely unknown. You morons are empowering a global mafia. We don't know who they are, they have zero accountability to anyone but themselves. Please wake the fuck up, this is not about number go up, you are fucking with global politics without even knowing it, happily complicit because it makes you money. In a decade, holding crypto will be a black stain on your soul like holding shares in the East India Company or giving money to dictators.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >The large holders of BTC are completely unknown. You morons are empowering a global mafia. Are you suggesting that "the large holders of BTC" are part of a criminal organization? > We don't know who they are, they have zero accountability to anyone but themselves. Less accountability, less control. Bitcoin holders are just that, holders. They don't control the network or the monetary policy. The fed on the other hand can print money as it pleases.
    - zaptheimpaler 5y ago
      > Are you suggesting that "the large holders of BTC" are part of a criminal organization? No, i’m saying whoever they are, they have unchecked power. Which, historically leads to evil. Which is why we created democracy in the first place. Most bitcoin holders have little power, but bitcoin miners absolutely do control the network. 30% of the capacity of bitcoin went down when there was a power outage in China. It only takes a few large holders to control the network. Bitcoin mining is extremely energy and capital intensive. Whoever holds the electricity & equipment holds the power. It is only transferring power from democratic governments to whatever shadowy figures happen to be able to generate the most electricity. Its not going to be you or me, it will be an informal, shifting, unaccountable cartel of whatever countries happen to ally and form a >50% control of mining capacity. This fantasy story about decentralized power is false. Many terrible regimes begin with promises of utopia.
      - gruez 5y ago
        >but bitcoin miners absolutely do control the network. Again, what type of control? They can determine what gets confirmed and possibly revert transactions (at great expense, given enough confirmations), but they can't affect monetary policy.
        zaptheimpaler 5y ago
        That's already a lot of control no? They can block any transaction. They can create and confirm fraudulent transactions. In a world where BTC is on par with any other currency, where people are paid and save in BTC, what would it look like if they decide to rob someone and the network has to fork? In economic terms, it would be identical to previous cases of the currency being destroyed. For example, when El Salvador originally dollarized and people lost half their purchasing power overnight.

chris123 5y ago

Pioneers are often mocked like this, I salute El Salvador ♥

zaptheimpaler 5y ago
I don't mean to mock anyone, this scares the hell out of me. I just want to call out what I see here in the hope that some of you might reconsider the implications of what is happening. Everything branded as "new and shiny" or pioneering technology is not automatically better.

krageon 5y ago

> Any BTC whale in the world could dump BTC and destroy an entire countries economy This is true for every single currency ever and so doesn't make sense to invoke strictly for this one. Even your original claim (that it can't be used as an everyday currency) is already demonstrably untrue as there are plenty of goods that can be bought using purely bitcoin.

zaptheimpaler 5y ago
> This is true for every single currency ever and so doesn't make sense to invoke strictly for this one It does, actually because the large holders of fiat currencies are governments. Their holdings are public. El Salvador can atleast identify, talk to and negotiate with them. They are at least somewhat transparent and accountable to their own citizens. The large holders of BTC are completely unknown. You morons are empowering a global mafia. We don't know who they are, they have zero accountability to anyone but themselves. Please wake the fuck up, this is not about number go up, you are fucking with global politics without even knowing it, happily complicit because it makes you money. In a decade, holding crypto will be a black stain on your soul like holding shares in the East India Company or giving money to dictators.
- gruez 5y ago
  >The large holders of BTC are completely unknown. You morons are empowering a global mafia. Are you suggesting that "the large holders of BTC" are part of a criminal organization? > We don't know who they are, they have zero accountability to anyone but themselves. Less accountability, less control. Bitcoin holders are just that, holders. They don't control the network or the monetary policy. The fed on the other hand can print money as it pleases.
  - zaptheimpaler 5y ago
    > Are you suggesting that "the large holders of BTC" are part of a criminal organization? No, i’m saying whoever they are, they have unchecked power. Which, historically leads to evil. Which is why we created democracy in the first place. Most bitcoin holders have little power, but bitcoin miners absolutely do control the network. 30% of the capacity of bitcoin went down when there was a power outage in China. It only takes a few large holders to control the network. Bitcoin mining is extremely energy and capital intensive. Whoever holds the electricity & equipment holds the power. It is only transferring power from democratic governments to whatever shadowy figures happen to be able to generate the most electricity. Its not going to be you or me, it will be an informal, shifting, unaccountable cartel of whatever countries happen to ally and form a >50% control of mining capacity. This fantasy story about decentralized power is false. Many terrible regimes begin with promises of utopia.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >but bitcoin miners absolutely do control the network. Again, what type of control? They can determine what gets confirmed and possibly revert transactions (at great expense, given enough confirmations), but they can't affect monetary policy.
      - zaptheimpaler 5y ago
        That's already a lot of control no? They can block any transaction. They can create and confirm fraudulent transactions. In a world where BTC is on par with any other currency, where people are paid and save in BTC, what would it look like if they decide to rob someone and the network has to fork? In economic terms, it would be identical to previous cases of the currency being destroyed. For example, when El Salvador originally dollarized and people lost half their purchasing power overnight.