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My understanding is that Strike is already reasonably popular in El Salvador, because it's much better than taking a bus 2 hours to the Western Union, paying 10

by mastax 5y ago

My understanding is that Strike is already reasonably popular in El Salvador, because it's much better than taking a bus 2 hours to the Western Union, paying 10% to them, then paying 10% to the gang that hangs outside. Could a more "conventional" system do the same job? Probably, but I won't begrudge people a working solution.

HWR_14 5y ago
Yes, it's far more efficient now. Now the gang will just take 10% of your entire savings (because it's all on your phone) every time they see you. Or 30% if they don't like you that one day. Because if it's one thing I try to do in a situation with lots of street crime, it's carry the maximum amount of my net worth on my person in the least recoverable form in case I get robbed.
- eloff 5y ago
  In Latin America people kidnap you and take you around to ATMs at gunpoint until you've reached the withdrawal limit. This seems so much more dangerous with bitcoin wallets.
  - reedjosh 5y ago
    There are wallets that will show a fake lower balance in distress mode. Further, why walk around with all of your BTC available to you? If you really have enough to worry about gangs stealing it, put it in cold storage or on an exchange, but don't carry access to it around in your pocket the same way you wouldn't carry cash around in your pocket.
    - HWR_14 5y ago
      A fake UI screen? Wow, that's useful. Good thing there isn't an easily verifiable public ledger with the true value of the account that the criminals can check while holding you at gunpoint. Meanwhile, you expect people to have cold storage where? IIRC, they cannot just memorize a private key, but they need an actual file on a device.
      - reedjosh 5y ago
        No, they can actually just memorize a seed phrase. The distress mode shows an entirely different wallet ID. So, you're wrong on both counts. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase > However, the bitcoin key generated is not the main key. It is effectively a completely separate wallet! https://coldcardwallet.com/?ref=producthunt https://coldcardwallet.com/?ref=producthunt

by mastax 5y ago

HWR_14 5y ago

Yes, it's far more efficient now. Now the gang will just take 10% of your entire savings (because it's all on your phone) every time they see you. Or 30% if they don't like you that one day. Because if it's one thing I try to do in a situation with lots of street crime, it's carry the maximum amount of my net worth on my person in the least recoverable form in case I get robbed.

eloff 5y ago
In Latin America people kidnap you and take you around to ATMs at gunpoint until you've reached the withdrawal limit. This seems so much more dangerous with bitcoin wallets.
- reedjosh 5y ago
  There are wallets that will show a fake lower balance in distress mode. Further, why walk around with all of your BTC available to you? If you really have enough to worry about gangs stealing it, put it in cold storage or on an exchange, but don't carry access to it around in your pocket the same way you wouldn't carry cash around in your pocket.
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    A fake UI screen? Wow, that's useful. Good thing there isn't an easily verifiable public ledger with the true value of the account that the criminals can check while holding you at gunpoint. Meanwhile, you expect people to have cold storage where? IIRC, they cannot just memorize a private key, but they need an actual file on a device.
    - reedjosh 5y ago
      No, they can actually just memorize a seed phrase. The distress mode shows an entirely different wallet ID. So, you're wrong on both counts. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Seed_phrase > However, the bitcoin key generated is not the main key. It is effectively a completely separate wallet! https://coldcardwallet.com/?ref=producthunt https://coldcardwallet.com/?ref=producthunt