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And yet if I walk into a grocery store, I can buy milk with USD. Weird — it’s almost like there is something backing it, and it’s not just strictly gold/silver!

by ketzo 5y ago

matheusmoreira 5y ago
People can buy cryptocurrencies with USDT as well. They can even cash out dollars later. Weird, right? It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense. Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies. They require citizens to pay taxes in those currencies. They probably even require stores to accept those currencies.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  > It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense. Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges. > Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies. Absolutely. Not a single person in this thread has argued otherwise. What's your point? How does that somehow make something else more stable? If the government is the big bad wolf, what's stopping it from using that same force to blow USDT's house down? What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes? (And it will crash, eventually, just like every other market in history has, whether its due to Tether's negligence or external pressures)
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    > Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges. Not that different from traditional banks and other elements of the financial sector. > What's your point? My point is there is no fundamental difference between cryptocurrencies and legal tender. > What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes? When the traditional finance people screw up, the US government bails them out with taxpayer money. It should totally do the same for Tether.
    - jfrunyon 5y ago
      Sure, so long as you assume that the US government would bail out USDT (which is an insane assumption), it's not that different.
nostrademons 5y ago
So does that mean that if Amazon [1], Paypal [2], Square [2], and Visa [3] start accepting Bitcoin, it's now backed by the U.S. economy? [1] https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-and-develop-own-1847360405 https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-... [2] https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-paypal-and-square-embrace-digital-currencies-51607457036 https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-... [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card-usage-tops-1-billion-in-first-half-of-2021.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card...
- rchaud 5y ago
  No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange. The simplest example of this is loyalty programs that offer 'points' that can be redeemed for goods and services. Since the points are useless on their own, the vendor creates agreements with other businesses so that they accept the points. That's what gives the rewards program credibility. Real currency still changes hands in the background, but the customer only spends 'points'. Currencies, although unbacked by gold, are still credible because they are legal tender and widely accepted in ways that rewards points are not. Amazon and other private businesses can refuse to accept BTC whenever they want. Earlier this year, Tesla 'accepted BTC for payments', and then changed their mind a month later.
  - matheusmoreira 5y ago
    > No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange. Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really.
    - paulryanrogers 5y ago
      > Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really. Why?
      - 5y ago

And yet if I walk into a grocery store, I can buy milk with USD. Weird — it’s almost like there is something backing it, and it’s not just strictly gold/silver!

by ketzo 5y ago

And yet if I walk into a grocery store, I can buy milk with USD. Weird — it’s almost like there is something backing it, and it’s not just strictly gold/silver!

matheusmoreira 5y ago

People can buy cryptocurrencies with USDT as well. They can even cash out dollars later. Weird, right? It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense. Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies. They require citizens to pay taxes in those currencies. They probably even require stores to accept those currencies.

jfrunyon 5y ago
> It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense. Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges. > Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies. Absolutely. Not a single person in this thread has argued otherwise. What's your point? How does that somehow make something else more stable? If the government is the big bad wolf, what's stopping it from using that same force to blow USDT's house down? What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes? (And it will crash, eventually, just like every other market in history has, whether its due to Tether's negligence or external pressures)
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  > Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges. Not that different from traditional banks and other elements of the financial sector. > What's your point? My point is there is no fundamental difference between cryptocurrencies and legal tender. > What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes? When the traditional finance people screw up, the US government bails them out with taxpayer money. It should totally do the same for Tether.
  - jfrunyon 5y ago
    Sure, so long as you assume that the US government would bail out USDT (which is an insane assumption), it's not that different.

nostrademons 5y ago

So does that mean that if Amazon [1], Paypal [2], Square [2], and Visa [3] start accepting Bitcoin, it's now backed by the U.S. economy? [1] https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-and-develop-own-1847360405 https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-... [2] https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-paypal-and-square-embrace-digital-currencies-51607457036 https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-... [3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card-usage-tops-1-billion-in-first-half-of-2021.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card...

rchaud 5y ago
No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange. The simplest example of this is loyalty programs that offer 'points' that can be redeemed for goods and services. Since the points are useless on their own, the vendor creates agreements with other businesses so that they accept the points. That's what gives the rewards program credibility. Real currency still changes hands in the background, but the customer only spends 'points'. Currencies, although unbacked by gold, are still credible because they are legal tender and widely accepted in ways that rewards points are not. Amazon and other private businesses can refuse to accept BTC whenever they want. Earlier this year, Tesla 'accepted BTC for payments', and then changed their mind a month later.
- matheusmoreira 5y ago
  > No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange. Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really.
  - paulryanrogers 5y ago
    > Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really. Why?
    - 5y ago