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Even if you believe in crypto - why Bitcoin and not a stablecoin? I'm also not sure why people are comparing Bitcoin to Western Union. Western Union is way more

Even if you believe in crypto - why Bitcoin and not a stablecoin? I'm also not sure why people are comparing Bitcoin to Western Union. Western Union is way more than just sending money.

mateuszf 5y ago
> why Bitcoin and not a stablecoin? Because stablecoins are not as decentralized. Why depend on third party if you don't have to?
- endisneigh 5y ago
  If you're using an official El Salvadorian wallet it's not "as decentralized" anyway, though.
  - mateuszf 5y ago
    Sure, but you don't have to. I see it as a necessary step in early adoption.
  - billytetrud 5y ago
    But it would be worse if they used a centralized currency. It's an additional risk. Those risks add up. And el Salvadorians can individually opt out of the government app whenever they want to. It's a lot harder to opt out of a currency you've decided to make legal tender 2 years in. Also stable coins are exactly what they don't want - they're trying to insulate themselves from rampant inflation and instability risk of the dollar.
    - rchaud 5y ago
      > they're trying to insulate themselves from rampant inflation and instability risk of the dollar. So instead of controlling their own monetary policy by issuing their own currency, they are now at the mercy of the US federal reserve and a coterie of Chinese cryptomining syndicates.
      - billytetrud 5y ago
        They were already at the mercy of the US federal reserve. Now they're less so. And you're misinformed about the influence of chinese mining syndicates. Miners have almost no influence on the structure or stability of the currencies they mine.
betwixthewires 5y ago
Because stablecoins have a security vulnerability, they're pegged to assets who's value can be manipulated by a third party. I'd imagine there are many motivations to El Salvador diversifying their currency market, remittances might be one, but shelter from Fed monetary policy is a strong additional benefit. Also, stablecoins that are pegged algorithmically rather than by 1:1 hard asset backing will eventually lose peg. How long that takes on average depends on the design of the system. Look at Nubits and then look at MakerDAO to see different examples of algorithmically pegged stablecoins.

Even if you believe in crypto - why Bitcoin and not a stablecoin? I'm also not sure why people are comparing Bitcoin to Western Union. Western Union is way more than just sending money.

mateuszf 5y ago

> why Bitcoin and not a stablecoin? Because stablecoins are not as decentralized. Why depend on third party if you don't have to?

endisneigh 5y ago
If you're using an official El Salvadorian wallet it's not "as decentralized" anyway, though.
- mateuszf 5y ago
  Sure, but you don't have to. I see it as a necessary step in early adoption.
- billytetrud 5y ago
  But it would be worse if they used a centralized currency. It's an additional risk. Those risks add up. And el Salvadorians can individually opt out of the government app whenever they want to. It's a lot harder to opt out of a currency you've decided to make legal tender 2 years in. Also stable coins are exactly what they don't want - they're trying to insulate themselves from rampant inflation and instability risk of the dollar.
  - rchaud 5y ago
    > they're trying to insulate themselves from rampant inflation and instability risk of the dollar. So instead of controlling their own monetary policy by issuing their own currency, they are now at the mercy of the US federal reserve and a coterie of Chinese cryptomining syndicates.
    - billytetrud 5y ago
      They were already at the mercy of the US federal reserve. Now they're less so. And you're misinformed about the influence of chinese mining syndicates. Miners have almost no influence on the structure or stability of the currencies they mine.

betwixthewires 5y ago

Because stablecoins have a security vulnerability, they're pegged to assets who's value can be manipulated by a third party. I'd imagine there are many motivations to El Salvador diversifying their currency market, remittances might be one, but shelter from Fed monetary policy is a strong additional benefit. Also, stablecoins that are pegged algorithmically rather than by 1:1 hard asset backing will eventually lose peg. How long that takes on average depends on the design of the system. Look at Nubits and then look at MakerDAO to see different examples of algorithmically pegged stablecoins.