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CNBC loves to frame Bitcoin as evil. The headline is unbelievably disingenuous. Western union losing business to a better system is not bitcoin damaging western

CNBC loves to frame Bitcoin as evil. The headline is unbelievably disingenuous. Western union losing business to a better system is not bitcoin damaging western union in any way that anyone should be upset about. Just like when tesla comes out with a new car, the headlines don't read "teslas new car could cost ford $3 billion per year".

SkipperCat 5y ago
I looked at it the exact opposite way. To me, the headline was flattering. It shows that Western Union sucks $400MM out of people while providing a service that is easily moved to cryptocurrency. I see it as a declarative win for Bitcoin by showing how it actually saved Salvadorians a lot of money. Its also common knowledge that Western Union and their ilk have been exploiting and sucking dry people who live on the margins of our financial system. Any article that says they're loosing money to a competitor is fine by me. Even as someone who hates the crypto hype, I have to say this time the crypto-win is legit.
- chuckSu 5y ago
  This
- billytetrud 5y ago
  I guess you're right, the article is pretty pro bitcoin. Still an odd choice of headline if you ask me.
  - mig39 5y ago
    The person who writes the article often doesn't write the headline.
  - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
    Seems like it's your bias filter doing that. I read it and my bias filter said "It's going to cost the company that's usually associated with 409/Nigerian scammers because they allow for untracable thefts, and otherwise overcharge migrants to send money back home? Good."
- putnambr 5y ago
  A better (focusing on positives instead of negatives, but the media feeds off of negativity) headline would be "New Bitcoin wallets could save El Salvadorans $400M a year in Western Union fees"
  - BizarroLand 5y ago
    You could even leave out the "in Western Union fees" and it would make for a smashing headline.
mr_luc 5y ago
Hmm -- I just read the article, and it seems pretty pro-bitcoin to me ... "They have to take a bus to go to a physical location to pick it up, and there are gangs that hang out around those offices. They know what people are going there for, and they basically rob them." And “Remittances are one area where the status quo in our legacy financial system is terrible"... And ... Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation “That’s drop-dead stunning. It’s an incredible humanitarian improvement.” The story of the article, and the headline, seems to be: old-timey remittances are on the ropes; can't compete.
- numair 5y ago
  And you think the 200 Chivo ATMs aren’t going to be criminal hotspots? Not saying that to be critical — solving that problem seems to be key for more countries than just El Salvador, and for electronic remittance beyond Bitcoin.
  - dcolkitt 5y ago
    No, because unlike Western Union people don’t have to take out their whole balance at once. In fact they don’t have to take out anything, because they can use Chivo BTC to pay anywhere.
  - billytetrud 5y ago
    Criminal hotspots? How so? Are ATMs usually criminal hotspots? If you're thinking that bitcoin ATMs can help people launder money, you're mistaken.
    - putnambr 5y ago
      What they're saying is that if staffed remittance locations have been locations for criminals to hang out and rob people, bitcoin ATMs surely will have the same issue.
      - billytetrud 5y ago
phreack 5y ago
In another time it might read "These new 'cars' could cost the horse business billions per year"
spinny 5y ago
first thing on my mind after reading the title: "good". Am I evil ?
standardUser 5y ago
It did strike me as odd that the headline implied I should be shedding a tear for an entrenched middleman because they will make slightly less money for being an entrenched middleman.

SkipperCat 5y ago

I looked at it the exact opposite way. To me, the headline was flattering. It shows that Western Union sucks $400MM out of people while providing a service that is easily moved to cryptocurrency. I see it as a declarative win for Bitcoin by showing how it actually saved Salvadorians a lot of money. Its also common knowledge that Western Union and their ilk have been exploiting and sucking dry people who live on the margins of our financial system. Any article that says they're loosing money to a competitor is fine by me. Even as someone who hates the crypto hype, I have to say this time the crypto-win is legit.

chuckSu 5y ago
This
billytetrud 5y ago
I guess you're right, the article is pretty pro bitcoin. Still an odd choice of headline if you ask me.
- mig39 5y ago
  The person who writes the article often doesn't write the headline.
- bellyfullofbac 5y ago
  Seems like it's your bias filter doing that. I read it and my bias filter said "It's going to cost the company that's usually associated with 409/Nigerian scammers because they allow for untracable thefts, and otherwise overcharge migrants to send money back home? Good."
putnambr 5y ago
A better (focusing on positives instead of negatives, but the media feeds off of negativity) headline would be "New Bitcoin wallets could save El Salvadorans $400M a year in Western Union fees"
- BizarroLand 5y ago
  You could even leave out the "in Western Union fees" and it would make for a smashing headline.

mr_luc 5y ago

Hmm -- I just read the article, and it seems pretty pro-bitcoin to me ... "They have to take a bus to go to a physical location to pick it up, and there are gangs that hang out around those offices. They know what people are going there for, and they basically rob them." And “Remittances are one area where the status quo in our legacy financial system is terrible"... And ... Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation “That’s drop-dead stunning. It’s an incredible humanitarian improvement.” The story of the article, and the headline, seems to be: old-timey remittances are on the ropes; can't compete.

numair 5y ago
And you think the 200 Chivo ATMs aren’t going to be criminal hotspots? Not saying that to be critical — solving that problem seems to be key for more countries than just El Salvador, and for electronic remittance beyond Bitcoin.
- dcolkitt 5y ago
  No, because unlike Western Union people don’t have to take out their whole balance at once. In fact they don’t have to take out anything, because they can use Chivo BTC to pay anywhere.
- billytetrud 5y ago
  Criminal hotspots? How so? Are ATMs usually criminal hotspots? If you're thinking that bitcoin ATMs can help people launder money, you're mistaken.
  - putnambr 5y ago
    What they're saying is that if staffed remittance locations have been locations for criminals to hang out and rob people, bitcoin ATMs surely will have the same issue.
    - billytetrud 5y ago

phreack 5y ago

In another time it might read "These new 'cars' could cost the horse business billions per year"

spinny 5y ago

first thing on my mind after reading the title: "good". Am I evil ?

standardUser 5y ago

It did strike me as odd that the headline implied I should be shedding a tear for an entrenched middleman because they will make slightly less money for being an entrenched middleman.