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> Anybody actually uses crypto for legal goods and services? I regularly use my crypto-backed (ie balance is in cryptocurrencies) Binance Visa card to make pur

> Anybody actually uses crypto for legal goods and services? I regularly use my crypto-backed (ie balance is in cryptocurrencies) Binance Visa card to make purchases. I have some money in cryptocurrency exchanges because their lending (used to lend to margin traders) systems have better interest rates than my banks savings accounts do and when I want to use the money I use my crypto-backed Visa card. I suppose you can argue this is only possible because of the margin traders, but for me it acts as a higher interest savings account that’s a good place to keep some money that I don’t need immediately accessible (I need to move it to the card to use it) but is still accessible if I need to make a purchase with it. In the past I’ve also used cryptocurrencies to transfer money between myself (I’m in Europe) and family in Australia, as a cheaper faster means of transfer than international bank transfer or western union. So there are at least some legitimate uses, even if the criminal uses outnumber them.

DownGoat 5y ago
Those cards use euro/usd under the hood, so you don't actually send crypto to whoever you buy things from. They get euro/usd.
- dkersten 5y ago
  I mentioned that in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29158328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29158328 To the user, this is transparent (for some cards anyway, eg Binance), so its effectively the same thing. Yes, I'm not actually sending the merchant crypto, but what does it matter? I am using my crypto balance to buy things, the fact that the merchant isn't receiving crypto is an implementation detail. Conceptually, it could be a choice left up to them. The question was if anyone is using cryptocurrencies for legitimate purposes and I was saying that I am using cryptocurrencies to buy things, I didn't say that the people I'm buying things from are receiving the cryptocurrencies and to me it makes little difference if they are or aren't, I have a crypto balance that I use to buy things.
  - EdwardDiego 5y ago
    > Yes, I'm not actually sending the merchant crypto, but what does it matter? In the context of the question, it matters a lot. You're not using it as tendered currency. The question was who is buying things legitimately with crypto, and your Binance card isn't that. You're buying things legitimately with that card... ...with real currency. Why merchants prefer real currency to crypto is left as an exercise for the reader.
    - dkersten 5y ago
      You're nitpicking. The question was: "Anybody actually uses crypto for legal goods and services?" I am using crypto to buy suff, how it is facilitated under the hood is an implementation detail and none of my concern. I am using and spending cryptocurrencies to buy things. My balance on the card is currently primarily USDT (and some ETH). Not dollars, not pounds, not euro: a cryptocurrency. The fact that technically they sell that USDT to fiat when I make a purchase is transparent to me and not something I have to care about.
      - EdwardDiego 5y ago
        If I'm nitpicking, then you're hairsplitting. You could just as easily be exchanging black tar heroin for real currency and using that to make your purchases. Are you then using heroin to acquire goods and services?
        dkersten 5y ago
        The question was if anybody was using cryptocurrencies to buy stuff. Well, I am. When I buy stuff, my crypto balance goes down and I get the purchased item. What happens outside that is invisible to me. From what I see on my end, I am spending crypto. If I used a US credit card to buy something from a European store with prices in euro, am I spending USD from my USD balance or am I spending euro? From my perspective, I would say that I’m spending USD, even though the bank is exchanging it to euro under the hood and sending the merchant euro. How is it any different with crypto in my case?

DownGoat 5y ago

Those cards use euro/usd under the hood, so you don't actually send crypto to whoever you buy things from. They get euro/usd.

dkersten 5y ago
I mentioned that in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29158328 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29158328 To the user, this is transparent (for some cards anyway, eg Binance), so its effectively the same thing. Yes, I'm not actually sending the merchant crypto, but what does it matter? I am using my crypto balance to buy things, the fact that the merchant isn't receiving crypto is an implementation detail. Conceptually, it could be a choice left up to them. The question was if anyone is using cryptocurrencies for legitimate purposes and I was saying that I am using cryptocurrencies to buy things, I didn't say that the people I'm buying things from are receiving the cryptocurrencies and to me it makes little difference if they are or aren't, I have a crypto balance that I use to buy things.
- EdwardDiego 5y ago
  > Yes, I'm not actually sending the merchant crypto, but what does it matter? In the context of the question, it matters a lot. You're not using it as tendered currency. The question was who is buying things legitimately with crypto, and your Binance card isn't that. You're buying things legitimately with that card... ...with real currency. Why merchants prefer real currency to crypto is left as an exercise for the reader.
  - dkersten 5y ago
    You're nitpicking. The question was: "Anybody actually uses crypto for legal goods and services?" I am using crypto to buy suff, how it is facilitated under the hood is an implementation detail and none of my concern. I am using and spending cryptocurrencies to buy things. My balance on the card is currently primarily USDT (and some ETH). Not dollars, not pounds, not euro: a cryptocurrency. The fact that technically they sell that USDT to fiat when I make a purchase is transparent to me and not something I have to care about.
    - EdwardDiego 5y ago
      If I'm nitpicking, then you're hairsplitting. You could just as easily be exchanging black tar heroin for real currency and using that to make your purchases. Are you then using heroin to acquire goods and services?
      - dkersten 5y ago
        The question was if anybody was using cryptocurrencies to buy stuff. Well, I am. When I buy stuff, my crypto balance goes down and I get the purchased item. What happens outside that is invisible to me. From what I see on my end, I am spending crypto. If I used a US credit card to buy something from a European store with prices in euro, am I spending USD from my USD balance or am I spending euro? From my perspective, I would say that I’m spending USD, even though the bank is exchanging it to euro under the hood and sending the merchant euro. How is it any different with crypto in my case?