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Got it. Thanks, that's helpful. I definitely agree that evading governmental controls on currency exchange can be beneficial, especially if one's income isn't
by wpietri 5y ago
Got it. Thanks, that's helpful.
I definitely agree that evading governmental controls on currency exchange can be beneficial, especially if one's income isn't local. And reasonable when the controls are used to cover up other problems. I also agree that in the short term using centralized digital services can help there, especially ones that don't worry much about fraud prevention or remediation, as they can be very quick. Doubly so if they're tuned for financial crime.
But by the same token, the centrality and convenience are major points of weakness if they are going to last. Binance is under regulatory threat the world over, and keeps withdrawing from markets one step ahead of regulators. I'd be very surprised if they are able to do that for you a decade from now. Especially as digital forensics and AML tooling will be a decade better.
Instead, I'd guess people in your situation will be doing what they've always done: building informal networks of collaborators so that the regulatory evasion happens offline in ways that are hard to track or limit. Perhaps it will be more like what I saw in Ecuador: friends of friends swapping envelopes of cash when it suits them both.
So to me this story isn't about the power of crypto, which is incidental here, or the magic of decentralization, which isn't much in play either. Instead it's about another temporary window where technology has gotten ahead of regulation.