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Crypto still relies on the real banking system to feed real cash into and out of their system. States have tight control over the banks. If crypto exchanges/st

Crypto still relies on the real banking system to feed real cash into and out of their system. States have tight control over the banks. If crypto exchanges/standards don't want to do KYC, they won't be able to interact with the real economy.

yowlingcat 5y ago
I wonder if you are misinterpreting the dependency structure of the core action that powers the "real economy" which is the act of exchange. Before state currencies, the barter system existed -- even today, it still does exist, and crypto in a lot of ways is in theory supposed to bring things digitally back to that age old system. States have control over banks only so far as they maintain a /global/ monopoly over force and a mandate in popular support which they can practically demonstrate. What you're talking about is the distance between de facto and de jure, and I think what you're missing is how the former leads the latter, not the other way around. This isn't to say that your second point is completely incorrect, I just think it misplaces the center of gravity -- I think that will practically lie with the merchant given that an exchange can be decentralized enough that there is no "neck to squeeze" when misbehavior occurs.
cinquemb 5y ago
I think its important to note that while these things are largely true (though i'd say that banks have tight control over states [5+ time felonious JPM and friends, constant bailouts, etc]… esp weaker/smaller states…), there are instances today where people trade goods and services with crypto without "cashing out" (esp more so than a decade ago) through centralized exchanges. A variety of credit/debt based decentralized stablecoins and dexes will take over in the long run from centralized exchanges and bank account onramp. Even centralized exchanges are trying to get exposure to defi protocols now that will eventually obsolete them for traditional functions for all but the tech laggards.
- bparsons 5y ago
  This is true in El Salvador, where bitcoin has the explicit endorsement of the state. Elsewhere, other than dark web drugs and jpegs of apes, what exactly are people buying with crypto?
  - cinquemb 5y ago
    Just because some (most?) people now in most places may buy only drugs/nfts (and whatever real or imagined things of contested value [eye of the beholder…]) hasn't stopped me personally from accepting eth/btc for dev work and swapping for cash in my local jurisdiction(s) (or in some cases, paying in stablecoins [dai] for food from a friend who has a few of their own stores accepted it).

yowlingcat 5y ago

I wonder if you are misinterpreting the dependency structure of the core action that powers the "real economy" which is the act of exchange. Before state currencies, the barter system existed -- even today, it still does exist, and crypto in a lot of ways is in theory supposed to bring things digitally back to that age old system. States have control over banks only so far as they maintain a /global/ monopoly over force and a mandate in popular support which they can practically demonstrate. What you're talking about is the distance between de facto and de jure, and I think what you're missing is how the former leads the latter, not the other way around. This isn't to say that your second point is completely incorrect, I just think it misplaces the center of gravity -- I think that will practically lie with the merchant given that an exchange can be decentralized enough that there is no "neck to squeeze" when misbehavior occurs.

cinquemb 5y ago

I think its important to note that while these things are largely true (though i'd say that banks have tight control over states [5+ time felonious JPM and friends, constant bailouts, etc]… esp weaker/smaller states…), there are instances today where people trade goods and services with crypto without "cashing out" (esp more so than a decade ago) through centralized exchanges. A variety of credit/debt based decentralized stablecoins and dexes will take over in the long run from centralized exchanges and bank account onramp. Even centralized exchanges are trying to get exposure to defi protocols now that will eventually obsolete them for traditional functions for all but the tech laggards.

bparsons 5y ago
This is true in El Salvador, where bitcoin has the explicit endorsement of the state. Elsewhere, other than dark web drugs and jpegs of apes, what exactly are people buying with crypto?
- cinquemb 5y ago
  Just because some (most?) people now in most places may buy only drugs/nfts (and whatever real or imagined things of contested value [eye of the beholder…]) hasn't stopped me personally from accepting eth/btc for dev work and swapping for cash in my local jurisdiction(s) (or in some cases, paying in stablecoins [dai] for food from a friend who has a few of their own stores accepted it).