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Like others have said, I didn’t expect this article to be largely about mining crypto coins, I think they missed a larger more important point. I think it is an

by 40four 5y ago

Like others have said, I didn’t expect this article to be largely about mining crypto coins, I think they missed a larger more important point. I think it is an important point a lot of cryptocurrency deniers should consider. It’s one thing if you live in a country with a strong, stable currency. Quite another if your local economy/ currency tend to be more volatile. Cryptocurrency can play an important and valuable role in protecting your wealth for those people. Imagine your local currency’s value is tanking, or experiencing a period of hyper inflation. By shifting some of your wealth into a stable coin, or anything more stable than what you have, this can provide a huge benefit to the user.

Inityx 5y ago
>cryptocurrency deniers lmao, nobody's claiming that cryptocurrency doesn't exist...
- 40four 5y ago
  Haha, that’s fair. I could have picked a better choice of words, but you know what I meant
ironSkillet 5y ago
How is this use-case different from someone in the struggling country buying USD, which is way less volatile? Is it because converting local currency to crypto is easier than converting local to USD?
- hiq 5y ago
  In practice the article mentions that this is what they do: buying USDT.
  - ironSkillet 5y ago
    So the entire apparatus is coming into existence in order to essentially buy/sell goods in USD. And the reason this cannot be done directly is because of financial/legal restrictions on the Lebanese populace? Just trying to understand the value-add for the people on the ground using it in everyday life.
    - 40four 5y ago
      To be fair, I live in the US so this is pure speculation. But I think you are trivializing the complexity of purchasing fiat from a foreign country. I doubt it’s as easy as you are suggesting. Also, I want to point out my original point has nothing to do with buying/ selling goods in USD. It only has to do with transferring value from one currency, whatever that is, into something more stable. USD is irrelevant. I can’t imagine walking into my local bank and reasonably expect to withdraw $1000 in GBP, or whatever foreign currency I desire. They don’t just keep large amounts of foreign currency on hand. I’m sure they can do it upon request, but it’s not going to be fast, and it will probably cost an exorbitant fee. Cryptocurrency on the other hand is always available at a moments notice. You will pay a fee for the transfer sure, but the transaction is nearly instant. Being able to actually use the crypto for something useful is another problem. But it’s not that hard to imagine a scenario where folks in an embattled local economy all agree to use and trade a particular coin. But even besides being able to use it day to day, it’s still a powerful mechanism as a pure value store, when your local currency is going through the ringer. And you don’t need a centralized bank to facilitate it.
Traster 5y ago
If you want to protect your wealth I'm not sure investing huge capital sums in mining machines, dependent on huge energy consumption to work, in a country with an energy crisis. That seems absurdly high risk to me. I can sort of buy the idea of moving your money to crypto as a way to get your money out of the country whilst evading your government's capital controls. But doing that by starting a crypto mining business is such a weird way.
- 40four 5y ago
  Yeah, I didn’t really like the article very much. I don’t really agree with the miners here in this case. But it’s also highly variable depending on what you’re mining. Not everything is as energy intensive as Bitcoin. I’m not an expert, but it seems like most newer coins we designed in a way to limit power consumption. But my point has nothing to do with mining. Imagine you have $1000 to your name, and for whatever reason your local currency is tanking & the value of your money is racing towards zero. You would be wise to convert some of it into something more stable, as a pure value store. It’s a fast & relatively cheap way to defend against volatile market conditions.
ARandumGuy 5y ago
Cryptocurrencies don't do anything to actually help the underlying economic issues that cause rapid inflation. All it does is allow a handful of people to shield themselves from the economic crisis. This will only ever be a small percentage of people, because in order to secure your wealth, you need to have wealth in the first place. Cryptocurrency can't help the people that are struggling the most.

by 40four 5y ago

Inityx 5y ago

>cryptocurrency deniers lmao, nobody's claiming that cryptocurrency doesn't exist...

40four 5y ago
Haha, that’s fair. I could have picked a better choice of words, but you know what I meant

ironSkillet 5y ago

How is this use-case different from someone in the struggling country buying USD, which is way less volatile? Is it because converting local currency to crypto is easier than converting local to USD?

hiq 5y ago
In practice the article mentions that this is what they do: buying USDT.
- ironSkillet 5y ago
  So the entire apparatus is coming into existence in order to essentially buy/sell goods in USD. And the reason this cannot be done directly is because of financial/legal restrictions on the Lebanese populace? Just trying to understand the value-add for the people on the ground using it in everyday life.
  - 40four 5y ago
    To be fair, I live in the US so this is pure speculation. But I think you are trivializing the complexity of purchasing fiat from a foreign country. I doubt it’s as easy as you are suggesting. Also, I want to point out my original point has nothing to do with buying/ selling goods in USD. It only has to do with transferring value from one currency, whatever that is, into something more stable. USD is irrelevant. I can’t imagine walking into my local bank and reasonably expect to withdraw $1000 in GBP, or whatever foreign currency I desire. They don’t just keep large amounts of foreign currency on hand. I’m sure they can do it upon request, but it’s not going to be fast, and it will probably cost an exorbitant fee. Cryptocurrency on the other hand is always available at a moments notice. You will pay a fee for the transfer sure, but the transaction is nearly instant. Being able to actually use the crypto for something useful is another problem. But it’s not that hard to imagine a scenario where folks in an embattled local economy all agree to use and trade a particular coin. But even besides being able to use it day to day, it’s still a powerful mechanism as a pure value store, when your local currency is going through the ringer. And you don’t need a centralized bank to facilitate it.

Traster 5y ago

If you want to protect your wealth I'm not sure investing huge capital sums in mining machines, dependent on huge energy consumption to work, in a country with an energy crisis. That seems absurdly high risk to me. I can sort of buy the idea of moving your money to crypto as a way to get your money out of the country whilst evading your government's capital controls. But doing that by starting a crypto mining business is such a weird way.

40four 5y ago
Yeah, I didn’t really like the article very much. I don’t really agree with the miners here in this case. But it’s also highly variable depending on what you’re mining. Not everything is as energy intensive as Bitcoin. I’m not an expert, but it seems like most newer coins we designed in a way to limit power consumption. But my point has nothing to do with mining. Imagine you have $1000 to your name, and for whatever reason your local currency is tanking & the value of your money is racing towards zero. You would be wise to convert some of it into something more stable, as a pure value store. It’s a fast & relatively cheap way to defend against volatile market conditions.

ARandumGuy 5y ago

Cryptocurrencies don't do anything to actually help the underlying economic issues that cause rapid inflation. All it does is allow a handful of people to shield themselves from the economic crisis. This will only ever be a small percentage of people, because in order to secure your wealth, you need to have wealth in the first place. Cryptocurrency can't help the people that are struggling the most.