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El Salvador uses it as a government enforced national currency. I struggle to understand how people still make the claim that it's useless or that it's niche -
by toolz 4y ago
El Salvador uses it as a government enforced national currency. I struggle to understand how people still make the claim that it's useless or that it's niche - it's a recognized and enforced national currency now, not some neat project.
- Mr_P 4y agoWhat a convenient source of liquidity for the various drug cartels in El Salvador who need to launder their money.
- plebianRube 4y agoWhat a staggeringly uninformed comment.
- toolz 4y agoYes, so convenient that over a decade after its inception, still well over 95% of the black market operates in fiat instead.
- douglaswlance 4y agoWhy would they use a public, transparent ledger to launder money?
- lumost 4y agoLower counterparty risk, and harder to confiscate. Money can sit in a crypto wallet and be used for illicit transactions until favorable circumstances allow conversion out of btc. You can’t do that with cash in a bank. With the amount of shady alt coins and defunct btc exchanges separating authentic vs bogus transactions is even tougher for regulators.
- CodeShmode 4y agoThere are many ways to launder money.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- lr4444lr 4y agoIt's not enforced. It is legal tender, but the US dollar is still their currency, last I heard.
- acdha 4y agoWho's using it? How many people did more than get that free starter wallet and cash out? How many transactions happen daily? How many businesses would notice if Bitcoin dropped off the planet tomorrow? (Hint: the fact that people were rioting in the streets to _avoid_ it suggests the answer is not many)
- spicymaki 4y agoIs bitcoin an investment or a currency? I don't think it can be both. If the value of bitcoin as speculative asset is going to rise, then it is best to not spend it, but to hoard it. If everyone is hoarding bitcoin how can you use it to buy things? If it is a currency then it needs to have a stable value. If the value stabilizes, then no one will want to invest in it. Since it does not have any "real" commodity value it would then death spiral. I don't know how you square this circle.
- WaitWaitWha 4y agoIs there not an entire currency speculation market? [0] > When speculative investing involves the purchase of a foreign currency, it is known as currency speculation. In this scenario, an investor buys a currency in an effort to later sell that currency at an appreciated rate, as opposed to an investor who buys a currency in order to pay for an import or to finance a foreign investment. [0] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/speculation.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/speculation.asp
- spicymaki 4y agoSure, I get the idea of currency speculation. You can speculate on anything including currency. The problem is when you try to make currency out of a speculative asset. In this case of bitcoin the value is highly volatile, so you would not want to use it as a national currency. I do know that bitcoin was originally envisioned as a currency, but most people are using it as an investment. You also have not addressed the issues I presented.
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y agoI don't think it's reasonable to think about it in such a simplistic way. BTC has been subject to massive swings. Just looking at CoinDesk, it was easy to find a time where it doubled in value in less than a month. Why would any reasonable person spend that sort asset? I think the dynamics of the market are as important as the technical features that some digital currency has.
- 4y ago
- simonw 4y agoThe failure of crypto to actually take off in El Salvador is pretty well documented at this point I think.