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This article is a perfect response to anyone asking 'why do you need blockchain?'. Maybe you live in a stable and developed country. Nice. Those people don't a

This article is a perfect response to anyone asking 'why do you need blockchain?'. Maybe you live in a stable and developed country. Nice. Those people don't and it's extremely hard for them to open a banking account elsewhere. What they can do is save in usdt or usdc on ethereum. It's empirically much, much safer than holding dollars in a Lebanese bank.

oarabbus_ 4y ago
>It's empirically much, much safer *unless you held your stablecoins on Anchor Protocol or a centralized entity that became insolvent
- nootropicat 4y ago
  Ust was an obvious ponzi scheme, not an actual stablecoin. Irresponsible people losing money on ponzis is sometimes sad - but also definitely deserved.
  - traveler01 4y ago
    Many people were trusting a stable coin to which they had 0 understanding on how it worked. Was sad to see some people finding out that they actually didn't have any backing at all for the UST value (USDT, USDC are examples of cryptos with actual backing, though some people don't trust USDT)
- primax 4y ago
  People who stick all their money into weird schemes like that take on a ton of risk. If you hold btc and hold your keys you're fine
SilasX 4y ago
Apparently some are skeptical that cryptocurrency would solve anything here, but a year ago there was a story, posted on HN, about the Lebanese using it for sending money into the country: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 Edit: Not saying it's an ironclad defense of relevance to this use case, but your eyes should at least glance there first before resuming their ordinary eyeroll upon mention of crypto.
semicolon_storm 4y ago
Yea, then you lose all your money to cryptobros instead of traditional finance bros. Voyager & Celsius halted all withdrawals within the last month. You can claim "no true Scotsman", but the fact is billions of dollars of customer funds are locked up in these platforms.
- traveler01 4y ago
  You still made his point. Those guys lost their money because they trusted a centralized institution. If you keep your cryptos in your wallet, one which you own the keys, it's a lot harder to lose your money.
  - system2 4y ago
    Not the amount of crypto, the value of crypto is the problem. Assuming you invested in Cardano or Bitcoin, now you lost 70% of your money in 1 year. Value crashes because of unknown background trading and shady chinese whales.
    - InvertedRhodium 4y ago
      The value of the Lira dropped by 44% in 2021 alone, and is expected to be as low as 70% by the end of 2022. So the use of fiat currency in Lebanon seems kind of on par with BTC in that respect.
    - traveler01 4y ago
      With the "small" marketcap of crypto, any shake in the market will lower the value a lot. Scary is seeing how big the inflation rate has been in USD and EUR.
- delabay 4y ago
  Not your keys etc. Picture this. You're in Lebanon circa 2020. You face a guaranteed loss of 90%+ if kept in traditionally Lebanese system. Or you can self custody a usd stablecoin. Which do you choose?
ajkjk 4y ago
The perfect negative response! This way there is at least a bank you can rob.

oarabbus_ 4y ago

>It's empirically much, much safer *unless you held your stablecoins on Anchor Protocol or a centralized entity that became insolvent

nootropicat 4y ago
Ust was an obvious ponzi scheme, not an actual stablecoin. Irresponsible people losing money on ponzis is sometimes sad - but also definitely deserved.
- traveler01 4y ago
  Many people were trusting a stable coin to which they had 0 understanding on how it worked. Was sad to see some people finding out that they actually didn't have any backing at all for the UST value (USDT, USDC are examples of cryptos with actual backing, though some people don't trust USDT)
primax 4y ago
People who stick all their money into weird schemes like that take on a ton of risk. If you hold btc and hold your keys you're fine

SilasX 4y ago

Apparently some are skeptical that cryptocurrency would solve anything here, but a year ago there was a story, posted on HN, about the Lebanese using it for sending money into the country: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28300000 Edit: Not saying it's an ironclad defense of relevance to this use case, but your eyes should at least glance there first before resuming their ordinary eyeroll upon mention of crypto.

semicolon_storm 4y ago

Yea, then you lose all your money to cryptobros instead of traditional finance bros. Voyager & Celsius halted all withdrawals within the last month. You can claim "no true Scotsman", but the fact is billions of dollars of customer funds are locked up in these platforms.

traveler01 4y ago
You still made his point. Those guys lost their money because they trusted a centralized institution. If you keep your cryptos in your wallet, one which you own the keys, it's a lot harder to lose your money.
- system2 4y ago
  Not the amount of crypto, the value of crypto is the problem. Assuming you invested in Cardano or Bitcoin, now you lost 70% of your money in 1 year. Value crashes because of unknown background trading and shady chinese whales.
  - InvertedRhodium 4y ago
    The value of the Lira dropped by 44% in 2021 alone, and is expected to be as low as 70% by the end of 2022. So the use of fiat currency in Lebanon seems kind of on par with BTC in that respect.
  - traveler01 4y ago
    With the "small" marketcap of crypto, any shake in the market will lower the value a lot. Scary is seeing how big the inflation rate has been in USD and EUR.
delabay 4y ago
Not your keys etc. Picture this. You're in Lebanon circa 2020. You face a guaranteed loss of 90%+ if kept in traditionally Lebanese system. Or you can self custody a usd stablecoin. Which do you choose?

ajkjk 4y ago

The perfect negative response! This way there is at least a bank you can rob.