4 ms·

Neither is Bitcoin? What are you talking about?

arcticbull 4y ago
It literally doesn't have a single use case, and its narrative changes every 2 weeks as the previous one is invalidated. Remember when it was an inflation hedge but then it collapsed 70% during the single most inflationary period in decades? Haven't heard that narrative in a while now. It's a religion, a political movement, and a high-beta way to speculate on USD liquidity in the global financial system - not a technology. The cult of the extremely inefficient linked list.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  Like all cryptocurrencies, it has a hugely relevant use case, namely speculation without regulations. The fees for anonymous money transfers at huge costs are also tolerable for large scale criminal networks. I don't know a use case for Bitcoin that benefits society per se, but there are definitely use cases for it.
  - palata 4y ago
    That's precisely why I said "legal" and "constructive" :-)
- TakeBlaster16 4y ago
  Copying a comment from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32431494 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32431494 --- Just because you come from a place of great financial privilege and a liberal society does not mean others have no use for a censorship resistant form of money. Afghanistan: https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanctions-taliban/ https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanct... Argentina: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60912789 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60912789 Russia: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-donors-use-cryptocurrency-due-crackdown-2021-06-02/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-dono... Lebanon: https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crypto-currency-youth-idUSL8N2QH1MW https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crypto-currency-yout... Nigeria: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/10/16/nigerian-banks-shut-them-out-so-these-activists-are-using-bitcoin-to-battle-police-brutality/ https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/10/16/nigerian-banks-shut... Ukraine: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainian-flees-to-poland-with-2000-in-bitcoin-on-usb-drive.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainian-flees-to-poland-wi... https://www.financialinclusion.tech/ https://www.financialinclusion.tech/
  - arcticbull 4y ago
    Every single one of them would be better off with USDC than Bitcoin, and thats the point. Not to mention as soon as anyone starts to use it the fees explode to exceed the per-capita GDP of several of the poorest nations. The whole 'privilege' angle is drivel and prevents us from actually exploring solutions to the problem instead of pumping the specific bags of the person making the argument. That's the real problem: cryptocurrencies solve the problem that rich people in first-world countries under permissive governments claim to have but don't (help! they're oppressing me!) - while claiming to solve the problems that poor people actually being repressed have, albeit very ineffectively. That gives the advocates a cudgel to whack critics with. Only first-world folks are in a position to lose 70% of the purchasing power of their money in a few weeks - or 10% yesterday - and pay the GDP per Capita of Burundi ($265) in transaction fees when things get congested. That guy who fled with $2000 in Bitcoin from the Ukraine now has $1100 in Bitcoin - it was trading at $40,000 on the day that article was published in mid-March. He lost half of his family's entire net worth (!?!) - but had he held USDC he'd have checks notes $2000. But you're for some reason holding this up as a success and telling me to check my privilege? Every one of those articles, everyone interviewed is down bad compared to the publication date. You're calling me privileged for not wanting a fleeing Ukrainian to lose half his entire net worth? I'd suggest you check your financial privilege fam. How dare you, tbh. That entire list of articles is a graveyard if you look at the price of the espoused cryptocurrency at the time of writing: every one of them got rekt. Every last one.

It literally doesn't have a single use case, and its narrative changes every 2 weeks as the previous one is invalidated. Remember when it was an inflation hedge but then it collapsed 70% during the single most inflationary period in decades? Haven't heard that narrative in a while now. It's a religion, a political movement, and a high-beta way to speculate on USD liquidity in the global financial system - not a technology. The cult of the extremely inefficient linked list.

jeroenhd 4y ago
Like all cryptocurrencies, it has a hugely relevant use case, namely speculation without regulations. The fees for anonymous money transfers at huge costs are also tolerable for large scale criminal networks. I don't know a use case for Bitcoin that benefits society per se, but there are definitely use cases for it.
- palata 4y ago
  That's precisely why I said "legal" and "constructive" :-)
TakeBlaster16 4y ago
Copying a comment from here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32431494 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32431494 --- Just because you come from a place of great financial privilege and a liberal society does not mean others have no use for a censorship resistant form of money. Afghanistan: https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanctions-taliban/ https://theintercept.com/2022/01/19/crypto-afghanistan-sanct... Argentina: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60912789 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60912789 Russia: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-donors-use-cryptocurrency-due-crackdown-2021-06-02/ https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/navalny-ally-urges-dono... Lebanon: https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crypto-currency-youth-idUSL8N2QH1MW https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crypto-currency-yout... Nigeria: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/10/16/nigerian-banks-shut-them-out-so-these-activists-are-using-bitcoin-to-battle-police-brutality/ https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/10/16/nigerian-banks-shut... Ukraine: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainian-flees-to-poland-with-2000-in-bitcoin-on-usb-drive.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/ukrainian-flees-to-poland-wi... https://www.financialinclusion.tech/ https://www.financialinclusion.tech/
- arcticbull 4y ago
  Every single one of them would be better off with USDC than Bitcoin, and thats the point. Not to mention as soon as anyone starts to use it the fees explode to exceed the per-capita GDP of several of the poorest nations. The whole 'privilege' angle is drivel and prevents us from actually exploring solutions to the problem instead of pumping the specific bags of the person making the argument. That's the real problem: cryptocurrencies solve the problem that rich people in first-world countries under permissive governments claim to have but don't (help! they're oppressing me!) - while claiming to solve the problems that poor people actually being repressed have, albeit very ineffectively. That gives the advocates a cudgel to whack critics with. Only first-world folks are in a position to lose 70% of the purchasing power of their money in a few weeks - or 10% yesterday - and pay the GDP per Capita of Burundi ($265) in transaction fees when things get congested. That guy who fled with $2000 in Bitcoin from the Ukraine now has $1100 in Bitcoin - it was trading at $40,000 on the day that article was published in mid-March. He lost half of his family's entire net worth (!?!) - but had he held USDC he'd have checks notes $2000. But you're for some reason holding this up as a success and telling me to check my privilege? Every one of those articles, everyone interviewed is down bad compared to the publication date. You're calling me privileged for not wanting a fleeing Ukrainian to lose half his entire net worth? I'd suggest you check your financial privilege fam. How dare you, tbh. That entire list of articles is a graveyard if you look at the price of the espoused cryptocurrency at the time of writing: every one of them got rekt. Every last one.