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I can explain seriously and answer follow-up questions. I will simplify and just highlight the most valuable current use case, there might or might not be other

I can explain seriously and answer follow-up questions. I will simplify and just highlight the most valuable current use case, there might or might not be others now or in the future. The value of ether (ETH) is to be a currency that you need to spend in order to include transactions into Ethereum's distributed ledger. Most useful transactions are transfers of stablecoins like USDT or USDC. USDT and USDC can be exchanged for goods and services all over the world, and are very convenient for any international transfers and cash exchanges bigger than 500 USD. Price of stablecoins is ideally tethered to the underlying fiat currency, so price swings don't matter. Price of ether is _whatever_, because usually your stablecoin ledger transaction fee is low enough, so price swings don't matter again.

secondcoming 4y ago
So in order to transact on 'The Blockchain' I'll need a stablecoin for the purchase and ETH in order to submit my transaction?
- nlitened 4y ago
  Yes, like when you go to a shopping mall, you do need fiat currency to purchase goods, _but_ you also need to keep your car's gas tank topped up to get there. Your car's gas price also fluctuates, but usually it does not affect your shopping plans too much, unless you're doing very large-scale shopping.
aeyes 4y ago
I fail to understand how this use of stable coins is better than licensed currency transfer companies. You still need to exchange your local currency twice on shady unlicensed crypto exchanges. Or am I missing something here? I regularly transfer thousands of Dollars to different countries, the provider I use usually gets the job done on the same day. There are also huuuge differences in crypto exchange rates depending on country. Crypto exchanges work with unfavorable FX rates when selling USDT unless you already have USD. Binance in my country is currently showing a 4% difference compared to exchange rates on XE.com. Even my bank gives me a better FX rate than that.
- nlitened 4y ago
  > I fail to understand how this use of stable coins is better than licensed currency transfer companies. It's not better—if you have access to licensed currency transfer companies. But 220 million people from Russia and Iran don't nowadays, and likely from many other "third world" countries where people still want to do honest work, buys stuff, pay salaries, feed their kids, etc. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world can't just walk in and open a low-fee bank account, they just instantly get rejected. Previously I thought that "think of the unbanked" was a rather silly excuse, until this year it happened to me and my business.

secondcoming 4y ago

So in order to transact on 'The Blockchain' I'll need a stablecoin for the purchase and ETH in order to submit my transaction?

nlitened 4y ago
Yes, like when you go to a shopping mall, you do need fiat currency to purchase goods, _but_ you also need to keep your car's gas tank topped up to get there. Your car's gas price also fluctuates, but usually it does not affect your shopping plans too much, unless you're doing very large-scale shopping.

aeyes 4y ago

I fail to understand how this use of stable coins is better than licensed currency transfer companies. You still need to exchange your local currency twice on shady unlicensed crypto exchanges. Or am I missing something here? I regularly transfer thousands of Dollars to different countries, the provider I use usually gets the job done on the same day. There are also huuuge differences in crypto exchange rates depending on country. Crypto exchanges work with unfavorable FX rates when selling USDT unless you already have USD. Binance in my country is currently showing a 4% difference compared to exchange rates on XE.com. Even my bank gives me a better FX rate than that.

nlitened 4y ago
> I fail to understand how this use of stable coins is better than licensed currency transfer companies. It's not better—if you have access to licensed currency transfer companies. But 220 million people from Russia and Iran don't nowadays, and likely from many other "third world" countries where people still want to do honest work, buys stuff, pay salaries, feed their kids, etc. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world can't just walk in and open a low-fee bank account, they just instantly get rejected. Previously I thought that "think of the unbanked" was a rather silly excuse, until this year it happened to me and my business.