4 ms·

(not op) I stayed with a friend in Zimbabwe at the height of their hyperinflation. His house was filled with petrol (gas) because he'd been paid and he had to

(not op) I stayed with a friend in Zimbabwe at the height of their hyperinflation. His house was filled with petrol (gas) because he'd been paid and he had to buy something the same day that would keep for a month and hold it's value or his money would evaporate. So we sat in his house praying there wasn't a fire. That's the use case for Bitcoin: currency of final resort. It's the same as gold only better (can't be faked, hard to steal etc). I think in countries with stable currencies and after 2 decades of low interest and inflation, that's underrated as a use case... I also believe (forgive the digression into my weird conspiracy theories) that one reason the US has made so much progress on legalised weed is because crypto and the dark web basically mean you can get whatever you want delivered right to your door. But that's just my own weird world view.

greenthrow 4y ago
Considering how few world currencies are less stable than BTC this doesn't make a lot of sense. Plus if you have the ability to turn arbitrary currency X into BTC, you can certainly change it into USD, which is far more stable than BTC. So, nope. This is not a good use for BTC.
- stickfigure 4y ago
  How does a Zimbabwean convert ZWR to USD? How does a Venezuelan convert bolivars to USD?
  - maria2 4y ago
    They usually go to a black market currency dealer and keep the money under their mattress, or at least that's how they did it in the USSR.
  - WeylandYutani 4y ago
    There are unofficial "shadow banks" that are run by powerful people with criminal and corrupt politician's backing. With enough time passing you have an entire underground economy- conveniently denominated in dollars.
rdtwo 4y ago
Bitcoin does not solve that problem. The reason he has a ton in gas is that it was government subsdised and sold a a fixed rate to worthless currency. So to get paid you needed to trade worthless paper for gas and then for something of value. Obviously gas is hard to store so there is a negative premium for selling a large amount at the same time
tkmunzwa 4y ago
> His house was filled with petrol (gas) because he'd been paid and he had to buy something the same day that would keep for a month and hold its value or his money would evaporate. So we sat in his house praying there wasn't a fire. I'm guessing the friend sold the petrol for USD, right? Zimbabwean who lived through this checking in - let me add context and help deconstruct this for HN: People (and banks) were converting Zimbabwean dollars to anything that could hold value and could be easily resold (in US Dollars) ASAP - this could be petrol or petrol vouchers, groceries, cookies - anything at all that could be bought with Zimbabwean dollars and flogged for USD. One of the retail banks got in trouble with the central bank after adding masonry bricks to their commodity portfolio[1]. Petrol was definitely a risky. Bitcoin would not have solved this because the using Zimbabwean dollars to purchase of commodities was only the first step to procuring US dollars while arbitrating the delta between the official exchange rate that formal businesses had to use, and the much higher real exchange rate as determined by the market. The hypothetical bitcoin:Zimbabwean dollar exchange rate in 2008 would have always tracked the market rate with no opportunity for arbitration. 1. Not brick futures or other fiscalised instrument: the bank bought and took possession of piles of bricks for resale later to hedge against inflation
strangattractor 4y ago
So our Zimbabewe friend buys bitcoin at $60K and 6 months later has bitcoin worth a third of that. Or he puts it in FTX and has it all disappear. Not seeing how it solves his problem.
- maria2 4y ago
  The friend could have purchased a stablecoin. For instance, as of writing right now, he could have bought USDT and had the same amount of money after 6 months. Obviously, the stability of USDT is rightfully questioned. But the stability of storing many liters of petrol in your house should also be questioned.

greenthrow 4y ago

Considering how few world currencies are less stable than BTC this doesn't make a lot of sense. Plus if you have the ability to turn arbitrary currency X into BTC, you can certainly change it into USD, which is far more stable than BTC. So, nope. This is not a good use for BTC.

stickfigure 4y ago
How does a Zimbabwean convert ZWR to USD? How does a Venezuelan convert bolivars to USD?
- maria2 4y ago
  They usually go to a black market currency dealer and keep the money under their mattress, or at least that's how they did it in the USSR.
- WeylandYutani 4y ago
  There are unofficial "shadow banks" that are run by powerful people with criminal and corrupt politician's backing. With enough time passing you have an entire underground economy- conveniently denominated in dollars.

rdtwo 4y ago

Bitcoin does not solve that problem. The reason he has a ton in gas is that it was government subsdised and sold a a fixed rate to worthless currency. So to get paid you needed to trade worthless paper for gas and then for something of value. Obviously gas is hard to store so there is a negative premium for selling a large amount at the same time

tkmunzwa 4y ago

> His house was filled with petrol (gas) because he'd been paid and he had to buy something the same day that would keep for a month and hold its value or his money would evaporate. So we sat in his house praying there wasn't a fire. I'm guessing the friend sold the petrol for USD, right? Zimbabwean who lived through this checking in - let me add context and help deconstruct this for HN: People (and banks) were converting Zimbabwean dollars to anything that could hold value and could be easily resold (in US Dollars) ASAP - this could be petrol or petrol vouchers, groceries, cookies - anything at all that could be bought with Zimbabwean dollars and flogged for USD. One of the retail banks got in trouble with the central bank after adding masonry bricks to their commodity portfolio[1]. Petrol was definitely a risky. Bitcoin would not have solved this because the using Zimbabwean dollars to purchase of commodities was only the first step to procuring US dollars while arbitrating the delta between the official exchange rate that formal businesses had to use, and the much higher real exchange rate as determined by the market. The hypothetical bitcoin:Zimbabwean dollar exchange rate in 2008 would have always tracked the market rate with no opportunity for arbitration. 1. Not brick futures or other fiscalised instrument: the bank bought and took possession of piles of bricks for resale later to hedge against inflation

strangattractor 4y ago

So our Zimbabewe friend buys bitcoin at $60K and 6 months later has bitcoin worth a third of that. Or he puts it in FTX and has it all disappear. Not seeing how it solves his problem.

maria2 4y ago
The friend could have purchased a stablecoin. For instance, as of writing right now, he could have bought USDT and had the same amount of money after 6 months. Obviously, the stability of USDT is rightfully questioned. But the stability of storing many liters of petrol in your house should also be questioned.