4 ms·

I think he means "the quiet part" because cryptoenthusiasts were very loud about the idea of 'uncensorable' financial inclusion for the developing world being

I think he means "the quiet part" because cryptoenthusiasts were very loud about the idea of 'uncensorable' financial inclusion for the developing world being a major use case until it was "does it matter? they're a tiny fraction of users anyway". If there were many people in the developing world countries whose currencies Binance doesn't support using the service, I suspect they relied on wire transfers in USD....

nl 4y ago
This implies these specific people in the developing world have access to a US bank, in which case they aren't exactly the people meant when referring to "financial inclusion". Instead the international transfers are generally done via crypto (one thing it does well) and then you "know someone" who will give you cash on the other side (usually in US Dollars). Over the last few years in Lebanon this has become pretty common: n absence of a formal framework, traders use a peer-to-peer swapping system, contacting one of a handful of established crypto-to-cash brokers in Lebanon or finding a buyer through social media. https://www.arabianbusiness.com/money/wealth/alternative-assets/465577-how-crypto-remittances-offer-lebanese-way-around-defunct-financial-system https://www.arabianbusiness.com/money/wealth/alternative-ass... I don't really understand what the "quiet part" they are referring to is supposed to be.
- notahacker 4y ago
  > This implies these specific people in the developing world have access to a US bank, in which case they aren't exactly the people meant when referring to "financial inclusion". No, it implies they (or a person they're informally swapping their crypto for cash with) have access to a bank which accepts inbound wire transfers in USD, which is pretty common in economies with weak local currencies, as pointed out above with the example of Sri Lanka. That's a larger, less rich and less American set of people than those with access to a US bank account (who appear to be able to continue to use ACH for withdrawals for now). Or to put the "quiet part" yet another way, cryptoenthusiasts were suggesting quite different things about numbers of developing world people using crypto (USDT even!) as a store of value when a platform wasn't rugpulling a major cashout route for them...

nl 4y ago

This implies these specific people in the developing world have access to a US bank, in which case they aren't exactly the people meant when referring to "financial inclusion". Instead the international transfers are generally done via crypto (one thing it does well) and then you "know someone" who will give you cash on the other side (usually in US Dollars). Over the last few years in Lebanon this has become pretty common: n absence of a formal framework, traders use a peer-to-peer swapping system, contacting one of a handful of established crypto-to-cash brokers in Lebanon or finding a buyer through social media. https://www.arabianbusiness.com/money/wealth/alternative-assets/465577-how-crypto-remittances-offer-lebanese-way-around-defunct-financial-system https://www.arabianbusiness.com/money/wealth/alternative-ass... I don't really understand what the "quiet part" they are referring to is supposed to be.

notahacker 4y ago
> This implies these specific people in the developing world have access to a US bank, in which case they aren't exactly the people meant when referring to "financial inclusion". No, it implies they (or a person they're informally swapping their crypto for cash with) have access to a bank which accepts inbound wire transfers in USD, which is pretty common in economies with weak local currencies, as pointed out above with the example of Sri Lanka. That's a larger, less rich and less American set of people than those with access to a US bank account (who appear to be able to continue to use ACH for withdrawals for now). Or to put the "quiet part" yet another way, cryptoenthusiasts were suggesting quite different things about numbers of developing world people using crypto (USDT even!) as a store of value when a platform wasn't rugpulling a major cashout route for them...