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No, in many countries you cannot buy USD directly. You also cannot store USD in a local bank account. And in various places it's explicitly forbidden to hold US

No, in many countries you cannot buy USD directly. You also cannot store USD in a local bank account. And in various places it's explicitly forbidden to hold USD as savings because it would devalue local currency if everyone started transacting in USD instead. So, the "C" makes USD exposure available to anyone worldwide, assuming you have e.g. an Ethereum wallet.

pHollda 4y ago
If anyone doubts that this is just a theory, I can confirm it. I live in third-world countries and use USDC exactly for this.
- FabHK 4y ago
  I have lived and travelled extensively in second and third world countries, and almost never had a problem buying or selling USD. Well, in some places there were indeed capital controls (Argentina, China), but that's rare, and I doubt use of USDC is legal then for the circumvention of regulation (which is basically the only use case of crypto).
  - kaladin_1 4y ago
    If only you know the long queue you have to join now if you want to buy dollars from a Nigerian bank. Not just that you have to fill a form saying what the money is for which had better be one of the things in their list, you have to wait for months to get credited.
    - capableweb 4y ago
      Many people visiting countries saying "I have been able to use USD wherever I go, I could even pay for dinners" miss the fact that it's often different for the people who live there, who are gonna have to integrate with the local legal/financial process in order to get their local currency. The tourist hardly have to care about it, and then they tell the internet that there is no problems.
- capableweb 4y ago
  I have family in third-world countries, and usually have them buy me flight tickets when I want to visit them. Cheapest way and easiest for them to withdraw, is me sending them USDC. Some of them use USDC directly to exchange with friends for goods and services, others manage to sell them P2P in their country for USD, which they can then trade for local currency. Messy, inefficient and UX could be way better, but it works and is cheapest for everyone involved.
Scoundreller 4y ago
The big one is that many countries do offer foreign currency accounts, but don’t properly hold reserves for them, so the security is there until it isn’t.
- FabHK 4y ago
  So a bit like stable coins? And do you have a source?
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/international/central-bank-of-russia-limits-foreign-cash-withdrawals-until-sept-9-122030900107_1.html https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/international/... https://amp.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3008795/chinese-banks-quietly-lower-daily-limit-foreign-currency https://amp.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/300879... https://enterprise.press/stories/2022/10/09/major-local-banks-set-withdrawal-limits-on-using-debit-and-credit-cards-abroad-cbe-reportedly-mulls-allowing-ndfs-to-trade-83201/ https://enterprise.press/stories/2022/10/09/major-local-bank... https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2022/2/3/lebanon-us-dollar-savers-fear-theyll-foot-crisis-bill https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2022/2/3/lebanon-us-do... > No withdrawals were allowed from accounts denominated in U.S. dollars, unless the owner agreed to convert the funds into pesos. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito
    - FabHK 4y ago
      These appear to be cases where government regulation was imposed to limit access to foreign currency. Not, as you seemed to be insinuating ("but don’t properly hold reserves for them"), any problem with banks carrying insufficient reserves. So, there was neither a technological problem moving fiat in our out of the country that would be amenable to a technological fix, nor unintended weaknesses in the regulatory regime covering local banks. Rather, it was deliberate government policy.
      - 4y ago
re-thc 4y ago
Except it does a lot more than that as highlighted here. It's not just a USD + exposure. It's pretend to be USD + its own set of risks. I'd rather buy USD or if you can't then do something else.
vasco 4y ago
So you are saying that there are countries where USDC is legal while opening a foreign brokerage account like IBKR and converting your currency to USD is illegal? And this is not just a perceived loophole? Could you give an example of a country like this so I could google?
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Important question is that what would happen if someone started asking pointed questions? About why do you transact in this and doesn't it go against laws. Would the stance actually hold...
- Gare 4y ago
  Yeah, how is this different than black market trading (which happened a lot in ex-communist countries including mine, but the currency traded was usually German mark).

pHollda 4y ago

If anyone doubts that this is just a theory, I can confirm it. I live in third-world countries and use USDC exactly for this.

FabHK 4y ago
I have lived and travelled extensively in second and third world countries, and almost never had a problem buying or selling USD. Well, in some places there were indeed capital controls (Argentina, China), but that's rare, and I doubt use of USDC is legal then for the circumvention of regulation (which is basically the only use case of crypto).
- kaladin_1 4y ago
  If only you know the long queue you have to join now if you want to buy dollars from a Nigerian bank. Not just that you have to fill a form saying what the money is for which had better be one of the things in their list, you have to wait for months to get credited.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    Many people visiting countries saying "I have been able to use USD wherever I go, I could even pay for dinners" miss the fact that it's often different for the people who live there, who are gonna have to integrate with the local legal/financial process in order to get their local currency. The tourist hardly have to care about it, and then they tell the internet that there is no problems.
capableweb 4y ago
I have family in third-world countries, and usually have them buy me flight tickets when I want to visit them. Cheapest way and easiest for them to withdraw, is me sending them USDC. Some of them use USDC directly to exchange with friends for goods and services, others manage to sell them P2P in their country for USD, which they can then trade for local currency. Messy, inefficient and UX could be way better, but it works and is cheapest for everyone involved.

Scoundreller 4y ago

The big one is that many countries do offer foreign currency accounts, but don’t properly hold reserves for them, so the security is there until it isn’t.

FabHK 4y ago
So a bit like stable coins? And do you have a source?
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/international/central-bank-of-russia-limits-foreign-cash-withdrawals-until-sept-9-122030900107_1.html https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/international/... https://amp.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3008795/chinese-banks-quietly-lower-daily-limit-foreign-currency https://amp.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/300879... https://enterprise.press/stories/2022/10/09/major-local-banks-set-withdrawal-limits-on-using-debit-and-credit-cards-abroad-cbe-reportedly-mulls-allowing-ndfs-to-trade-83201/ https://enterprise.press/stories/2022/10/09/major-local-bank... https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2022/2/3/lebanon-us-dollar-savers-fear-theyll-foot-crisis-bill https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/economy/2022/2/3/lebanon-us-do... > No withdrawals were allowed from accounts denominated in U.S. dollars, unless the owner agreed to convert the funds into pesos. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito
  - FabHK 4y ago
    These appear to be cases where government regulation was imposed to limit access to foreign currency. Not, as you seemed to be insinuating ("but don’t properly hold reserves for them"), any problem with banks carrying insufficient reserves. So, there was neither a technological problem moving fiat in our out of the country that would be amenable to a technological fix, nor unintended weaknesses in the regulatory regime covering local banks. Rather, it was deliberate government policy.
    - 4y ago

re-thc 4y ago

Except it does a lot more than that as highlighted here. It's not just a USD + exposure. It's pretend to be USD + its own set of risks. I'd rather buy USD or if you can't then do something else.

vasco 4y ago

So you are saying that there are countries where USDC is legal while opening a foreign brokerage account like IBKR and converting your currency to USD is illegal? And this is not just a perceived loophole? Could you give an example of a country like this so I could google?

Ekaros 4y ago
Important question is that what would happen if someone started asking pointed questions? About why do you transact in this and doesn't it go against laws. Would the stance actually hold...
Gare 4y ago
Yeah, how is this different than black market trading (which happened a lot in ex-communist countries including mine, but the currency traded was usually German mark).