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It works well for sending money across the world. Seems like a nice thing to be able to do.

petesergeant 3y ago
> It works well for sending money across the world What is “well” here? Using Wise or similar almost always ends up cheaper and faster when you factor in the need to go to/from fiat, and the chances that you’ll fat-finger the transfer and lose your money, get difficult questions from your bank, or that Wise will collapse with your balance are much reduced as compared to using crypto for this. If you’re trying to evade capital controls, however immoral you may consider them, well that’s something different.
- TheDudeMan 3y ago
  How many times has the Bitcoin network collapsed?
  - petesergeant 3y ago
    The network? No idea, but I suspect low. The exchanges that the vast majority of humans will need to use to convert to and from fiat? I think it's easier to count the ones that haven't collapsed tbh
ProjectArcturis 3y ago
Does it? If it works well for that, why hasn't it replaced Western Union after all this time?
- TheDudeMan 3y ago
  You'd have to ask the people who prefer Western Union.
cft 3y ago
When i was in Ukraine before the war an ATM ate my debit card. Being stranded in a foreign country without an ATM card is pretty difficult. I thought that as soon as I walk into that Russian-owned Alpha Bank I would get my ATM card back. It actually took 4 days of daily visits and arguing with them in English and sometimes even in Spanish, where they asked me to write a letter to Kiev in Ukrainian, and wait a month for a decision. After that experience I was afraid to insert my ATM card into any bank machine over there. Instead I started buying Bitcoin on Coinbase and selling it at the local Bitcoin outfit for Hryvna and USD, to pay my rent.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  That's cool. One day my debit card refused to work. I walked out of the supermarket into the bank that literally shared the parking lot, they told me it had been possibly compromised so they killed it so I wouldn't lose any money. They then printed me a brand new debit card right then and there, and I walked back into the store and bought my stuff. What I'm saying is that what you experienced is not a technology problem, and nothing about cryptocurrency inherently fixes that problem. I could absolutely create a cryptocurrency that puts you through mountains of bullshit and bureaucracy anytime you want to make an account or wallet.
rvz 3y ago
Exactly. For example there is this with Stellar [0] which is certainly a use case for sending money across the world into crypto wallets, same day, near instant and very low fees. But most HNers here are not begging for donations, or suffering from starvation or are currently at war (Ukraine) or not experiencing hyperinflation (Argentina) and are not the ones who experienced their bank accounts getting locked after protesting against their government (Canada). But never-mind. But a clear pattern I’ve seen on HN is that they only care as long as it directly affects them. (For example, look at the herd reaction about the Bob Lee situation in San Francisco [1]) Since they are not experiencing all of the above and are comfortably sitting in their chairs browsing on this site on their computers, why would they care about crypto use-cases since it doesn’t affect their luxuries, yet? [0] https://stellar.org/moneygram https://stellar.org/moneygram [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448899 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448899
- Eisenstein 3y ago
  This kind of 'you only care if it affects you' argument is so disingenuous it makes my eyes bleed. You only care about crypto because you invested in it. Please tell me how much volunteer work you have put in for food relief or refugee causes then tell me how much money you have put into crypto and then let's see if you can claim the moral high ground.
  - rvz 3y ago
    > This kind of 'you only care if it affects you' argument is so disingenuous it makes my eyes bleed. No it isn't as it is true on this site and the truth hurts and bleeds your eyes doesn't it? Obviously people like you can't stand it due to your highly emotional reaction. > You only care about crypto because you invested in it. Please. Speculating on a stablecoin which the Stellar and Moneygram use case is for sending stable currencies for worldwide payments cheaply and instantly is hardly useful as an 'investment'. > Please tell me how much volunteer work you have put in for food relief or refugee causes then tell me how much money you have put into crypto and then let's see if you can claim the moral high ground. I can tell that people like you complaining have about it here isn't a solution to helping the refugees such as the ones in Ukraine for example or any of the help they need or anything close to a solution, whilst others are providing a solution today. [0] So this is indeed a great crypto use case that you yourself realise that it works. [0] https://thefintechtimes.com/stellar-aid-assist-creates-new-relief-fund-delivery-platform-for-ukraine/ https://thefintechtimes.com/stellar-aid-assist-creates-new-r...

> It works well for sending money across the world What is “well” here? Using Wise or similar almost always ends up cheaper and faster when you factor in the need to go to/from fiat, and the chances that you’ll fat-finger the transfer and lose your money, get difficult questions from your bank, or that Wise will collapse with your balance are much reduced as compared to using crypto for this. If you’re trying to evade capital controls, however immoral you may consider them, well that’s something different.

TheDudeMan 3y ago
How many times has the Bitcoin network collapsed?
- petesergeant 3y ago
  The network? No idea, but I suspect low. The exchanges that the vast majority of humans will need to use to convert to and from fiat? I think it's easier to count the ones that haven't collapsed tbh

ProjectArcturis 3y ago

Does it? If it works well for that, why hasn't it replaced Western Union after all this time?

TheDudeMan 3y ago
You'd have to ask the people who prefer Western Union.

cft 3y ago

When i was in Ukraine before the war an ATM ate my debit card. Being stranded in a foreign country without an ATM card is pretty difficult. I thought that as soon as I walk into that Russian-owned Alpha Bank I would get my ATM card back. It actually took 4 days of daily visits and arguing with them in English and sometimes even in Spanish, where they asked me to write a letter to Kiev in Ukrainian, and wait a month for a decision. After that experience I was afraid to insert my ATM card into any bank machine over there. Instead I started buying Bitcoin on Coinbase and selling it at the local Bitcoin outfit for Hryvna and USD, to pay my rent.

mrguyorama 3y ago
That's cool. One day my debit card refused to work. I walked out of the supermarket into the bank that literally shared the parking lot, they told me it had been possibly compromised so they killed it so I wouldn't lose any money. They then printed me a brand new debit card right then and there, and I walked back into the store and bought my stuff. What I'm saying is that what you experienced is not a technology problem, and nothing about cryptocurrency inherently fixes that problem. I could absolutely create a cryptocurrency that puts you through mountains of bullshit and bureaucracy anytime you want to make an account or wallet.

rvz 3y ago

Exactly. For example there is this with Stellar [0] which is certainly a use case for sending money across the world into crypto wallets, same day, near instant and very low fees. But most HNers here are not begging for donations, or suffering from starvation or are currently at war (Ukraine) or not experiencing hyperinflation (Argentina) and are not the ones who experienced their bank accounts getting locked after protesting against their government (Canada). But never-mind. But a clear pattern I’ve seen on HN is that they only care as long as it directly affects them. (For example, look at the herd reaction about the Bob Lee situation in San Francisco [1]) Since they are not experiencing all of the above and are comfortably sitting in their chairs browsing on this site on their computers, why would they care about crypto use-cases since it doesn’t affect their luxuries, yet? [0] https://stellar.org/moneygram https://stellar.org/moneygram [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448899 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35448899

Eisenstein 3y ago
This kind of 'you only care if it affects you' argument is so disingenuous it makes my eyes bleed. You only care about crypto because you invested in it. Please tell me how much volunteer work you have put in for food relief or refugee causes then tell me how much money you have put into crypto and then let's see if you can claim the moral high ground.
- rvz 3y ago
  > This kind of 'you only care if it affects you' argument is so disingenuous it makes my eyes bleed. No it isn't as it is true on this site and the truth hurts and bleeds your eyes doesn't it? Obviously people like you can't stand it due to your highly emotional reaction. > You only care about crypto because you invested in it. Please. Speculating on a stablecoin which the Stellar and Moneygram use case is for sending stable currencies for worldwide payments cheaply and instantly is hardly useful as an 'investment'. > Please tell me how much volunteer work you have put in for food relief or refugee causes then tell me how much money you have put into crypto and then let's see if you can claim the moral high ground. I can tell that people like you complaining have about it here isn't a solution to helping the refugees such as the ones in Ukraine for example or any of the help they need or anything close to a solution, whilst others are providing a solution today. [0] So this is indeed a great crypto use case that you yourself realise that it works. [0] https://thefintechtimes.com/stellar-aid-assist-creates-new-relief-fund-delivery-platform-for-ukraine/ https://thefintechtimes.com/stellar-aid-assist-creates-new-r...