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Crypto does have a valid case for paying people for work across country boundaries when financial systems to do this are unreliable or non-existent. (Or has pro
by kayodelycaon 3y ago
Crypto does have a valid case for paying people for work across country boundaries when financial systems to do this are unreliable or non-existent. (Or has prohibitive fees.)
In some cases, doesn't event violate any laws! :)
- lockhouse 3y agoThe problem is that in practice a significant amount of this “work” is criminal activity with very real victims.
- kayodelycaon 3y agoWhich would most likely be violating a law in the process. :)
- mjburgess 3y agoWho are these people who have a bank card to use with a crypto exchange, yet do not have access to international banking? Oh, yes! Of course. Criminals.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoOr honest people who live in countries that have a lot of criminals and/or have a corrupt government. Life is extremely tough for legitimate businesses in countries such as Nigeria, due to the government's incompetence (some say active collusion) in dealing with fraud. Banks generally won't touch them, and even if they do, transactions are often delayed for weeks.
- mjburgess 3y agoRight... so how do they acquire cryptocurrency?
- Al0neStar 3y agoI enjoy your takes on AI/ML but as someone who lives in Iran if not for crypto i'd be homeless.
- mjburgess 3y agoCould you explain how you obtain crypto in iran? I guess you have a bank account, but your bank is under sanctions? How does that help you? I am interested in there actually being a use-case; but i've never actually encountered one which survives contact with reality.
- Al0neStar 3y agoI get paid in USDC for programming gigs and third party exchanges in Iran convert it to Rials for me. The third party exchanges resell crypto to other Iranians who want to use it to buy sanctioned digital goods. It is the widespread use of crypto that makes this possible if it wasn't mainstream then there wouldn't be a difference between getting paid in crypto and a Google Play gift card.
- williamcotton 3y agoThere are plenty of unjust laws around the world that make otherwise good people into criminals!
- pleaselegalize 3y agoMaybe, but I'm glad I can get top-notch LSD delivered in 2 days using crypto.
- lockhouse 3y agoSo paying criminals. Before anyone says paying criminals for illegal drugs is a victimless crime, remember that a significant portion of the illegal drug trade is run by the cartels and other organized crime organizations which do victimize people.
- pleaselegalize 3y agoI'm already paying criminals every time I pay my taxes. Hell, even when I fill up my car with gas, or when I buy meds. If you really want to live ethically and not pay criminals, you have to be autonomous. The real crime here is preventing me from opening my third eye!
- DoItToMe81 3y agoOr people deemed to not deserve access to services (the entire nation of Russia recently). Or people who were cut off from payment processing, like Wikileaks.
- mjburgess 3y agoIf crypto was, at any point, not a tool of the rich elite of those countries then immediately, it would be banned. Crypto isn't magic -- indeed, it's vastly more sensitive to state control, since anyone in control over any local part of the network can completely disable the system.
- tehjoker 3y agosounds like the foundation of iran-contra 2