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Well, if you have some zimbabwean dollars, in most parts of the world you pretty much have to "cash out" and convert to a different currency, if you want to spe

Well, if you have some zimbabwean dollars, in most parts of the world you pretty much have to "cash out" and convert to a different currency, if you want to spend these. If you have a "respectable" currency like EUR and, say, you need to pay taxes in the US, you still have to convert to USD, because the IRS only accepts USD. Are ZWL and EUR "real" currencies? It all comes down to the list of currencies that the other party accepts. Your bank can probably auto-convert EUR in your account to USD and make the payment seemless. But there are cards issued by crypto exchanges that can auto-convert your crypto for fiat payments as well

User23 3y ago
Conversion (swapping actually) is a real operation and can’t just be abstracted away. It matters considerably.
acdha 3y ago
That’s like saying Esperanto is the same as English because both are languages, ignoring scale. Outside of a handful failed countries, most people can use their local currency for almost all of their needs. The problem for cryptocurrencies has been this is not true because they don’t offer enough of an advantage to shift that local currency usage and thus very few businesses accept them.
phone8675309 3y ago
> there are cards issued by crypto exchanges that can auto-convert your crypto for fiat payments as well The whole point of the article is that these are not universally available and that exchanges can and will shut you down. How does having a magic card that turns crypto in to fiat work if the exchange has banned you?
- Expurple 3y ago
  > How does having a magic card that turns crypto in to fiat work if the exchange has banned you? It doesn't. That's the point of the article. However, this problem is not exclusive to crypto cards. The person in question turned to crypto in the first place because her bank/Paypal/etc blocked her. With crypto, at least there are non-magic alternatives: p2p, crypto ATMs, etc

User23 3y ago

Conversion (swapping actually) is a real operation and can’t just be abstracted away. It matters considerably.

acdha 3y ago

That’s like saying Esperanto is the same as English because both are languages, ignoring scale. Outside of a handful failed countries, most people can use their local currency for almost all of their needs. The problem for cryptocurrencies has been this is not true because they don’t offer enough of an advantage to shift that local currency usage and thus very few businesses accept them.

phone8675309 3y ago

> there are cards issued by crypto exchanges that can auto-convert your crypto for fiat payments as well The whole point of the article is that these are not universally available and that exchanges can and will shut you down. How does having a magic card that turns crypto in to fiat work if the exchange has banned you?

Expurple 3y ago
> How does having a magic card that turns crypto in to fiat work if the exchange has banned you? It doesn't. That's the point of the article. However, this problem is not exclusive to crypto cards. The person in question turned to crypto in the first place because her bank/Paypal/etc blocked her. With crypto, at least there are non-magic alternatives: p2p, crypto ATMs, etc