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The article is devoid of substance. > All but two of the top 20 countries for crypto adoption are emerging markets, with countries like Venezuela, El Salvador

The article is devoid of substance. > All but two of the top 20 countries for crypto adoption are emerging markets, with countries like Venezuela, El Salvador and Nigeria becoming test beds for whether cryptocurrencies could offer a balm to countries ravaged by inflation and depreciating official currencies. There is a reason why people in Venezuela and Argentina flock to currency different from the wildly inflating fiat currency. > But the central banks group said that crypto assets increased financial stability risks in emerging market economies, as a weaker rule of law could make it harder to enforce contracts, while “inconsistent enforcement can create confusion and raise market risk”. These countries already have weak rule of law. If anything, smart contracts could be an improvement where presidential candidates are assassinated and narco terrorists bribe judges and police.

jacobwilliamroy 3y ago
I always thought the word "contract" in crypto was more of a metaphor than an actual contract. Kind of like how filesystems have "folders" even though the "folders" in a filesystem aren't anything like real folders at all.
- landemva 3y ago
  The "contract" is just a computer program with the bytecode deployed on-chain.
troupo 3y ago
> If anything, smart contracts could be an improvement where presidential candidates are assassinated and narco terrorists bribe judges and police. You cannot fix social issues with limited code dealing with digital assets only written in esotheric programming languages so impenetrable that their own authors and multiple audits routinely miss trivial exploitable issues.
nicholasbraker 3y ago
So to evade hyperinflation one uses an asset which is more volatile, and in the case of BTC, is deflationary by nature. Which as in _investment_ is fine, but as a means of payment not, as the whole essence of a _sensible_ amount (2-3%) of inflation is a driver for economic growth. The problem with this statement is that using one evil to escape the other which doesn't make sense. Countries with a weak rule of law shouldn't (monetary wise) not be made weaker by using a volatile and highly (let's not deny it..) manipulative asset.
- LatteLazy 3y ago
  Bitcoin has been very stable against the USD for a while now. And that's just bitcoin, stable coins are more reliable. And of course inflation only robs holders, at least volatility goes in your favour half the time. I also would not call it an investment: there is no reason to expect prices to rise. Bitcoin does not grow in the way a company can (making shares an investment) or pay interest like a bond. It's at best a speculative asset, like maybe gold?
  - troupo 3y ago
    > Bitcoin has been very stable against the USD for a while now. But isn't stable against itself. People who got in first are infinitely richer than people who would buy it a generation from now.
    - landemva 3y ago
      Same for grandpa who got in first with farmland and just sold to housing developers. At least people a generation from now can go to GitHub and fork the btc or eth open source code and make a run at starting their own chain.
      - troupo 3y ago
        > At least people a generation from now can go to GitHub and fork the btc or eth open source code and make a run at starting their own chain. And that will help them how exactly? There are thousands of chains and coins with total adoption and value of zero
  - minsc_and_boo 3y ago
    >And that's just bitcoin, stable coins are more reliable. Until they submit to agnostic third party audits, they're not stable.
  - nicholasbraker 3y ago
    Agreed with this nuance w/ regards to investment vs. asset. But IMHO even if volatility goes in your favor half the time it's still not a viable alternative. If the value of an asset is dependent on what a future buyer is willing to pay for it without taking the implicit value into consideration I leave it as an exercise to the reader how this will end ;-)

jacobwilliamroy 3y ago

I always thought the word "contract" in crypto was more of a metaphor than an actual contract. Kind of like how filesystems have "folders" even though the "folders" in a filesystem aren't anything like real folders at all.

landemva 3y ago
The "contract" is just a computer program with the bytecode deployed on-chain.

troupo 3y ago

> If anything, smart contracts could be an improvement where presidential candidates are assassinated and narco terrorists bribe judges and police. You cannot fix social issues with limited code dealing with digital assets only written in esotheric programming languages so impenetrable that their own authors and multiple audits routinely miss trivial exploitable issues.

nicholasbraker 3y ago

So to evade hyperinflation one uses an asset which is more volatile, and in the case of BTC, is deflationary by nature. Which as in _investment_ is fine, but as a means of payment not, as the whole essence of a _sensible_ amount (2-3%) of inflation is a driver for economic growth. The problem with this statement is that using one evil to escape the other which doesn't make sense. Countries with a weak rule of law shouldn't (monetary wise) not be made weaker by using a volatile and highly (let's not deny it..) manipulative asset.

LatteLazy 3y ago
Bitcoin has been very stable against the USD for a while now. And that's just bitcoin, stable coins are more reliable. And of course inflation only robs holders, at least volatility goes in your favour half the time. I also would not call it an investment: there is no reason to expect prices to rise. Bitcoin does not grow in the way a company can (making shares an investment) or pay interest like a bond. It's at best a speculative asset, like maybe gold?
- troupo 3y ago
  > Bitcoin has been very stable against the USD for a while now. But isn't stable against itself. People who got in first are infinitely richer than people who would buy it a generation from now.
  - landemva 3y ago
    Same for grandpa who got in first with farmland and just sold to housing developers. At least people a generation from now can go to GitHub and fork the btc or eth open source code and make a run at starting their own chain.
    - troupo 3y ago
      > At least people a generation from now can go to GitHub and fork the btc or eth open source code and make a run at starting their own chain. And that will help them how exactly? There are thousands of chains and coins with total adoption and value of zero
- minsc_and_boo 3y ago
  >And that's just bitcoin, stable coins are more reliable. Until they submit to agnostic third party audits, they're not stable.
- nicholasbraker 3y ago
  Agreed with this nuance w/ regards to investment vs. asset. But IMHO even if volatility goes in your favor half the time it's still not a viable alternative. If the value of an asset is dependent on what a future buyer is willing to pay for it without taking the implicit value into consideration I leave it as an exercise to the reader how this will end ;-)