2 ms·

What is USD “backed by”? It’s not gold and it’s not any USG promise to pay. Stablecoins don’t need to be backed by anything to be stable. I agree with most o

by sneak 3y ago

What is USD “backed by”? It’s not gold and it’s not any USG promise to pay. Stablecoins don’t need to be backed by anything to be stable. I agree with most of what you say, but that doesn’t actually refute my point that stablecoins are, in fact, more stable than most cryptocurrencies. They are more than stable enough to use for a payment aggregation layer for a few days. I even agree with you about Tether being a fraud; I still use USDT every day (with that knowledge) because it is, well, stable. One day it won’t be, but most days, it is.

colesantiago 3y ago
At least we know it was backed by _something_, fiat is the worst system except all the others. Yet USD is legal tender for US taxes and there is a shared interest in using USD rather than some risky unknown potemkin token like 'stablecoins', which nobody accepts or wants. And you cannot pay US taxes with your stablecoins, so there's that. > Stablecoins don’t need to be backed by anything to be stable... So then we will get a LUNA situation of being backed by 'algorithms' then everyone is screwed when the token inevitably goes to zero. Recommended Reading: https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/stablecoins.html https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/stablecoins.html
- sneak 3y ago
  > rather than some risky unknown potemkin token like 'stablecoins', which nobody accepts or wants. I know many, many people in many countries who accept stablecoins as cash-equivalent. I think perhaps you underestimate the market.
ffgjgf1 3y ago
Stable coins are pegged to $ so they need to be backed by it (or other assets denominated in $) pretty much be definition
redavni 3y ago
The USD is backed by US Military, The Secret Service, ~165 million highly educated wage earners, a long tradition of capitalism, and millions of accountants making things more complicated than they need to be. Long term trends towards socialism and marxism are serious threats to dollar valuation though.
- sneak 3y ago
  We have very different definitions of “backed”, then, and are probably talking at cross purposes.

by sneak 3y ago

colesantiago 3y ago

At least we know it was backed by _something_, fiat is the worst system except all the others. Yet USD is legal tender for US taxes and there is a shared interest in using USD rather than some risky unknown potemkin token like 'stablecoins', which nobody accepts or wants. And you cannot pay US taxes with your stablecoins, so there's that. > Stablecoins don’t need to be backed by anything to be stable... So then we will get a LUNA situation of being backed by 'algorithms' then everyone is screwed when the token inevitably goes to zero. Recommended Reading: https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/stablecoins.html https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/stablecoins.html

sneak 3y ago
> rather than some risky unknown potemkin token like 'stablecoins', which nobody accepts or wants. I know many, many people in many countries who accept stablecoins as cash-equivalent. I think perhaps you underestimate the market.

ffgjgf1 3y ago

Stable coins are pegged to $ so they need to be backed by it (or other assets denominated in $) pretty much be definition

redavni 3y ago

The USD is backed by US Military, The Secret Service, ~165 million highly educated wage earners, a long tradition of capitalism, and millions of accountants making things more complicated than they need to be. Long term trends towards socialism and marxism are serious threats to dollar valuation though.

sneak 3y ago
We have very different definitions of “backed”, then, and are probably talking at cross purposes.