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One situation is if you live in a country with highly inflationary currency, it's a hedge against loss of value even in the short term. This argument goes for a
by block_dagger 2y ago
One situation is if you live in a country with highly inflationary currency, it's a hedge against loss of value even in the short term. This argument goes for any inflationary currency, including USD, in the long term. This stems from Bitcoin's inherent design of provably predictable scarcity.
- robryan 2y agoYeah it is fair to say it depends on the choices someone has. If I can stick USD into a high interest savings account though it seems like a much safer way to keep value.
- RivieraKid 2y agoIf it's possible to buy Bitcoin in such a country, I would assume it would be possible to buy dollars, bonds or stocks. But maybe not. My guess is that inflation-protection in a 3rd world country is only a very minor reason for Bitcoin ownership, i.e. the vast majority of Bitcoins are owned for different reasons. Which has implications for its future price.
- rokkitmensch 2y agoRelatives can buy btc stateside and relay it to you with pretty much no interference from local tax authorities or sanctions regimes. There's value in this, Americans who are long America just hate admitting it.
- MadnessASAP 2y agoSo, the thing is, that's not actually a feature.
- arandomusername 2y agoWhat next, privacy in tor is not a feature too? Greatest heist of the century is the government convincing people that they don't need financial freedom and privacy.
- rokkitmensch 2y agoAgain, not for you. Just because something undermines the tools of hegemony your comfy lifestyle depends on does not mean it's not a feature for other people with other priorities.
- MadnessASAP 2y agoYou can fuck all the way off with your opinion on my lifestyle or how comfy it is. I, and everyone else who doesn't live in some sort of anarchistic dreamland recognizes that denying resources to people whose priorities include terrorism and dictatorships is a good thing. You want to push for reforms to the current system that makes it easier to bring wealth to developing nations then I'd be all on board. To throw out the whole system in favour of something that enables oppression and hoarding of wealth only benefits those who already have power and wealth. Anarchism sounds great when you think of being free to do whatever you want. It becomes less fun when you remember it also means the freedom to die in a ditch.
- rokkitmensch 2y agoDidn't mean to trigger you! I'm not an anarchist by any stretch of the imagination, so to turn it around, "you can fuck all the way off with your strawman characterizations of my personal politics". Upstack, and far less incendiarily, I merely advocate for alternatives (to the colonialist racist USG /s). Monocrops are as bad in government as they are in food production.
- whimsicalism 2y agoLots of derivatives, particularly tether and dai and usdc, are held significantly due to 3rd world countries with capital controls. It is much safer and easier to hold than a sack of dollars. Also very easy for remittances.
- robocat 2y agoThe point isn’t whether bitcoin is legal within the country. The point is whether it is better than the official currency. Great article on Argentina: https://www.freethink.com/hard-tech/crypto-argentina-black-market-cash https://www.freethink.com/hard-tech/crypto-argentina-black-m...
- hiq 2y ago> it's a hedge against loss of value even in the short term If BTC with such a volatility can be considered an inflation hedge, then anything else can be as well. There's no intrinsic guarantee that BTC will keep going up, its protocol only defines the supply and not the demand, hence not its price either. Actually I'm not convinced that BTC is favored as an inflation hedge instead of even USD-based stablecoins for people with currencies devaluating faster than USD.