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The fact is that bitcoin's current primary use-case is long term store of value. To use bitcoin is to simply hold it for years, protecting yourself from the dil
by npoc 2y ago
The fact is that bitcoin's current primary use-case is long term store of value. To use bitcoin is to simply hold it for years, protecting yourself from the dilution of value that occurs in any other liquid asset in the world, of which fiat currencies are the worst.
Once you stop looking at the world through the fiat lens, things make far more sense. For example, house prices are currently the lowest they've been in 40 years, if you use gold as your unit of account.
- mcmcmc 2y agoIllicit trade and money laundering are the only real use cases for crypto. Full stop.
- PCalvanelli 2y agoCash is primarily used for illegal transactions, tax evasion, and illicit activities. There’s little legitimate reason for people to use it.
- ronsor 2y agoOnline anonymity only allows bad actors to spread propaganda and misinformation. There's no reason to have it.
- XorNot 2y agoI mean that's literally true though? The reason we have cash is (1) we used to not have widespread electronic instant settlement systems and (2) because you still generally need some type of physical fallback system because we energy sources and communications networks aren't always up. Bitcoin is bad at 1 - 7 transactions per second (something something lightning network), and completely fails at (2) because it can't settle transactions without the internet, and electricity.
- SilasX 2y agoThat may be what you think of as the core reason for cash to exist, but you shouldn't speak for others, who may see the privacy as a more relevant upside.
- BriggyDwiggs42 2y agoBuying illegal drugs is often legitimate imo.
- aorloff 2y agoWhat about government services that only take cash ? Private transactions of a non-criminal nature ? Legal wagers made in casinos ? Your imagination is lacking my friend.
- catlikesshrimp 2y agoIt is not like crime depends on cash. Panama papers, tax paradises etc. Cash enables some illegal activity, but at least for me the benefits FAR outweight the obvious consequences
- mcmcmc 2y agoThis is false. Cash is legal tender.
- JumpCrisscross 2y agoNot what that means.
- mcmcmc 2y agoWas responding to this > There’s little legitimate reason for people to use it. Cash is “legal tender, for all debts public and private”. Pretty sure that’s a legitimate use.
- Shosty123 2y agoIf you know a way to pay someone across the world in seconds for cents in transaction fees, I’m open for alternatives.
- Tesl 2y agoI pay people globally through HSBC all the time. Works instantly. I never understand this argument anyway. If you can't send funds instantly that isn't because the currently itself can't be transferred instantly - it's because for whatever reason you don't have access to a provider that will provide that service. That's a separate problem and can be solved without having to build an entirely new currency / financial system.
- rendall 2y ago>> Illicit trade and money laundering are the only real use cases for crypto. Full stop. > HSBC... Also a conduit for illicit trade and money laundering. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59689581 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59689581
- Shosty123 2y agoI highly doubt your claim. There is no mechanism to send money internationally (at least in Canada) that is both near-instant and free or near-free.
- cj 2y agoYou can't pay someone "in seconds" with Bitcoin. Oftentimes it takes up to 5 minutes just for the transaction to begin, and usually more than 20 minutes for the transfer to complete.
- Shosty123 2y agoRight, I use SOL, not Bitcoin. Transactions are pretty much instant and cost a couple cents.
- HWR_14 2y agoVISA/MC work well. Banks seems to also be able to send the money trivially.
- bwestergard 2y ago"house prices are currently the lowest they've been in 40 years, if you use gold as your unit of account." Houses prices are also very low compared to 40 years ago if you use Grade A Eggs as your unit of account. So what? Bitcoin seems like a pretty bad store of value because it's more volatile than most index funds.
- MuffinFlavored 2y agoI think a lot of people are waiting for this BTC fad to be over, its current round of manipulation to run dry, and for it to fall to obscurity.
- conductr 2y agoI've been waiting for that since that one time it shot up to ~$30 and then crashed to ~$5, I thought it was the blow it needed to kill it... jokes on me I guess
- samatman 2y agoMarkets can stay rational longer than you can stay insolvent.
- samatman 2y agoOh hey, all time high, right on schedule.
- vdvsvwvwvwvwv 2y agoBitcoin is a bad store of value because there is no value. If you look at Bitcoin as in game tokens, but one where tokens are given away to people who prove they have burned cash, you see it is a negative sum system. Even Gold as store of value is questionable. It is a commodity. But we are entering naked empiror territory and I will avoid that hill. Back to Bitcoin: it is basically a bet on mass adoption. If that mass adoption doesn't happen it is a ponzi. If it does the price should stabilize, even then not sure if it is a store of value. Disclaimer. I actually own some.
- henning 2y agoConsidering how Bitcoin's price has been manipulated in the past and how concentrated it is in the hands of a small cabal of whales and miners, this is total bullshit.
- p1necone 2y agospeculation is the primary use case. Nobody is using their Bitcoin wallet like a regular bank, they're using it like an extremely volatile share portfolio hoping it keeps going up.
- npoc 2y agoThis is meaningless. You are using a bank speculating that it will not suffer a bail-in/bail-out/hyperinflation.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> You are using a bank speculating that it will not suffer a bail-in/bail-out/hyperinflation You’re confusing speculation with taking a risk. If people are putting money in a bank with the expectation of profiting from its government guarantee, we’re in a credit crisis. The system is working as intended. Most of the time, the money in there is expected to stay still. Most crypto buyers are buying with the expectation of appreciation.
- npoc 2y agoBoth are speculating. Both are taking on risk whether they understand it or not. I would argue that the risk of bitcoin being a lower value in ten years is tiny, and also that chance of the dollar's value halving or worse over the same period, is almost certain. You might speculate the opposite.
- nkrisc 2y agoI suspect my offer of several pounds of gold will likely need to exceed competing cash offers by a significant degree to be accepted by the seller of the house I’m trying to buy.
- carlosjobim 2y agoIt's not any different than having your savings in a more reliable foreign currency: you can quickly exchange it to local currency without any such premium. The same for gold or Bitcoin. Any El Salvadorian saving up for a house would be wiser to save in gold or bitcoin, than local fiat.
- TaurenHunter 2y agoSee Gresham's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law