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I live in Tanzania :) I think you're overestimating the impact of bitcoin on poor countries by several orders of magnitude. People who don't have access to a b
by tribaal 12y ago
I live in Tanzania :)
I think you're overestimating the impact of bitcoin on poor countries by several orders of magnitude. People who don't have access to a bank account now don't have a smartphone, and certainly not a computer either. And internet access is rare and expensive (most people have dumb phones, internet at home is a rarity, and most coffee places charge you for wifi).
On top of that the only way to buy bitcoin here (for now, at least) is to send money through western union to some guy on localbitcoins and of course, that's far from "almost zero cost" or "without a middleman".
I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but the reality is that it's still much, much easier and cheaper to get a bank account than bitcoin here (you can open a bank account in less than an hour, with a minimal deposit of 50$. That allows you to use ATMs and send money anywhere).
So I come back to my original point, adoption is margnial, at best. Especially in poor countries.
- moe 12y agobut the reality is And wouldn't it be nice if Bitcoin changed that reality for the better, a little bit? So I come back to my original point, adoption is margnial, at best. Especially in poor countries. Which I never argued. I merely pointed out that Bitcoin has some additional useful properties on top of being a very volatile electronic gold equivalent.
- tribaal 12y ago> And wouldn't it be nice if Bitcoin changed that reality for the better, a little bit? It would, for sure. But I'm not sure how - people need to become rich enough to afford smartphones/laptops and a reliable internet access first. That implies we'd have solved a big chuck of the other problems first :( > Which I never argued. You're right, sorry if my post was misleading. You just pointed out other advantages of bitcoin over gold (which are correct).