lowkey

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541.
by lowkey 5y ago
It may be a gross generalization but based on the majority of comments on HN, it is unfortunately an accurate one. Not only are the comments salty, they are generally ill-informed. See Dang’s recent call to HN for more insightful comments a
542.
by lowkey 5y ago
Again, ‘widows and orphans’ is a well established term when referring to the impact of inflation. It generally refers to those on fixed incomes - i.e. those without the pricing power to fight for increases in income to combat inflation. You
543.
El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens(finance.yahoo.com)
62 points by lowkey 5y ago|111 comments
544.
by lowkey 5y ago
Strike is one option but certainly not the only one. With Bitcoin as Legal tender in El Salvador and Lightning fully supported as a payment network, users are not locked in to a single approved app. Users can participate with any Lightning
545.
by lowkey 5y ago
> Some cryptocurrencies may (in some cases, based on past performance) be good on average as long term stores of value This is a straw man. The argument was not for some cryptocurrency. It was for Bitcoin. Bitcoin alone has the potential
546.
by lowkey 5y ago
> This has got to be the laziest rebuttal - think of the orphans! I'm sorry you felt my argument to be lazy. Allow me to elaborate. Widows and orphans is a common trope in finance that refers to the most vulnerable members of societ
547.
by lowkey 5y ago
> How many people are actually using Lightning network in El Salvador at the moment? My understanding is that they are onboarding something like 20,000 new users per day through community trainings and bootcamps.
548.
by lowkey 5y ago
Yes but I provided an logically consistent explanation instead. Perhaps you would prefer I cite the Bitcoin Whitepaper which explains the peer-to-peer censorship resistent electronic cash as explained by the inventor Satoshi Nakamoto [1]. [
549.
by lowkey 5y ago
Fair enough .. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network that does not rely on any third party to function - hence no counter-party risk. Bitcoin operates based on rules, but has no rulers, only participants of various flavors. Bitcoin doesn’t unde
550.
by lowkey 5y ago
So you consider it a feature of fiat that it is impossible for a saver to maintain their purchasing power over time unless they risk their capital on volatile assets such as stocks or real estate? Why is is a good thing that widows, orphans
551.
by lowkey 5y ago
A currency that constantly loses value in terms of purchasing power over time is not stable. Again, zoom out and the picture looks different. The US Dollar loses approximately 100% of it’s value per century. Bitcoin maintains or increases i
552.
by lowkey 5y ago
> The reason for high fees are the risk in sending the money across borders. Due to fraud there are risks. Bitcoin does nothing to fix this and seems to even enable more scams. Bitcoin eliminates counter party risk and international tran
553.
by lowkey 5y ago
> Exchanges over Bitcoin are no better or worse in principle than existing financial infrastructure. In principal maybe not but in reality, Bitcoin for international exchanges is a game-changer especially if you can keep the money in Bi
554.
by lowkey 5y ago
El Salvador is the example that proves you wrong. They are using Lightning Network on top of Bitcoin to scale to enormous transaction volume - enough to run an entire country with plenty of room to spare. Proof of work pays for network secu
555.
by lowkey 5y ago
As most Bitcoin advocates would say Zoom Out. Yes Bitcoin looks volatile if you look at the past 2-3 months. However if you zoom out to 1 year Bitcoin is still up almost 300% y/y. Zoom out 2-3 years and the numbers look even better. As
556.
by lowkey 5y ago
I for one welcome our Social Media overlords. Seriously though, Google, Twitter and Facebook serving the role of Thought Police, enforcing Right-think while suppressing Wrong-think is a deeply chilling reality. How these unacountable entiti
557.
by lowkey 5y ago
My understanding is that the only defect of a gold standard for countries was that they couldn't easily debase their currencies, which historically has been the easiest way to fund wars. Currency debasement hurts the citizens, particul
558.
by lowkey 5y ago
What is a Jamahiriya? [1] [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamahiriya_(disambiguation)
559.
by lowkey 5y ago
In the case of El Salvador, they adopted the US dollar when their native currency collapsed after a bloody 12 year long civil war. Notably the civil war was covertly funded by the United States in order to support regimes aligned with US in
560.
by lowkey 5y ago
What if the argument was simply that NATO powers went to war over false pretenses in Libya just like they did in Iraq (Where WMD?) and so many countries before. I am Canadian and I remember when we would send peacekeepers to stabilize a cou
561.
by lowkey 5y ago
El Salvador is using Lightning Network on top of Bitcoin for virtually free, instant payments without fractional reserves. Instead of using debt or fractional reserves, Lightning allows 100% reserve asset-backed exchanges. > the dollar w
562.
by lowkey 5y ago
If you really want to understand what made Miles unique I would skip the rest and jump straight to the Fusion period. Notably missing in the write-up are two incredible live performances: Dark Magus and Live Evil.
563.
by lowkey 5y ago
I see your point and have edited my previous comment to reflect that it is Tether fraud risk that was your concern, not Bitcoin per se. I thank you for the links. I will look into them further.
564.
by lowkey 5y ago
These are all good points and I agree with them, but I don’t understand where the quote came from and whether you are making a case for or against the gold standard.
565.
by lowkey 5y ago
I’ll concede that if you are certain Bitcoin or Tether is a fraud that will likely blow up at any time, then no you shouldn’t put any allocation into Bitcoin. I obviously don’t agree with your assessment but I am intellectually curious enou
566.
by lowkey 5y ago
We remind them that Bitcoin is volatile in the short term and then we ask them to zoom out. We remind them how many times Bitcoin has been declared dead before. We remind them that that anyone who has held Bitcoin as a long term investment
567.
by lowkey 5y ago
I’ve read Keynes et al as well. None of them make a compelling case against the gold standard. Here is former Fed chair Alan Greenspan’s bullish case for the Gold standard for example [1] [1] http://www.altavra.com/docs&#x2F
568.
by lowkey 5y ago
Instead of arguing that it makes sense to invest 1% in every investment, what if the argument is that it makes sense to invest 1% in every investment that has outperformed every other investment class over the past 12 years of its existence
569.
by lowkey 5y ago
I've read a fair share of Austrian Economics and they certainly don't believe that gold was an awful reserve. I have yet to hear a credible argument against the use of gold as a global reserve currency other than the fact that cou
570.
by lowkey 5y ago
> so El Salvador will be able to have a basic currency when they are not corrupt. Ok, so I’m going to straight-up ask you to either retract this racist statement or justify your position with evidence. I want to see your proof that the g

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