Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Inflationary USD lolz https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/infl...
CPI is a joke of a metric. Very few economists take it seriously.
What metric would you prefer?
MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
251–260 of 910 posts
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s fascinating to watch MLM logic sweep the tech world. Get in on the ground floor of this opportunity, then convince all of your friends to buy in, then they convince all of their friends... Once the speculation upside is gone, why would anyone want to buy Bitcoin? That’s the real question.
MLM dynamics actually do apply to monetized assets in some cases. Cf. “Bubble Theory Of Money”, Gresham’s Law. Once the speculation upside is gone, you would use Bitcoin because it’s the best available reserve and settlement asset. What are your other options? Inflationary USD or Yuan? Few rational actors would prefer to hold those.
> What are your other options? Inflationary USD
Investors don't have to choose between investing in Bitcoin or parking their money in cash.
The stock market, real estate, commodities, and other assets don't lose their value if USD inflates.
The narrative that the only two choices are to buy Bitcoin or lose out to inflation is a fiction designed to convince people to buy more Bitcoin. Bitcoin isn't the only investment option.
> Inflationary USD or Yuan? Few rational actors would prefer to hold those.
Evidence suggests otherwise.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#253These stories usually spur more enthusiasm for buying cryptocurrency, but ironically those buyers aren’t interested in spending cryptocurrency using their MasterCard. They’re hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency from these announcements, driving the price up. Or, more likely, they’re just hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency and not use it in these spending systems. Spending cryptocurrency would result…
What's the point of an unstable, volatile, frantically manipulated currency that is susceptible to social media pump and dump schemes (Elon + Doge)? Currency and its exchange rate needs to be relatively stable for the world to put trust into it. Saying that BTC is stable, but the rest of the world's fiat currency is fluctuating makes no sense. US dollar provides stability and security, I feel confident that a cappucc…
I agree that paying for things directly with bitcoin doesn't make sense. However, that doesn't mean bitcoin doesn't have a use case as a global settlement network and volatility isn't what's important, it's liquidity, which bitcoin has far more of then any other cryptocurrency.
For an example of this take a look at something like Strike Global using bitcoin's lightning network.
https://jimmymow.medium.com/announcing-strike-global-2392b90...
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#254I am not sure who in their right mind will buy BTC at $48K a piece! There's nothing major that's has happened, yet, the bubble has inflated from $6K to $47K only because it's now harder to steal electricity in China and the rest of the world to mine bitcoins. Every week in Bulgaria we hear for a new electricity thieves who got caught and have stolen electricity for millions - often in the middle of nowhere like in sm…
Mining participation does not change the issuance of new bitcoin. If there was 1 miner in the entire world the issuance would be the same. Please educate yourself more about crypto in general, understanding the core concepts only takes a few minutes of research.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#255These stories usually spur more enthusiasm for buying cryptocurrency, but ironically those buyers aren’t interested in spending cryptocurrency using their MasterCard. They’re hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency from these announcements, driving the price up. Or, more likely, they’re just hoping other people will buy cryptocurrency and not use it in these spending systems. Spending cryptocurrency would result…
What's the point of an unstable, volatile, frantically manipulated currency that is susceptible to social media pump and dump schemes (Elon + Doge)? Currency and its exchange rate needs to be relatively stable for the world to put trust into it. Saying that BTC is stable, but the rest of the world's fiat currency is fluctuating makes no sense. US dollar provides stability and security, I feel confident that a cappucc…
Your view must be skewed by privilege of having stable currency. Currency of my country lost 250% of its value over last 7 years. It's not bitcoin-level volatile, but close to it. Thankfully I have an option to use USD to hoard money, but that option is not something that's given, in many countries you just can't exchange for fair price.
I agree that for someone living in US or EU there's no much point using BTC.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
If someone is in a country with a collapsing local currency, they still have to transfer that money to a Bitcoin exchange before they can transfer the Bitcoin. If the currency is collapsing, who’s going to trade Bitcoin for the collapsing currency? That’s the necessary first step in this process. If I’m just trying to cross the border with Bitcoin in my mind wallet so I can convert it back to cash on the other side,…
> If the currency is collapsing, who’s going to trade Bitcoin for the collapsing currency? Well, you'd probably find someone wanting to trade Bitcoin for goods, and as part of the transaction, someone else would end up using local currencies to buy those goods. ... Of course, in the general case, you're probably more likely to find someone who wants to trade USD for those goods.
> Well, you'd probably find someone wanting to trade Bitcoin for goods
If your net worth is tied up in goods, assets, and other non-cash investments, you don't need Bitcoin to avoid currency inflation.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
A store of value protected from (and even a beneficiary of) government mismanagement, central bank mismanagement, corporate mismanagement, etc. Because we are forced to generally keep our wealth in things susceptible to political influence it’s nice to have a place to store value away from that. My homes value can be wrecked by a variety of government or central bank policies. Same with my equities and bonds. So havi…
What if my government bans Bitcoin? Wouldn't that ruin the whole picture? It feels like an unrelagated market, waiting to be regulated
they can pass a law banning bitcoin; they can also ban the tides from coming in.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the point of an unstable, volatile, frantically manipulated currency that is susceptible to social media pump and dump schemes (Elon + Doge)? Currency and its exchange rate needs to be relatively stable for the world to put trust into it. Saying that BTC is stable, but the rest of the world's fiat currency is fluctuating makes no sense. US dollar provides stability and security, I feel confident that a cappucc…
Full disclosure: I own about $11 worth of bitcoin if I round up a bit, so this might be biased. The most convincing "point" of bitcoin I've heard is to accomodate transfer of large sums of money across borders, quickly, with minimal transaction costs and oversight. Everyone here can afford the fee to transact 8 billion dollars worth of bitcoin. And settlement happens in seconds to a couple minutes. That's appealing t…
Yeah, sure settlement in Bitcoin happens within a few minutes. Getting that converted into usable money is a whole other story, no?
I can basically think of two scenario types when you are in need of international, spontaneous money transfer:
a) "I just got carjacked in Sierra Leone and need some money for an hotel and a flight home"
b) "I have some weird novel business and I would like to pay my contractors in East Timor biweekly"
I cannot image using Bitcoin for either, first one because of the convert-to-money-thing, second one because of the volatility. There is also some kind of - how do you call this - meta-trust that I just don't have in Bitcoin: Go off-grid for two weeks and there is a non trivial chance that some weird shit happened within crypto that is now an obstacle (crash or rally, outlawing, split, ...). That does not happen with US dollars.
I got the feeling that this is yet another incredibly obscure use case that doesn't even really work Bitcoin fanatics (not directed at the quite reasonable parent comment) use to justify their gambling and Lambo-dreams. Just like "it could be the new gold" or "what if the US gov collapses".
But I am certainly no expert in international money transfer by any means, so feel free to change my mind!
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's kind of moot w.r.t. MasterCard. They will only accept stablecoins which are generally pegged to usd
This is an important point I missed, thanks. I am totally on board a pegged crypto currency that tracks US dollar. For me and many others I presume, stability is far more important than anything else that crypto currencies have to offer.
Well there are certainly plenty to choose from, the major downside to stablecoins is that you need to place trust in the mechanism that ensures they are actually stable. Tether is the biggest one and it's pretty unclear whether they are trust worthy.
IMO one of the most important properties of cryptocurrencies is that you only need to place trust in the code & that the miners are selfish.
Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
Full disclosure: I own about $11 worth of bitcoin if I round up a bit, so this might be biased. The most convincing "point" of bitcoin I've heard is to accomodate transfer of large sums of money across borders, quickly, with minimal transaction costs and oversight. Everyone here can afford the fee to transact 8 billion dollars worth of bitcoin. And settlement happens in seconds to a couple minutes. That's appealing t…
That’s the thing. By the time the transfer takes place, BTC exchange rate is now 7% off. How convenient is the transfer mechanism when the underlying is a speculative instrument? Until BTC exchange rate gets stable or gets pegged do the ground, it’s gonna float around in the air of extreme volatility and manipulation - pretty risky adventure to transfer large sums of money.
This is problematic for layer 1 settlement for sure. But there are layer 2 solutions that can help with the slippage issue (lightning network being the most prevalent). With a sufficient density of multisig wallet availability, as a proxy for liquidity, transactions are near-instant.
That said, there are differences in settlement guarantees at layer 2 that might make certain use cases less optimal.