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MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

reuters.com

711–720 of 910 posts

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Greek citizens went through this because the Greek government has been lying for many years in its financial reports.

Lol found the German

Is the assertion wrong? Cursory, recent research and my own recollection matches with the comment you were responding to.

https://www.ft.com/content/33b0a48c-ff7e-11de-8f53-00144feab...

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you can frame and admire a digital token, or rather the address holding the funds. Gold's value has nothing to do with its utility. I don't get your people's arguments. You keep repeating "a digital asset can't have real value" when the last 10 years have proven you wrong. You fool!

So you pay $40k+ for bitcoin just so you can frame some numbers and letters and say you paid $40k+ for those numbers and letters? Gold's value comes from the fact that it doesn't dull or dim over time, and has many uses in the electronics and jewelry industries. If you have the resources to get gold and own it, that is a clear sign of status and value. Can't say the same with crypto for any counts. All of crypto's va…

No, Gold value comes from the fact that we all agreed that it should have a value, and it's scarce. Same for Bitcoin.

And yes you can parade the fact that you own a bitcoin address, this is after all probably the only reason most people know about Craig S. Wright

> There is no convenience, no government backing, and no trust

convenience is in stablecoins, government backing is in CBDC, trust is anchored at the foundation of any cryptocurrency project...

Let me put it this way: as long as people will find ways to do things with Bitcoin (remittances, darkmarket, etc.) that they couldn't do with Gold or USD or whatever, then it'll have value. 40k of value? I don't know, but it will still have value.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about encryption?

You don't seem to get it, do you? Your government decides it can't regulate crypto, so it bans it. People use crypto anyway. Government raids telecom and puts filters on Internet. People use encryption. Government shuts down Internet. People use satellite internet. Government make penalty for using crypto a life sentence, because they can. Drives around with vans detecting sat signals. You can't fight them on their t…

How do you shut the internet down when the economy runs on the internet? Lol.

I don’t think you’ve thought this through, even though you’re so adamant.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#714
post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That 2% number depends upon whether you trust the people inflating the USD to tell you what the inflation rate is. Feel free to call shadowstats crazy, but nothing in it is false. It's just another perspective. http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

You are right. The official inflation rate is wrong and misleading.

Why don’t you provide some data instead of conjecture. We generally don’t accept that the government inflation numbers are just plain wrong without substantiation.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#715

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happens in many countries already, the inflation tax of the US banking system is 2% and not an issue. That does not make Panama or Hong Kong US colonies.

That 2% number depends upon whether you trust the people inflating the USD to tell you what the inflation rate is. Feel free to call shadowstats crazy, but nothing in it is false. It's just another perspective. http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

“Shadow government statistics” is indeed nutters and not all perspectives deserve equal footing.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad that this aspect of the conversation so often gets replaced by everything else. This is (IMO) the most important point about digital currency - the promise of providing consumers in unstable economies the chance to convert to a more stable currency without government intrusion. We're still not there, but that should be the north star for crypto (again, in my opinion).

Say everyone in an unstable economy were paid in usd. If that country has foreign deficit, if that country has high government debt. What happens? How can the government keep paying its own employees? How does it pay retiree checks? How does it subsidize farming when needed? As long as a country cannot print usd itself, this is a fast shortcut to unemployment, hunger, etc... Strong currencies are not the solution to…

I don't think the answer to this question plays out the way you want it to...

1. Countries that have natural resources can raise capital when they need to, either by selling/taxing rights to those resources or by selling nationalized resources. Ecuador for example uses the dollar and also produces about a half of a million barrels of oil per day.

2. For many developing countries, the whole point of using the dollar is that it precludes monetary over-engineering or corrupt practices that give rise to inflation. This makes the economy safer for the have-nots, who have fixed local-denominated savings and/or earn a fixed local-denominated wage.

3. Simply using the dollar makes it easier to facilitate trade, tourism, and remittances. Panama does a lot of shipping and transit. Ecuador is a tourist destination. Remittances are the major source of foreign income to El Salvador.

Those countries that accept dollars and also maintain a dollar-pegged local currency are able to conduct monetary policy while also establishing a measure of confidence in the stability of their currency.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#717

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you are right, I do not think truly understanding it is as easy as a few minutes of research. It was quite mind bending for me the first time I read about BTC.

I don't think you still get it. Do you?

Honestly, I think you really do not get it. Why would the loss of ability to mine lead to a price increase of Bitcoin? The mining efforts are driven by the price, not viceversa. I am certain you are familiar with it for a long time, but the way you put the problem kind of points out you are missing something.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#718

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't shared "the point" just a link to MicroStrategy, a failed software company whose CEO had to pay an $11 million dollar SEC settlement decades ago for cooking the books, making a desperate Hail Mary play buying near the top of a speculative mania in a bid to gain relevancy. MSTR is the new "Long Island Iced Tea" -> "Long Blockchain Inc" rebrand [1] Humorously enough, the same is roughly true of Tesla, a car…

Your view on currency exposes your extremely elitist bias. Are you aware that a large portion of the population is unable to purchase assets? What do you say to these people? What do you say as the dollars they earn pay less of their rent? Less of their healthcare? Soon...less of their groceries?

Nah quite the opposite. The world has had 14 years to buy Bitcoin. Happened at the same time as the iPhone. Everyone in these poor countries has iPhones or android devices and nobody wants Bitcoin for them except the first world pushers. I defer to the locals. If they thought it was any good they’d use it. They don’t.

I would tell those people that if their government is broken they have bigger problems than their currency and once they solve their leadership problems the currency won’t be an issue anymore. Tough but true. Nothing there changes with Bitcoin and it’s $20 transaction fees.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#719

These 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…

How will it compare to what Square does? Centralization always occurs at the point of the exchange, I guess. It does seem a little less criminal than what Robinhood was doing.

Re: MasterCard to open up network to cryptocurrencies

#720

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's sad that this aspect of the conversation so often gets replaced by everything else. This is (IMO) the most important point about digital currency - the promise of providing consumers in unstable economies the chance to convert to a more stable currency without government intrusion. We're still not there, but that should be the north star for crypto (again, in my opinion).

Say everyone in an unstable economy were paid in usd. If that country has foreign deficit, if that country has high government debt. What happens? How can the government keep paying its own employees? How does it pay retiree checks? How does it subsidize farming when needed? As long as a country cannot print usd itself, this is a fast shortcut to unemployment, hunger, etc... Strong currencies are not the solution to…

This is an accurate statement when approached from a top down nation / state level. Approached from the level of an average person living in countries with highly volatile currencies, they just want a currency that is not reliably going to be less than it was the day before. It allows those people the opportunity to detach from the issue of "poor governance" over which they have no control and gives them some independence from it.

This is especially true for refugees. They run the very real risk of being killed for any money they are carrying but if one has one's keys memorized then no one knows you have funds and you are somewhat safer.

Over 1/3 of the world's population lives in countries with declining or unstable democracies, crypto currencies provide a small cushion from that in some situations.

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