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El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

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Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#171

Post by deif »

blocked_again wrote: post #148
BTCOG wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are using Zap/Strike (Lightning) and zero fees. The phony "fees are $1,000 a tx line" and $10 hyperbole simply show you have no clue what you're talking about when speaking about Bitcoin. Even on chain the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents.

I am sorry but what is the point of adopting BTC if vast majority of the transactions are going to be handled by a third party service. Makes no sense to me.

Because it's a global currency not reliant on the US dollar? Not everything is about perfect decentralisation too, third parties can run decentralised infrastructure so it's verifiable by users of the network.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#172

Post by bloqs »

BTCOG wrote: post #122
blocked_again wrote: post #18

> The El Salvador President has previously said the move will open up financial services to the 70% of Salvadoreans who do not have bank accounts. Right. People who can't even afford a bank account would now all be using financial services by paying 10 dollars per transaction.

They are using Zap/Strike (Lightning) and zero fees. The phony "fees are $1,000 a tx line" and $10 hyperbole simply show you have no clue what you're talking about when speaking about Bitcoin. Even on chain the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents.

Your username doesnt indicate any sort of bias whatsoever, particularly in the face of a 3rd party being in control of the transactions.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#173

Post by pinkybanana »

blocked_again wrote: post #148
BTCOG wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are using Zap/Strike (Lightning) and zero fees. The phony "fees are $1,000 a tx line" and $10 hyperbole simply show you have no clue what you're talking about when speaking about Bitcoin. Even on chain the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents.

I am sorry but what is the point of adopting BTC if vast majority of the transactions are going to be handled by a third party service. Makes no sense to me.

The point of adopting BTC is generally to get wealthier. Merchants accept BTC to have more customers, more revenue and ultimately more profit. As I have witnessed it, there has been increasing adoption of BTC slowly but surely. In El Salvador however now they have to accept BTC because the government mandates that. Whether that makes sense or not, I don't know, but it is happening in any case.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#174

Post by notafraudster »

pinkybanana wrote: post #101
chronicsunshine wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're telling us people that don't have bank accounts are gonna be using bitcoin in some abstruse way? Or are you saying some other entity (a bank) will help them with it? And if the latter, why would bitcoin be of help at all? A normal bank account would be simpler and less worrisome.

Both. Some people (probably minority) will use self-hosted wallets. Majority will use custodials (banks). > And if the latter, why would bitcoin be of help at all? A normal bank account would be simpler and less worrisome. USD will still stay as the official currency of El Salvador. However now merchants have to accept also BTC. The hypotheses is that for example foreign businessmen will bring BTC in form of investme…

The original conversation was about how Bitcoin could help the 70% who are unbanked have access to something like a bank account. The proposed mechanism for this is "well, they can go to a bank and register something like a bank account, or else they can be a high-SES self-educated tech person who builds their own bank using computer hardware". I do not think this could help the 70% who are unbanked have access to something like a bank account.

Whether or not it has spinoff economic benefits in terms of tourism or parking capital flight from other countries, you might be right, but that's not what was being discussed, right?

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#175

Post by beaner »

blocked_again wrote: post #148
BTCOG wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are using Zap/Strike (Lightning) and zero fees. The phony "fees are $1,000 a tx line" and $10 hyperbole simply show you have no clue what you're talking about when speaking about Bitcoin. Even on chain the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents.

I am sorry but what is the point of adopting BTC if vast majority of the transactions are going to be handled by a third party service. Makes no sense to me.

All consumer banks are 3rd parties, they just share a common protocol, the federal reserve.

In El Salvador you could use any wallet you want, it doesn't have to be Strike, so it's the same thing.

But actually it's not the same thing, because you could even use your own wallet software and still be interoperable.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#176

Post by captn3m0 »

scottmsul wrote: post #118

Haha as someone who listened to the entire Twitter spaces chat last night, it's amazing how ignorant HN is about what's actually happening on the ground in El Salvador.

I found this to be a good read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Salvadoran_political_cr...

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#177

Post by runbathtime »

ricardobayes wrote: post #141
blocked_again wrote: post #18

> The El Salvador President has previously said the move will open up financial services to the 70% of Salvadoreans who do not have bank accounts. Right. People who can't even afford a bank account would now all be using financial services by paying 10 dollars per transaction.

Of course, but bitcoin was never meant to be 'banking for the underbanked'.

Not the unbanked population that most think of when they hear about the unbanked.

It is meant more for people that are ousted from banking or traditional payments, like pornhub or Trump, or Loomer.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#178

Post by pavlov »

nemo1618 wrote: post #114

Regardless of your feelings about Bitcoin, it was really exciting to see the president of El Salvador himself pop into a Twitter Space last night, as the bill was being voted on , to chat with bitcoiners about the implications of the new law. This is exactly the appeal of Twitter, if you think about it: it's a kind of "direct democracy" where the leader of a country can chat casually with everyday people -- and not i…

This president of El Salvador sent soldiers into the Legislative Assembly to coerce the parliament to vote in his favor:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Salvadoran_political_cris...

He is not a friend of democracy, except the performative "chatting with laser-eyed crypto stans on Twitter" kind.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#179

Post by tome »

BTCOG wrote: post #122
blocked_again wrote: post #18

> The El Salvador President has previously said the move will open up financial services to the 70% of Salvadoreans who do not have bank accounts. Right. People who can't even afford a bank account would now all be using financial services by paying 10 dollars per transaction.

They are using Zap/Strike (Lightning) and zero fees. The phony "fees are $1,000 a tx line" and $10 hyperbole simply show you have no clue what you're talking about when speaking about Bitcoin. Even on chain the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents.

> the past solid week you could send free BTC transactions, or for a couple of cents

Why was that? Didn't miners charge for that service?

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#180

Post by [deleted] »

ArkanExplorer wrote: post #28
jimmyed wrote: post #2

Are they being the first country for the sake of being the first country?

The President of El Salvador doesn't want to get couped. He figures his best bet is to establish a public persona, in English, and appeal to Americans (tech bros) directly. Its the same in Europe. Russian Oligarchs bought British Soccer Clubs so that they could become public personalities and avoid being assassinated by the Russian Government or other oligarchs. The political class in South America exists in a differ…

[deleted]
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