El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender • Hacker News Board

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#631

Post by ddtaylor » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

lend000 wrote: post #574

ddtaylor wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LN requires an on-chain transaction for both opening and closing a channel and requires the node stays online 24/7 to receive payments. That's garbage.

Because Visa and other payment processors don't require opening an account? (e.g. a credit card, which is a much more involved process than opening a channel). Or 24 hour servers?

It's for sure a step backwards from regular cryptocurrency where ownership of private keys is enough to receive or spend. No servers, no "opening accounts" etc.

You can compete with Visa and other payment processors AND not have these arbitrary requirements through on-chain scaling and larger block sizes.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#632

Post by bun_at_work » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

reedjosh wrote: post #480

tylerhou wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is completely fine, because the Fed is willing to step in as the lender of last resort.

It may be fine for the faith in banking structures, but it's not that great it you like your dollars to hold value.

This comment betrays your misunderstanding of the financial institutions and systems at play here.

The Fed's goal is to maintain inflation at 2% for reasons more complicated than I'll discuss here. If you're interested here is a source you might like: > https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30231791-the-end-of-alch...

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#633

Post by tradertef » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

navd wrote: post #630

It’s sad to see how pessimistic people here are against cryptos. Try flipping that perspective and see how this can benefit so many people in the world.

Agreed. Tech community in general are against Bitcon. They all see it as "scam".

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#634

Post by bun_at_work » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:37 PM UTC

X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #436

bun_at_work wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a strict definition handy, however it seems as though digital currencies would be those that are digitally based, whereas the dollar is a tangible currency first, even if it is fiat. A digital currency would be like crypto currency, or in-game currencies or something designed to be digital. The dollar is the federal reserve currency, and not intended to be digital. It doesn't make sense to call it digita…

At this point the vast majority of USD is digitally represented only.

I don't disagree, but it doesn't change that USD is not a digital currency.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#635

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:38 PM UTC

reedjosh wrote: post #480

tylerhou wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is completely fine, because the Fed is willing to step in as the lender of last resort.

It may be fine for the faith in banking structures, but it's not that great it you like your dollars to hold value.

I don’t particularly want my dollars to “hold value”.

I want currency to be useful as currency; I want my investments to hold value. The two things serve different functions, and I don't want investments compromised to be useful as currency or vice versa.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#636

Post by tradertef » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

Dzugaru wrote: post #517

ar_lan wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This weird meme that Bitcoin is so beneficial to criminal activity (especially in comparison with physical cash)... I don't know where it started, but I wish its completely bad-faith nature would die. Sure, the Silk Road started, but the feds have wised up on how to trace Bitcoin since then - it's fairly straight-forward given the public-nature of the blockchain.

You must be joking? There is a trivial way to hide the traces by using mixers. Why do you think ransomware and black markets today exclusively run crypto not fiat?

Most criminals are stupid and eventually get caught. Can you show an example of large-scale ransomware where criminal could convert Bitcoin into fiat currency? Most of them store Bitcoin and wait, probably realizing it is not easy to clean that bitcoin. This idea of using mixers is a myth.

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#637

Post by vmception » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:52 PM UTC

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.

Are you saying its surprising (or “amazing”) that people didn't spend 4 hours on fake Clubhouse listening about a country with an economic output of a single US equity talk about a plan that was unveiled less than a week ago and passed a day ago?

Even the most enterprising enthusiasts have barely gotten back home from the bitcoin conference in Miami

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#638

Post by psychlops » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 9:57 PM UTC

deschutes wrote: post #621

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, the town didn't even want to use Bitcoin. An anonymous donor gifted them a large amount of Bitcoin on the condition that they must learn how to use Bitcoin and advocate for the use of Bitcoin: > After meeting with several philanthropies in the region, all of which wanted to take the funds and convert them into fiat to cover the community's immediate needs, the donor partnered with Michael Pe…

It's evil.

The humanity!

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#639

Post by vmception » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

rawtxapp wrote: post #585

ankurpatel wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My question to you is have you used it to buy anything real with it?

Not only I have used it many times, I've even built a lightning network wallet (link in my profile). You just have to look around and you'll see that millions of people are using it on a regular basis. Pure speculation can't make something become worth as much as Bitcoin is worth right now.

Can we use Omni assets on Lightning yet? I havent checked in two or three years if anything besides bitcoin can be exchanged on that blockchain or state channel again

Re: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender

#640

Post by kragen » Wed, Jun 09, 2021, 10:10 PM UTC

sorbits wrote: post #628

kragen wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you explain how this is better than e.g. Wise (formerly Transferwise), PayPal, or some other international money transmitter? The short answer is that Bitcoin works and TransferWise and PayPal don't. I looked into TransferWise a couple of months ago when someone else asked about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26657391 I can't get an Argentine bank account, and you need a bank account to use either Tra…

> The short answer is that Bitcoin works and TransferWise and PayPal don't. The comment you link to say that you cannot get money out of Argentina (due to capital controls). Fair enough, but in the comment I replied to, you said that you were living in Argentina, and got paid in bitcoin. Am I to infer that you want to get your salary out of Argentina? And those who pay you are within Argentina? Otherwise, I do not se…

> Fair enough, but in the comment I replied to, you said that you were living in Argentina, and got paid in bitcoin.

Right, two separate problems. The reason I think I can't use TransferWise to get paid is that I don't have access to a bank account. Maybe it's possible to open a TransferWise account without a bank account or credit card? Maybe someone in Argentina with a bank account could get paid that way, although they'd never know if their next paycheck was going to arrive or get cut off by a regulatory change.

Actually it looks like this has already happened. https://pirlutravel.com/transferwise/ says TransferWise doesn't work with Argentine bank accounts since January 02020. "Lo único que sigue funcionando por ahora para enviar y recibir dinero afuera es Western Union, AirTM y algunas plataformas de criptomoneda." Maybe this AirTM thing is something I should try.

> Bitcoin itself does not solve it. But I assume that you have found people in Argentina, who are willing to pay you cash for bitcoins?

Oh, sorry! I didn't realize you intended to exclude Bitcoin when you said "cash". Yes, there are people here in Argentina who will buy Bitcoin for dollars or pesos. Many of them are Venezuelan, so presumably a lot of those Bitcoins go to Venezuela next.