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El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

finance.yahoo.com

61–70 of 115 posts

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#61
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of crypto (including e.g. ETH) that does so via staking but that wasn't the point anyway.

No, this was the GP's point. Many of those "salty nocoiners" are invested in assets that produce reliable cash flow, which is considerably safer than holding a purely speculative asset like crypto.

[deleted]

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#62
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like the OP said, it will force their citizen to understand how it works. One can speculate that the average Salvadorian will understand more about Bitcoin than the average HN reader.

Average HN is a salty nocoiner.

The opinions of any person seriously using the label "salty nocoiner" can be safely ignored now, and in future.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens is that many on HN were around in 2009-2011 when it first appeared and was cheap. Everyone who didn't buy in then has a vested interest in it failing because then they feel like they didn't miss out and that their decision not to get involved was validated. It is becoming apparent as time goes by that there are very many of them here. I seem to have attracted some that downvote every comment I make.

I owned Bitcoin back in 2012-2014 when i thought it was going to be an actual currency to exchange goods and services. Since then, it has become a tool for speculation and an ecological disaster, both of which are strongly opposed to my ethos. I now own precisely 0€ worth of Bitcoin and strongly recommend all my friends never to fall into that kind of trap. Because capitalism and speculation ruins lives, whether you…

Are you in the US? If so do you have a 401k for retirement? That is capitalism and speculation and trading stocks. If you don't what is your retirement plan?

I am not a huge fan of capitalism, but here I am living in a world where it exists and I have to survive in it, it's. It going to change before I retire so I need to invest in the stock market via a retirement/pension fund. Of course I could choose not to do that but the only cost there is a negative one for me, it won't change the system.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#64
post #28
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I notice that hn largely ignores blockchain tech. It almost feels luddite.

There's a lot of very pro and very anti blockchain people here and I'm not even sure which are the majority.

Yeah, the blockchain-related discussions become highly polarized. This one has been removed by mods rather quickly.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#65

I wonder what kind of fraud/security controls they are using.

This is what I was wondering. If such a thing existed as an El Salvador based VPN, would using that to download the wallet be enough to secure you your 30USD worth of Bitcoin?

And what about people within El Salvador downloading it to multiple devices from different IP addresses?

I'm sure this has been considered and there's more to it than just...

1: download wallet 2: Profit!

...as all the press reports I've seen seem to be suggesting.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I owned Bitcoin back in 2012-2014 when i thought it was going to be an actual currency to exchange goods and services. Since then, it has become a tool for speculation and an ecological disaster, both of which are strongly opposed to my ethos. I now own precisely 0€ worth of Bitcoin and strongly recommend all my friends never to fall into that kind of trap. Because capitalism and speculation ruins lives, whether you…

Are you in the US? If so do you have a 401k for retirement? That is capitalism and speculation and trading stocks. If you don't what is your retirement plan? I am not a huge fan of capitalism, but here I am living in a world where it exists and I have to survive in it, it's. It going to change before I retire so I need to invest in the stock market via a retirement/pension fund. Of course I could choose not to do tha…

> what is your retirement plan?

I don't exactly have one, because i'm also from the global north (france). I'm betting that before i get to "retire" (i'm not a employee so there's not really a such thing for me) either climate change will collapse the capitalist economy (let's enjoy clear water before industry has used it all) or government will have turned fully fascist and put the rest of us (anarchists, muslims, homosexuals/trans*) in concentration camp...

> it won't change the system

Do what you need to do. But keep in mind together we're strong enough to change it. Changing the system (which can only happen through a global revolution) is the only thing that matters to give new generations a chance to live a better life than the shitty one we had... and to escape all dystopian scenarios that are slowly coming to life.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#67

It seems like many here don't get what I think they're doing: government buys 180 million USD worth of Bitcoin, stores it in their wallet, and creates an SQL database (well, with a bank as a wrapper) with 6 million entries with $30 (or whatever that is in BTC) each. The transactions can just be recorded in this SQL database, and the "reserve" would be untouched. If someone wants to exchange their BTC to USD or Euro,…

Interesting. So what they are actually building, is a Bitcoin reserve for a central digital currency, replacing USD, SDR, or gold reserves. The trick here is that it is a one-way accumulator. Bitcoin comes into the reserve but never leaves. The initial money may come from existing USD reserves, or it may be undercapitalized fiat Bitcoin.

Every currency has a value theory. USD has military hegemony and financial market centralization. China has exports and foreign land holdings. CHF is backed by gold. The Euro is trying to become a regional 3rd world reserve through remittances. Labor-based currency has been tried, but, you probably don’t want to know about it.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#68
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think el-salvador is going down this path because their current path doesn't work. So instead, they are trying another monetary theory. Short term profits might come, not from money laundering, but from bitcoin whales that are true believers and decide to come live there. Some of those whales might have gotten their bitcoin illegally, and are happy to avoid a fiat off-ramp. I suppose that might be money-laundering…

> Short term profits might come (...) from bitcoin whales I don't understand. How are you supposed to make money from wealth hoarders? The trickle-down fairy?

If you convince them to move to the country / spend more time there, then they will spend more of their money in your economy.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#69
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think el-salvador is going down this path because their current path doesn't work. So instead, they are trying another monetary theory. Short term profits might come, not from money laundering, but from bitcoin whales that are true believers and decide to come live there. Some of those whales might have gotten their bitcoin illegally, and are happy to avoid a fiat off-ramp. I suppose that might be money-laundering…

I don't think blockchains are particularly well suited for solving El Salvador's actual problems, like gang violence. There's a not entirely implausible theory that says Bukele is going for Bitcoin specifically because El Salvador uses the US dollar and is thus prevented from taking the typical path of printing more its own currency to "solve" problems. With Tether and various dodgy custom apps in the mix, they can n…

Printing money in bitcoin requires some really weird stuff to happen. Essentially, either you need to scam others with Tether, or you need your apps to literally lie to their users.

Bitcoin was made to be deflationary. That means it was made not to allow anyone to print money. It would have made more sense for them to pick ethereum if they wanted the ability to print money.

Really, the only thing I can imagine is using colored coins in bitcoin, or switching to some other currency later.

Re: El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to up to 6M citizens

#70

Before you post a comment about Bitcoin fees, please take a little time and try out lightning. It's come an incredibly long way, it's very fast, and very cheap, and very easy using a mobile wallet.

What happens if you lose your mobile wallet?
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