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Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

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Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#201
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it really hard to reconcile this viewpoint with reality. I personally know businesses who use stablecoins for international money transfers because it’s just faster and cheaper. Also, every month or so an article pops up here where either some business is rekt because their payment processor’s automated process kicked them off, or someone’s bank account got closed in a similar way screwing them. Yet the only w…

The key differentiating factor in your hypothetical reasons why traditional finance is inferior to defi is that there are systems to remediate the exact issues you mentioned, whereas if you send your crypto to the wrong address- it's gone. If you lose your seed words to your wallet and can't access it, or someone else gets access to them- it's gone. If you get scammed- it's gone. Literally all of these things (which…

The reasons are really not hypothetical. That being said though, I don’t personally believe that crypto will or necessarily needs to totally replace all fiat usage. It’s more along the lines of the realization that the possibility to have electronic money kept and transmitted outside of the fractionally reserved banking system is immediately useful.

Given the state of crypto adoption now, I can’t imagine a non-dystopian future a century from now where what we now call crypto or digital assets haven’t become a very boring and non-remarkable part of the civilizational fabric.

I can imagine dystopian futures where that’s the case though. One would be where the infrastructure we use to run crypto on (the internet, telecommunications) doesn’t exist. Another is where all the regulatory environments for digital assets that currently exist (UK, EU, Canada, etc) have been totally rolled back, and self-custody has been made a criminal offense. Probably some type of society straight out of hunger games.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#202
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rumour about Binance indictment by DoJ has been going around for 1-2 years now. Its one of the last remaining pieces of major news that could have potentially negatively affected the industry. After two years of prosecutions, regulatory uncertainty and general poor market conditions, its only now starting to feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

do the recent Kraken charges change this sentiment at all?

Coinbase has been charged with more or less the same thing since this summer. The SEC is grasping at straws at this point.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#203
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uncensorable money across borders

This is a perfect use case for criminals and ransomware gangs which is certainly why crypto is popular for these groups. Especially for funding the North Korean regime. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-18/how-north-korea-makes...

Cool, but that’s not what you asked, and you’re moving the goalposts. I suggest you slow down and think about the pros/cons/tradeoffs instead of automatically going down the decision tree of this argument.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rumour about Binance indictment by DoJ has been going around for 1-2 years now. Its one of the last remaining pieces of major news that could have potentially negatively affected the industry. After two years of prosecutions, regulatory uncertainty and general poor market conditions, its only now starting to feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Light to final blow against crypto the horrible CO2 production and the annoying get rich apps. Let's hope it dies sooner than later.

Yes, it's so nice how the traditional finance system has no CO2 emissions

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you could please elaborate, for the free curious spirits of HN. Crypto has brought good in underdeveloped countries like Venezuela and Argentina. Venezuelans use USDT to purchase real, physical goods. Sometimes groceries.

Have any numbers on this? The only numbers I could find are very modest[1]. IIRC Zeke Faux, the author of "Number Go Up" also noted that adoption is very illusory - like the "Accepts Bitcoin" stickers you see all over the place Canada when there's no functioning bitcoin payment processing inside. But besides all that, I think it's criminal to leave people in underdeveloped countries at the whims of unaccountable cent…

I think it's criminal to leave people in underdeveloped countries at the whims of unaccountable central-bank-style institutions like Federal Reserve.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rumour about Binance indictment by DoJ has been going around for 1-2 years now. Its one of the last remaining pieces of major news that could have potentially negatively affected the industry. After two years of prosecutions, regulatory uncertainty and general poor market conditions, its only now starting to feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Light to final blow against crypto the horrible CO2 production and the annoying get rich apps. Let's hope it dies sooner than later.

There are now lots of efficient cryptos and some that can run on a single wind turbine. But I am with you, hoping the energyvore ones die as fast as possible.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#209
post #68

Incoming: third party compliance monitor (as always, run by ex DOJ people) and a more risk averse CEO. I hope this doesn't mean they eventually stop operating in the unregulated markets like China, Vietnam, Turkey, etc. Bet365 and DraftKings do it but for gambling so it's certainly possible to run a major respected company while ignoring the laws of countries that don't have the leverage America does.

[flagged]

Why would unregulated markets have a different use case than regulated? Whatever reasons people have here is the same reasons they have in countries who haven't regulated it.

Re: Binance founder Changpeng Zhao agrees to step down, plead guilty

#210
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"True crypto has never been tried"

XMR and BCH have been working great for a decade and in my mind are the ONLY Cryptocurrency projects that are not outright scams or digital ponzi schemes. It's odd how clear the picture is but how many people have been fooled by fakes. What other industry is 99% scams and only 1% legitimate?

Why BCH and not NANO? You like to wait and pay fees?
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