World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help • Hacker News Board

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#21

Post by jollybean » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:07 AM UTC

kerng wrote: post #13

The world bank responding to such a request shows how big of a thing Bitcoin has become. It also appears that the concerns are not strong, more wishy-washy comments that could be disputed or clarified eventually. Wonder what they say if/when more countries do inquiries and adopt Bitcoin.

The World Bank would respond to such a request from a Government, it doesn't mean it's a 'big deal'.

Their statement is clear.

They very politely and in so many words saying:

1) To start you are corrupt and none of this will work without solving that 2) it makes no financial sense and 3) there are real environmental concerns.

When they sat 'transparency' what they mean is 'you are corrupt'.

When they cite 'regulatory, financial and legal concerns' they meant it.

And the environmental concerns are legit.

It's exactly and predictably the answer that any of their sane financial leaders would expect.

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#22

Post by gman83 » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:08 AM UTC

I'm very ignorant about Bitcoin, but given El Salvador's big problem with crime, doesn't adopting Bitcoin give the cartels an extremely easy way to launder their money?

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#23

Post by xmprt » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:08 AM UTC

elevenoh wrote: post #6

>"While the government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings," they added. Environmental as the #1 concern? Bitcoin's enegery:market-cap ratio - a proxy for energy vs. value to humans - is >300x better than an airline & 60x better than JP Morgan & 20x better than google's. https://twitter.com/Okcoin/status/1403…

Why are you comparing energy:market-cap ratio instead of something like energy:transaction-volume ratio for example? I'm sure if you compare Bitcoin to Visa on that metric instead, it'd look pretty bad for Bitcoin.

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#24

Post by culturestate » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:09 AM UTC

kerng wrote: post #13

The world bank responding to such a request shows how big of a thing Bitcoin has become. It also appears that the concerns are not strong, more wishy-washy comments that could be disputed or clarified eventually. Wonder what they say if/when more countries do inquiries and adopt Bitcoin.

> The world bank responding to such a request shows how big of a thing Bitcoin has become.

Does the World Bank get to choose which member requests it responds to? I would think they have an obligation to give every request at least a cursory evaluation.

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#25

Post by qiqitori » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:10 AM UTC

Other random bitcoin concerns (apart from the environmental ones):

- How about people stop accepting laundered bitcoins first and foremost?

  - Any bitcoins that have provably been involved in illegal stuff

  - Any monero/whathaveyou that come from exchanges that accept bitcoin that have received Bitcoins that were involved in illegal stuff

- Will bitcoin still have value when quantum computers are around?

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#26

Post by elevenoh » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:11 AM UTC

xmprt wrote: post #23

elevenoh wrote: post #6

>"While the government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings," they added. Environmental as the #1 concern? Bitcoin's enegery:market-cap ratio - a proxy for energy vs. value to humans - is >300x better than an airline & 60x better than JP Morgan & 20x better than google's. https://twitter.com/Okcoin/status/1403…

Why are you comparing energy:market-cap ratio instead of something like energy:transaction-volume ratio for example? I'm sure if you compare Bitcoin to Visa on that metric instead, it'd look pretty bad for Bitcoin.

The value Bitcoin provides to humans is about more than the transactions.

The value is primarily about security as a store of wealth.

This is why I use market cap.

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#27

Post by desine » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:11 AM UTC

smhost wrote: post #18

reedjosh wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case of El Salvador, Bitcoin mining will be used to bootstrap geothermal. Bitcoin can finance the energy generation and later transmission infrastructure can be added.

Ok, but geothermal energy creates pollution. It's considered a cleaner alternative to tradition energy sources insofar as it replaces existing energy demands, not when the demand is being created ad hoc.

What kind of pollution does geothermal create? Honest question. I was under the impression it's just steam spinning turbines. Akin to a nuclear plant but without all the problematic radioactive fuel.

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#28

Post by zakember » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:11 AM UTC

gman83 wrote: post #22

I'm very ignorant about Bitcoin, but given El Salvador's big problem with crime, doesn't adopting Bitcoin give the cartels an extremely easy way to launder their money?

Depends on how tech savvy they are.

Bitcoin has a public ledger, so once you know who the owner is of a particular address, you can view all of their past transactions and all the addresses of those transactions, potentially exposing a lot of metadata of their activities

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#29

Post by grahamlee » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:12 AM UTC

desine wrote: post #19

They cite environmental and transparency concerns, but somehow I believe it's more about control and ensuring the continuation of the debt based fiat systems. I have a litmus test I use when discussing global financial politics with friends - "What were the main factors you think lead to Ghaddafi's killing?"

Oh, is it that he refused to give up the key to his crypto wallet?

Re: World Bank rejects El Salvador request for Bitcoin help

#30

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 17, 2021, 6:12 AM UTC

kerng wrote: post #13

The world bank responding to such a request shows how big of a thing Bitcoin has become. It also appears that the concerns are not strong, more wishy-washy comments that could be disputed or clarified eventually. Wonder what they say if/when more countries do inquiries and adopt Bitcoin.

[deleted]