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Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

blockworks.co

31–40 of 376 posts

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#31
post #27
post #20

The moment I learned that people want to buy crypto as a means to get rich in (evil ;)) fiat money, I knew I had a ponzi scheme in front of me. The interesting idea behind crypto once was to have a totally different system. Yet in reality, with greedy apes on a spacerock, it was an unreachable Utopia

> The interesting idea behind crypto once was to have a totally different system. the problem with this idea is that this idea of a "different" system is just merely going to evolve back into what we have today. The fundamental needs of a financial system doesn't change much, and what we have today is fit for purpose (mostly - there's efficiency to be had and red tape to cut).

It is until you're on a list, for whatever reason.

When states and countries can just block your access to your bank accounts, because you're on the other side of interests, it gets...Interesting

With a decentralised approach, such actions would've needed to be implemented in the real world, not merely by the flick of a virtual lever.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#32
post #29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easier to trade, no issues with tax&bank issues, and a lot of crypto exchanges charge to convert from crypto -> cash, whereas crypto -> crypto(stablecoin) is usually just exchange fees, less than the USD charge.

Ok, I understand that a stablecoin it is easier to handle than the dollar. But who is doing it? What is the use case?

Trading. Quick arbitrage, day trading, pump and dumps, leverage. The same thing you can do by having dollars on your stock trading account you usually need coins on your crypto account and it would be crazy to have the volatile ones.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#33
post #26
post #20

The moment I learned that people want to buy crypto as a means to get rich in (evil ;)) fiat money, I knew I had a ponzi scheme in front of me. The interesting idea behind crypto once was to have a totally different system. Yet in reality, with greedy apes on a spacerock, it was an unreachable Utopia

different systems historically come about by extreme violence, genocides and migrations of peoples, a little icky shills and ponzis is a very low price

It would be a low price if it would reach the goal.

I am pretty sure they won't though.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#34
post #16
post #11

What are people holding all those stable coins for? In contrast to other crypto currencies, nobody is holding it for speculation. I doubt anybody expects stable coins to be a better store of "dollar value" than the dollar itself. Yet, someone holds those $150B worth of stable coins. Who and why?

Easier to trade, no issues with tax&bank issues, and a lot of crypto exchanges charge to convert from crypto -> cash, whereas crypto -> crypto(stablecoin) is usually just exchange fees, less than the USD charge.

> no issues with tax&bank issues

Sure about that bit? This may be the perception – that holding your assets in 'the crypto system' avoids tax issues – but the taxman will disagree.

Swapping $BTC for $USDC or whatever your tether of choice is is a 'taxable event'. You've sold one security in exchange for another. It doesn't matter that they're both crypto.

Now, it might be harder for the taxman to detect this event, which is a different thing.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#35
post #29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easier to trade, no issues with tax&bank issues, and a lot of crypto exchanges charge to convert from crypto -> cash, whereas crypto -> crypto(stablecoin) is usually just exchange fees, less than the USD charge.

Ok, I understand that a stablecoin it is easier to handle than the dollar. But who is doing it? What is the use case?

Traders and tax evaders. With stablecoins you can trade on decentralised smart contracts, and they even allow something called flash loans where you borrow the stablecoin, trade it for profit and then pay it back in one rollbackable transaction! Also there are many high yield investment schemes based on holding stablecoins.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#36

I don't get all the bandwagon hate of crypto on this site.. Sure 99% of crypto schemes are b.s and ponzi. But I like to think in terms of use cases. Currently there is no way to send "money" to someone in another country on the other side of the world, in a decentralized way, and without transaction fees. Can this problem be solved without crypto? Probably, but currently crypto is looking like the best way to be able…

I’ve been hearing that use case for crypto for a decade now. I don’t see people using crypto that way, they overwhelmingly use existing services which are cheaper and work fine the overwhelming majority of the time. People ignore this and speculate trillions into crypto.

My issue is that people don’t even need to see crypto actually succeeding at the use cases people talk about to be considered a good investment. People will invest in crypto regardless. I believe crypto does have value but the valuation in no way matches the actual present day value of the crypto or even a plausible projection of its future value. People just say “crypto to 100 trillion! Smart contracts!” and nobody has to see any real results that justify those numbers.

Why should I be impressed that something has potential? Many things have potential.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#37
post #28

I don't get all the bandwagon hate of crypto on this site.. Sure 99% of crypto schemes are b.s and ponzi. But I like to think in terms of use cases. Currently there is no way to send "money" to someone in another country on the other side of the world, in a decentralized way, and without transaction fees. Can this problem be solved without crypto? Probably, but currently crypto is looking like the best way to be able…

I was able to send funds from US directly to a bank account of my friend in Ukraine near instantly for low single digit percent and I could do the same using western union(to my surprise). All without a fear that my currency will drop 10-20% in a day. Now about decentralization, I believe that most people hold their transactional crypto funds in a handful of exchanges and thus the dream of decentralized crypto transa…

Wow, what a use-case.. sending money from the main NATO member to a country that the NATO supports and wants to win the war.

Now do the same thing with sending money to Russia. I just checked WISE. "We temporarily stopped sending money to Russia".

Yeah.. thanks..

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#38

I don't get all the bandwagon hate of crypto on this site.. Sure 99% of crypto schemes are b.s and ponzi. But I like to think in terms of use cases. Currently there is no way to send "money" to someone in another country on the other side of the world, in a decentralized way, and without transaction fees. Can this problem be solved without crypto? Probably, but currently crypto is looking like the best way to be able…

Ethereum based stablecoins are hardly the best way to do this. From a user standpoint you have to 1) buy your stablecoin on some exchange 2) transfer it to your own wallet 3) pay a hefty fee to transfer it to the recipient (>$20 when the network is busy) 4) Recipient pays another hefty fee to transfer it to an exchange so they can offramp. If I'm sending a remittance or similar paying $$$$ in fees is absolutely not d…

the fees on exchanges are very small compared to paypal and similar products. Coinbase Pro fees are less than 0.6% and go down to nearly 0%.

for payments over 10K the fees may be less than Wise or a wire, and faster.

for average users the end game is L2 and direct on- and off- ramps from CEX and services like Ramp, and more payment processors accepting crypto so off-ramps will not be always needed. fees in L2 are in cents.

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#39
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was able to send funds from US directly to a bank account of my friend in Ukraine near instantly for low single digit percent and I could do the same using western union(to my surprise). All without a fear that my currency will drop 10-20% in a day. Now about decentralization, I believe that most people hold their transactional crypto funds in a handful of exchanges and thus the dream of decentralized crypto transa…

Wow, what a use-case.. sending money from the main NATO member to a country that the NATO supports and wants to win the war. Now do the same thing with sending money to Russia. I just checked WISE. "We temporarily stopped sending money to Russia". Yeah.. thanks..

Okay, so how much has the Ukraine situation actually resulted in crypto transactions? Enough to justify multi trillion valuations?

Re: Top stablecoins shed $7B in May as traders redeem tokens en masse

#40

I don't get all the bandwagon hate of crypto on this site.. Sure 99% of crypto schemes are b.s and ponzi. But I like to think in terms of use cases. Currently there is no way to send "money" to someone in another country on the other side of the world, in a decentralized way, and without transaction fees. Can this problem be solved without crypto? Probably, but currently crypto is looking like the best way to be able…

> Currently there is no way to send "money" to someone in another country on the other side of the world, in a decentralized way, and without transaction fees.

Why is this necessary? I have banks in three countries and generally pay nothing to move money between them or to pay others. This really doesn't feel like a problem that needs to be solved except by those trying to avoid taxation.

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