| > I simply can't answer what BTCs and other crypto coins are actually good for. Everybody here is missing out why Bitcoin was made in the first place: the 2008 crash. The benefits of a globally liquid asset (not USD) will only be appreciated if you're living from a country that has a weak Central Bank. - Nigerians use it to import goods from China. This guy can't source USD to purchase imports for his mobile phone business, so he uses BTC [0] - Venezuela remote workers getting paid in BTC, because their central bank clamped down on USD inflow. They also didn't want to be paid in the worthless local currency. [1] - Remittance shops in Hongkong are using BTC to settle remittances by batch. Buy and sell to the last mile instantly, no exposure to volatility. This gives them way better FX fees and faster settlement (30mins vs. 1-3 business days). They pass the savings down to their customers as marketing spend, or they pocket the change to increase profit [2] - Argentina Central Bank is hoarding USD due to dwindling reserves. So they imposed a $200USD/month cap on individuals transacting with USD. People are flocking to BTC for remote settlement. [3] - Iran hit with sanctions cant use USD. So they're working on laws to use BTC for settling imports with China. They even issued BTC mining licenses for private companies. [4] I come from a country, where if you remit more than $10K outbound you'd have to: pay big fees ($200+), suffer bad FX rates, wait for 2-3 days, do a physical appearance at the branch for and pay documents/notarial stamps, sign forms, present and print out government ID's, just to say: "This is my money, I just want to send money to my dad overseas for medical purposes". December 2020, my mom had received USD in her dollar account. She wanted to withdraw and convert it to help build float for the family business, the local bank didn't have enough USD. They told her it was a 6-week wait, lots of people lined up. Lol. People from first-world countries have it good. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-africa-... [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47553048 [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currencies-remitta... [3] https://www.coindesk.com/crypto-is-booming-in-economically-c... [4] https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/iran-to-use-bitcoin-to-fund-im... |