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by jorblumesea 1773 days ago
Can everyone just tweet and move markets? Does the average person need hard to trace currencies to evade taxes? Does the average person have stakes in large exchanges, or stand to gain anything by a loose (read: non-existent) regulatory environment?

The average person really doesn't need many of the use cases that crypto provides, as of today. Most of the "normal people use cases" have yet to materialize. I really struggle with this narrative, because it just doesn't reflect any sense of reality. I own crypto, I heavily participate in the space, and yet I don't get people that think a mother of 3 needs to own Eth in any practical sense.

1 comments

Funny cuz this article describes a whole country starting to find "normal people use cases" for crypto.
The vast majority of the article focuses on speculative trading, not day to day activities. There's a small paragraph on paying employees, but really it's just the mismanaged finances of Nigeria providing that need. Replace "Bitcoin" with "USD" or "seashells" and it's effectively the same thing. Sure, if you're the 1-2 countries in the world with 200% daily inflation, it makes sense. The vast majority of crypto holders (and users here) come from relatively stable western countries with strong regulatory environments with stable central banks.

It's this narrative of "rich western citizens" talking about "real world use cases" that completely diverge from their day to day which is the ultimate irony. Think of the poor Africans! Said no one from Coinbase or Binance. Think of the use cases! Said the wealthy SWE speculatively trading shitcoins, x5 leverage to the gills.

There are real world use cases, but likely if you're posting here on your macbook, they do not apply to you. People don't give a shit about venezuela or Nigeria, it's just greed.

Did we read the same article? The theme to me seemed to be around people using it to store wealth and keep businesses running despite bank account closures - not speculation.