[myownpetard]

That's still just a counterparty. It would be centralized if there were a third actor that mediated all transactions between two parties, e.g. a FOREX exchange or bank that processed the transaction.

That's like saying TOR is centralized because you interact with a "centralized" peer.

[oarabbus_]

>It would be centralized if there were a third actor that mediated all transactions between two parties, e.g. a FOREX exchange or bank that processed the transaction

the comment I responded to specified a "money changer". I don't know if you've used one before, but they quite literally are forex broker/dealers.

Even if we move the goalposts from the "money changer" which was specified, TOR is not really comparable to in-person exchange (not to mention an individual can certainly be considered a centralized entity). Anyways, sure, let's call it a counterparty if you wish, the semantics debate isn't really relevant to the point.

[myownpetard]

Another interesting potential alternative is the systems that arose as a response to the Irish banking strikes in the 1960's and 70's.

> Though the money supply did contract sharply, neither trade, commerce, nor industry came to a grinding halt.

> How? People created their own currencies, to substitute for the collapsing money supply. They kept using checks to pay one another, but then, people’s checks began trading within communities. Here’s how Antoin Murphy, one of the few scholars to have studied these strikes, which took place in the 1970s, describes it: “a highly personalized credit system without any definite time horizon for the eventual clearance of debits and credits substituted for the existing institutionalized banking system.”[0]

There is also a great chapter in Money, The Unauthorized Biography that covers it.

[0]https://hbr.org/2010/11/the-irish-banking-crisis-a-par

[myownpetard]

Maybe my experience with money changers colors my view.

The only time I've used one and not a bank is when making land crossings between countries in Central America. The money changers are just a random assortment of dudes walking around the bus depot ready to swap between 2-4 different currencies. And I've only done it for a small amount of cash to have on hand in case of immediate need.

I imagine a cottage industry would pop up as a result of situations like Lebanon given the government enforced cash shortage. I remember reading an article a while back, which I'm failed to dig up, which described a similar system appearing in Venezuela as inflation was getting out of control. Money changers would come to you to swap bitcoin for other currencies.

But I understand your point and this would be a sketchy alternative for the amount of money discussed.