Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by RestlessMind 1402 days ago
> The fact that they are still a bad currency, because a currency is ultimately what your state demands taxes in and wants/subsidizes for transactions to be in.

I guess you have not lived in a third world country. I have, for multiple decades. And I have seen first hand how black market or under-the-table transactions work. There is a huge economic activity in corrupt countries which happens out of government taxation reach. Bitcoin is a perfect instrument for that. Bitcoin or USD or Gold are great options for preserving value of your savings in such countries. For ordinary transactions, Bitcoin or USD are much better since Gold is harder to exchange in exact quantities needed for the transaction.
1 comments
ljosifov 1401 days ago
Done that. As a store of value - USD has lower volatility than BTC => USD wins as a store of value. As a medium of exchange - USD paper notes are more convenient to work with (on balance) => USD wins as a medium of exchange. Hence - people in 3rd world countries are not silly or un-informed to prefer another country fiat currency (from a - comparatively - well enough run country), over theirs' (badly run) country fiat.
link
RestlessMind 1399 days ago
> As a store of value - USD has lower volatility than BTC => USD wins as a store of value.

Depending on your place of residence, USD may have a high tail risk if your country decides to cross USG's plans. For those places, better to have a non-USD non-EUR alternative. Only Gold and BTC come to my mind.

link
ljosifov 1399 days ago
Even when the country gov is hostile to USG, the citizens will still use USD. Citizens use cash, USD notes - not USD bank accounts. No bank accounts are involved. The relations between USG and the local gov bears no consequence to the use of cash. I saw through civil wars in the 1990s, and did not see a single use of gold for anything. The next big state fiat was used for everything. Sorry for the downer.
link