[wmf]

Stablecoins make a lot of sense in countries like Argentina where the national currency is a shitcoin. But YC doesn't fund startups in Argentina. Stablecoins can also be used to pay remote employees but that should probably go through an employer of record so that people aren't paid under the table. This sounds like more crypto for the sake of crypto.

[sigmar]

Argentina got there with huge tariffs and excessive spending. Good thing the US would never do crazy stuff like that, right? Also the US government is currently debasing USD to increase exports as well as instituting currency controls. There's lots of reasons to be concerned about relying on USD.

[raincole]

FYI, when people talk about stablecoins, they usually mean fiat-backed stablecoins, which are coins that are expected to maintain the same exchange rate against fiat currencies, and which is usually just USD. Some literally have 'USD' in their names.

> There's lots of reasons to be concerned about relying on USD.

So no, even if this statement is true it's irrelevant to this thread.

[sigmar]

okay. you realize USDC can be swapped to other currencies in minutes? Do you think Y comb expects founders to just hold the USDC permanently?

[Calavar]

Sure, you can swap a USD tethered stablecoin to another currency. You can also do that with USD itself. What is the value add of injecting an extra step by first converting your USD to stablecoin?

[Spooky23]

Dude, how are techbro fintech innovators going to buy Ferraris? Think of the adult children!

[jszymborski]

I've never raised money, but I'd imagine that's the expectation. Seems personally pretty insane to dump your company's runway into highly volatilr and purely speculative assets which might lose 10% in a single day.

[epolanski]

Will never understand why the US is so fixated with exports and trade balance.

All major export economies (Italy, Germany, Japan, China) have clearly shown in the last decades that being an export economy is a major weakness.

Also, the elephant in the room: the real exports of US, which are services, are not included in the very same trade balance. How much money flows to US through services? From google and meta ads to Netflix subscriptions to financial services and payments, from Hollywood movies to Amazon's/Cloudflare's cloud services, etc, etc?

[SeanAnderson]

but stablecoins are usually pegged to the dollar, right?

[no_wizard]

I'm no fan of the current US administration, however I have questions about this.

What currency controls have been implemented? A cursory search turns up no results, though there is some speculation that capital controls could be coming, they never the less haven't materialized, at least in such a way that no credible news outlet has plainly stated it.

The debasing of the USD is again, a fear, and Trump is absolutely stoking the fire around it, but it hasn't actually happened, as far as I can tell.

If you have evidence of the contrary to either of these I'm quite curious to see it. I wouldn't put it past this administration in the slightest, but there is a difference between implementing them and talking about them and for correctness sake I want to understand.

[sigmar]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Big_Beautiful_Bill_Act#Rem...

[no_wizard]

This is one, at least technically. Though in practice I'm considering more like what you see in China, where they have very strict capital controls.

The Remittance tax has an enormous amount of exemption businesses (because no institution that is subject to the Bank Secrecy Act is subject to it, neither is cryptocurrency, which I find interesting) its functionally a tax on individuals that send money to their home countries, as once you work through all the exemptions its the only transfer function left.

While its deplorable, I thought something much more draconian was afoot

[stephen_g]

Argentina has debt in foreign denominated bonds though - the US (and UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, NZ, etc.) don't, only issuing bonds in their own currency, which makes a massive difference.

Not to say that Trump isn't wreaking economic havoc and madness, but the USD is resting on a far stronger base than somewhere like Argentina.

[morpheuskafka]

Right, it would make a lot of sense for international founders, except that YC already requires them to have a company in one of a few countries (US, Canada, Seychelles, maybe a couple more?) and thus would otherwise be receiving it in USD or possibly another stable currency and storing it in a bank account there.

[nemild]

The first wave of stablecoins isn't replacing fiat currency, but replacing money movement protocols.

Expect most teams to convert stablecoins once they receive it, but even then it's a cheap/fast money movement layer, especially globally. Even in US, cheaper and faster than wire.

[mothballed]

On face I don't see why startups would oppose to paying people under the table unless they just have a dogmatic adherence to the law. Like anything, they are likely to do a cost/risk analysis, which could change wildly depending on the context of the remote employee.