[himata4113]

Cryptocurrency is very much a double edged sword, on one hand it enables people to transact monetary value bypassing for-profit operators such as western union and paypal as well as hinders corrupt government institutions from confiscating or otherwise devaluing what you own. Of course this also allows people with harmful intentions to do the same, bypass centralized systems that keep fraud in check, mitigate theft and whatnot.

But all I know is that the only reason why some of my friends are able to work remotely from their country is crypto currency as that is the only way they're able to get paid without 30% to 40% being lost in fees as well as being stored in a currency that might lose a majority of its value overnight. They work real, productive swe jobs and earn enough to support not only themselves, but everyone around them as well making the place they live in a tiny bit better.

[this_user]

> it enables people to transact monetary value bypassing for-profit operators such as western union and paypal

You are not even getting rid of that, you are just replacing them with a different set of middlemen in the crypto ecosystem who are demanding substantially higher fees than, say, a Wise does.

[sanex]

You're entirely wrong about that. A bitcoin transaction costs me pennies a wire transfer costs me $40.

[raincole]

It's a very weird comment as people who actually use crypto (not flipping or holding) are those who without other viable choices. They're not replacing something. Those transactions would simply not happen without crypto.

Notice that the parent comment didn't use the word replacing.

[akoboldfrying]

Who are these middlemen? The miners?

[krelian]

At the other end when you need to convert your crypto to real currency.

[zmgsabst]

CashApp doesn’t seem any different than Wise; I routinely use both — including CashApp for crypto.

[fn-mote]

I’m ignorant of this but it seems wrong.

30% lost in fees??

Can they not manage to open a dollar-backed account somewhere?

Also:

> being stored in a currency that might lose a majority of its value overnight

I for sure put crypto in this same category. “Stablecoin” or not.

[pjc50]

> Can they not manage to open a dollar-backed account somewhere?

Outside the West, the answer is quite often "no". And trying to open an account in the US from outside will run into ID+residency requirements.

[ozgrakkurt]

Yeah no, I it is really really bad where I live and it is similarly bad in places outaide of western financial network as far as I can understand.

Another way to mitigate this scam is wise revolut etc. But they are also mostly western

[kakacik]

Sounds more like social security avoidance, or general taxation avoidance.

Which country will take 30% cut from incoming foreign transaction? The highest combined fees I could find are for Sub-Saharan Africa and those are below 10%, supporting tax/social evasion claim.

Could be completely legal but when folks don't provide details its often safe to assume the worse scenario when it comes to money, taxation and screwing the government.

[th0raway]

What they are often talking about there is countries where the official exchange rate is very different from a real world exchange rate: This happened in Argentina quite often. That led to special black market stores where people would give you local currency for dollars at better rates, and often also had some crypto support. You are then going past the legal market either way.

[lmz]

I believe some countries e.g. Cuba have different "official" vs "black market" exchange rates. A 30% difference wouldn't surprise me.

[fragmede]

> Can they not manage to open a dollar-backed account somewhere?

It's harder, if not impossible, if you've been got the wrong set of papers, or are missing them.

> this same category. “Stablecoin” or not.

Like it or not, USDC and USDT do seem to actually be stable. They've been pegged to the dollar for a while now, with increased scrutiny.

[blenklo]

And they also make their place they live and the rest of the planet a tiny bit worse due to the energy consumption of bitcoin, if they support bitcoin in any form even with lightning.

A question though: How do they exchange their crypto into local fiat?

[thinkingtoilet]

>bypassing for-profit operators such as western union and paypal as well as hinders corrupt government institutions from confiscating or otherwise devaluing what you own

There are transaction fees so you're still paying someone. And the it's not government taking what you own, it's scammers!