Bitcoins/Litecoins/Virtual Currencies

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Haus

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but that misses the goal of crypto. mass adoption doesn't mean ease of on/off ramping. mass adoption of crypto means you won't have to.

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Yes, but in the mean time between now and then there has to be a transitory period. Just as there was a point in time where places would work in barter or in those fancy new "coin" things. In that case the forces of trading furs are doing everything they can to keep people from adopting coins because it undermines their power as the people who control the beaver pelt markets.
 

Mist

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It's just never going to happen. People clearly don't like the idea of having custody of their own money. As long as people keep handing over their crypto to other people, those other people will be banks, and the existence of banks is the entire problem.
 

Arden

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It's just never going to happen. People clearly don't like the idea of having custody of their own money. As long as people keep handing over their crypto to other people, those other people will be banks, and the existence of banks is the entire problem.

I actually agree with you that it's really unlikely we will ever get to the point where we are ditching 3rd party custodians or transaction facilitators in the currency markets.

But banks aren't the entire problem, they are only part of the problem. The other part of the currency problem is government manipulation and hyper inflation. Those are issues crypto *can* help with.
 

Mist

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I actually agree with you that it's really unlikely we will ever get to the point where we are ditching 3rd party custodians or transaction facilitators in the currency markets.

But banks aren't the entire problem, they are only part of the problem. The other part of the currency problem is government manipulation and hyper inflation. Those are issues crypto *can* help with.
The system being perpetually built on debt rather than simple honest transactions is the problem. And as long as there are banks that can lend out more money than they have in deposits, as long as fractional reserve banking is a thing, then it will continue to be a problem. The Fed is just the biggest fractional reserve bank out there.
 

Arden

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The system being perpetually built on debt rather than simple honest transactions is the problem. And as long as there are banks that can lend out more money than they have in deposits, as long as fractional reserve banking is a thing, then it will continue to be a problem. The Fed is just the biggest fractional reserve bank out there.

Right, certain currency issues aren't ever going away. But the fact that a government can't simply print more BTC when they want to gives BTC an innate advantage over USD. That and its inherently deflationary nature.
 

Flobee

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The system being perpetually built on debt rather than simple honest transactions is the problem. And as long as there are banks that can lend out more money than they have in deposits, as long as fractional reserve banking is a thing, then it will continue to be a problem. The Fed is just the biggest fractional reserve bank out there.
A Bitcoin based monetary system would not allow for fractional reserve banking. They would try, but after the first few bankruns you'd start seeing fully reserved banks (ala free banking era) and you would likely be paying the bank to hold your money rather than being paid for them holding it (interest). It is an entirely different environment, one we used to have, and I expect we'll have again.

You could go look at Custodia Bank, a proposed fully reserved (108% of deposits) bank which is working (and being denied) through the bank creation process right now. A fully reserved bank simply cant exist in the current environment, it would cause a run on all fractional reserve banks eventually. It will be required with real money though.
 

Arden

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Really puts it into perspective how shitty USD is compared to something like BTC. BTC is superior in every way but utility. I think that's why mass adoption and increased utility for BTC is such a terrifying concept to the Fed.

 
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Jysin

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10:58 [BINANCE] (US) Sued by CFTC over regulatory violations, CEO Changpeng Zhao named as defendant

*edit*

7 Count indictment includes charges of:
- Dealing with off-exchange commodity futures,
- offering, entering into, confirming the execution of, or transacting in off-exchange transactions in commodity options
- soliciting and accepting orders for commodity futures, options, swaps, and retail commodity transactions or acting as a counterparty in any agreement, contract,
- operating a facility for the trading or processing of swaps without being registered as a swap execution facility (“SEF”) or designated as a contract market (“DCM”)
- failing to diligently supervise Binance’s activities relating to the conduct that subjects Binance to Commission registration requirements
- failing to implement an effective customer information program and to otherwise comply with applicable provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act
- willfully conducting activities outside the United States, including entering into agreements, contracts, and transactions and structuring entities to willfully evade or attempt to evade any provision of the [CEA]
 
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Arden

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Or.. Most of the fucks in the exchanges are doing incredibly shady and illegal shit.

Or both! At this point, it's pretty clear most (or all) of U.S. financial institutions have been doing shady/unwise things.

Edit: It's funny, both Fox and CNN recently did eerily similar segments on the weakening of the USD and the financial threat from a China/Russia/Iran/Saudi Arabia. Just repeating what the segments discussed btw, not making any claims about the viability of these arguments- I'll leave that for the big brains in the Investing thread.
 
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Mist

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Or both! At this point, it's pretty clear most (or all) of U.S. financial institutions have been doing shady/unwise things.
Buying a bunch of US bonds at low interest rates when it was obvious the Fed would have to raise interest rates sharply at some point in the near future was definitely unwise, but not shady.

Blatantly gambling away customer deposits in the name of calling yourself "crypto" is shady and unwise.
 

Arden

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Buying a bunch of US bonds at low interest rates when it was obvious the Fed would have to raise interest rates sharply at some point in the near future was definitely unwise, but not shady.

Blatantly gambling away customer deposits in the name of calling yourself "crypto" is shady and unwise.

Yes, that's why I made sure to add "unwise" in addition to "shady." Crypto is definitely the shadiest of the shady, but don't think there isn't quite a bit of shady stuff going on with normal banks too. The deeper they dig (assuming they dig), the worse it will get.
 

Abigailicious

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Looks like the Rest of World is done with petrodollar hegemony, but they won't be replacing it with BTC, they will be using some mix of non-Western CBDC, gold, oil, and other commodities plus the Yuan. And to hell with US Treasuries. What that means for BTC, who can say.
 

Flobee

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BRICS is what they will try to replace USD with, but I don't think its going to work very well. Trust based money is not going to last. Who in their right mind would trust China to actually back their currency with commodities? Why would any sovereign trust any other when they have another option? It may take a while, but BTC is inevitable at this point IMO
 

Haus

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BRICS is what they will try to replace USD with, but I don't think its going to work very well. Trust based money is not going to last. Who in their right mind would trust China to actually back their currency with commodities? Why would any sovereign trust any other when they have another option? It may take a while, but BTC is inevitable at this point IMO
China has, for some time, been accumulating and hording up gold, so has Russia to a certain degree. In China you can go into the country to mine gold, they encourage it, but they only allow you to sell your gold to the government, and they aren't spending it anywhere right now.... Wouldn't surprise me to see it used to partially back their currency. All they'd have to do is allow actual auditors to come check how many tons of it they had. At one point in time there was also rumors of a Russia/China stablecoin already.

Also should be noted that in statements overheard at the end of the last meeting between their leaders they said they were about to be part of something that hasn't happened in 100 years. Which almost exactly calls out the date of Bretton Woods, which was when the USD became the global reserve currency effectively.