Eventually, pretty much anyone using crypto needs an exchange for real money. No matter how perfect the blockchain itself operates, users need to rely on third party exchanges as on- and off ramps. So they can only rely on the crypto to the extent the government enables (and regulates) trustworthy exchanges. Yea, I guess if you are a drug lord or rogue authoritarian state, it’s still your best bet. Or if you live in a country where crypto exchanges are not a lot worse than banks in terms of security and consumer protection. But in the US, for a legitimate use, I don’t think it’s a reasonable idea to use crypto. And I think that says something about those who use it at massive scale.
You can’t regulate away exchanges for the same reason you can’t regulate away black markets.
If you wanna buy say transitioning medicine in russia, you wanna use Monero for anonymity, and you exchange it through a “p2p exchange”. Which are what formed after many countries banned Monero entirely. “p2p exchange” is just a protocol where you can “trade” with random joe schmo, but insured. So you end up just wiring some random regular person money and they give you Monero. Or on the inverse you get wired money and give someone your Monero.
I.e. you exchange Monero with random people without any exchange. Good look regulating that.
You can treat your crypto just like every other currency. When a country makes a trade for USD, they usually don’t immediately convert that USD into their native currency, instead they hold on to it and use it to buy something in exchange for their USD. The same can be done with crypto, get paid in BTC, pay the next country in BTC. On an individual scale it makes more sense to be converting currencies, like if i lived in the USA but was remote working in europe and paid in pounds, those pounds would be pretty much useless to me without exchanging, but as country, I could stash those pounds and continue using them for trade. This is probably what Iran is doing, they likely have several clients willing to trade in crypto.
In this sense its just like handing over raw cash. The bank doesn’t need to be involved for me to pay my neighbor to shovel my driveway if i give him cash, then he can pay another neighbor that same cash to mow his lawn in a few months. With the cash there is no third party involved in the transactions, unlike say a credit card or bank transfer.
All we have is the promise from the government that the cash is worth something. In crypto’s case, its value is overall determined by its users, albeit still quite volatile and unregulated.
b
: general use, acceptance, or prevalence
a story gaining currency
c
: the quality or state of being current : currentness
needed to check the accuracy and currency of the information
2
a
: something (such as coins, treasury notes, and banknotes) that is in circulation as a medium of exchange
b
: paper money in circulation
c
: a common article for bartering
Furs were once used as currency.
d
: a medium of verbal or intellectual expression
… neither side possessed any currency but clichés …
—Jan Struther
Not a single mention of stability or regulation. What is mentioned is medium of exchange which is exactly what is happening in both scenarios of the meme.
You do realize there are other cryptos that weren’t just hype scams? Nobody was using trump or melania coin to buy drugs on the internet.
Eventually, pretty much anyone using crypto needs an exchange for real money. No matter how perfect the blockchain itself operates, users need to rely on third party exchanges as on- and off ramps. So they can only rely on the crypto to the extent the government enables (and regulates) trustworthy exchanges. Yea, I guess if you are a drug lord or rogue authoritarian state, it’s still your best bet. Or if you live in a country where crypto exchanges are not a lot worse than banks in terms of security and consumer protection. But in the US, for a legitimate use, I don’t think it’s a reasonable idea to use crypto. And I think that says something about those who use it at massive scale.
You can’t regulate away exchanges for the same reason you can’t regulate away black markets.
If you wanna buy say transitioning medicine in russia, you wanna use Monero for anonymity, and you exchange it through a “p2p exchange”. Which are what formed after many countries banned Monero entirely. “p2p exchange” is just a protocol where you can “trade” with random joe schmo, but insured. So you end up just wiring some random regular person money and they give you Monero. Or on the inverse you get wired money and give someone your Monero.
I.e. you exchange Monero with random people without any exchange. Good look regulating that.
You can treat your crypto just like every other currency. When a country makes a trade for USD, they usually don’t immediately convert that USD into their native currency, instead they hold on to it and use it to buy something in exchange for their USD. The same can be done with crypto, get paid in BTC, pay the next country in BTC. On an individual scale it makes more sense to be converting currencies, like if i lived in the USA but was remote working in europe and paid in pounds, those pounds would be pretty much useless to me without exchanging, but as country, I could stash those pounds and continue using them for trade. This is probably what Iran is doing, they likely have several clients willing to trade in crypto.
In this sense its just like handing over raw cash. The bank doesn’t need to be involved for me to pay my neighbor to shovel my driveway if i give him cash, then he can pay another neighbor that same cash to mow his lawn in a few months. With the cash there is no third party involved in the transactions, unlike say a credit card or bank transfer.
All we have is the promise from the government that the cash is worth something. In crypto’s case, its value is overall determined by its users, albeit still quite volatile and unregulated.
which makes it useless as currency
Evidently not if this meme is a true and both Iran and the USA are trading it.
okay so when you come across a word you don’t understand (like currency), you should look it up
Currency
1 a : circulation as a medium of exchange
b : general use, acceptance, or prevalence a story gaining currency
c : the quality or state of being current : currentness needed to check the accuracy and currency of the information
2 a : something (such as coins, treasury notes, and banknotes) that is in circulation as a medium of exchange
b : paper money in circulation
c : a common article for bartering Furs were once used as currency.
d : a medium of verbal or intellectual expression … neither side possessed any currency but clichés … —Jan Struther
Not a single mention of stability or regulation. What is mentioned is medium of exchange which is exactly what is happening in both scenarios of the meme.