75 sats \ 15 replies \ @didiplaywell 9 Aug \ on: How Governments Can Easily Kill Bitcoin bitcoin
This is true even today. The main reason bitcoin hasn't seen widespread adoption in the north hemisphere is because their currencies are still perceived as stable, and the only thing that dampens bitcoin adoption on 3rd world countries is the fact that said relative stability is rock-solid in comparison to the local currencies, so that much that they're perceived as a robust store of value, relegating bitcoin back to a niche.
However the reason bitcoin became more and more adopted here is not because of it's valuation virtue but because of it's freedom. Transacting USD, even if the USD is perceived as valuable in itself, is from difficult to impossible here. Using the standard banking system you will lose 50% of your money at an optimum best, due to regulations, and transactions can last weeks. Bitcoin and USDT broke all of those barriers, becoming desirable for that reason alone.
I recall reading about people taking the ferry over to Uraguay in order to stock up on dollars.
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Exactly, and I know many who had to travel to the USA to be able to retrieve the money in person. Bitcoin and by far and large USDT allowed the proliferation of the freelacer industry here. It's insane to think that those technologies allowed (and allow) many of us to live decently, by all standards, amidst such a terrible crisis. That's the reason many of us hold to it for (literally) dear life. I hope bitcoin developers are proud to know they provided millions with a lifeline to actual work (not trading), gives me goosebumps to think about it.
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Hold on dear life or HODL
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Can't get more literal!
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Your story is remarkable. You should write a book!
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Thank you buddy, I appreciate that :)
I'm indeed slowly crafting a book around all of this in a similar style as Adam Smith did, and I'm planning to publish it on Nostr.
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As literal as you read it, it's not only a thing, it was by far the optimal alternative before USDT became more integrated. Travelling personally to another country to retrieve physical money and bringing in the stacks was the safest and most cost effective option by such a ridiculous margin that it was the go-to option.
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The good thing is that for us the usefulness of crypto became so blatantly evident
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Not if they work for off-shore remote jobs, not anymore. Of course there are boomers who still need to have the physical bill in their hands, but the youth stays in crypto (either USDT or BTC or a mix of both). I personally like to keep my stack on BTC only, tough many keep it on USDT only.
People who earn in local currency, again mostly boomers, do keep their stack in phyisical USD only because it's really easy to get. But the youth use apps to buy USDT, tough most keep the money in local currency and use apps that provide yield in local currency.
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Dollars are difficult to acquire in Argentina?
What about the underground or black market economy?
Interesting to hear about tether. Many people dismiss tether as ship coin. And they are very obnoxious and condescending. I say go to Argentina and say that to tether users.
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Dollars are fairly easy to get in the black market, it's so common that's even a safe operation. The problem is about getting it from off-shore transactions. You can do that via the black market too but it's cumbersome and costly. Prior to the appearance of USDT the best option by far was to travel to get the physical money in person, so insane the situation was. I can get the criticism USDT receives but here it became the golden standard, it's usefulness simply can't be overstated.
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Even in El Salvador dollar and USDT usage and adoption are higher than bitcoin
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