A tweet I saw recently that I can't stop thinking about pointed out that, despite the naysayers, crypto is in fact an EXTREMELY useful technology; the problem is, the stuff it's extremely useful for is money laundering, paying ransoms, and buying illegal things.
That's a great point, and I think I just realized that Bitcoin is a way to buy a legal share of the market for illegal, underground goods and service. Like selling picks and shovels to extortionists, kidnappers, and drug cartels.
Here's one crypto use case. I have a friend who recently relocated outside the USA. Unfortunately, one vendor who owed him money didn't forward a check until after he had left the country. Getting that check to him, depositing it and freeing up the funds once it is deposited in an international bank is going to take time, and as we know, time is money. However, if the client had a portion of its treasury in a stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar, getting my friend his money would take nothing more than a transfer between two wallet addresses and be nearly instantaneous. There are other potential applications, and the developer community needs to get to work making them real.
That's a great point, and I would love to see crypto prove a legal use that also economically advantageous. It's been so many years, where are these solutions?
One of the reasons why we don't is that we don't have a supportive regulatory environment. Allowing traditional financial institutions to custody Bitcoin on behalf of their customers could help drive wider adoption beyond what we currently see, which is a combination of speculation and inflation hedging. Both the House and the Senate approved such a move with support from both sides of the aisles, but the President vetoed the bill. And here's another Bitcoin use case. A young woman who up until recently ran a school for girls in Afghanistan was forced to flee the country after the Taliban retook control. She was committed to keeping the school operating even after she fled, but needed to pay the teachers. As you might imagine, getting cash into Afghanistan is a challenge, especially when you're dealing with dissidents who want to educate young girls. The solution: pay them with Bitcoin.
Now I need to go check my freezer to make sure I didn't accidentally leave $40,000 behind the ice cream sandwiches! (Thanks for the reminder!) I bet your guest lecture was fabulous.
A tweet I saw recently that I can't stop thinking about pointed out that, despite the naysayers, crypto is in fact an EXTREMELY useful technology; the problem is, the stuff it's extremely useful for is money laundering, paying ransoms, and buying illegal things.
That's a great point, and I think I just realized that Bitcoin is a way to buy a legal share of the market for illegal, underground goods and service. Like selling picks and shovels to extortionists, kidnappers, and drug cartels.
Here's one crypto use case. I have a friend who recently relocated outside the USA. Unfortunately, one vendor who owed him money didn't forward a check until after he had left the country. Getting that check to him, depositing it and freeing up the funds once it is deposited in an international bank is going to take time, and as we know, time is money. However, if the client had a portion of its treasury in a stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar, getting my friend his money would take nothing more than a transfer between two wallet addresses and be nearly instantaneous. There are other potential applications, and the developer community needs to get to work making them real.
That's a great point, and I would love to see crypto prove a legal use that also economically advantageous. It's been so many years, where are these solutions?
One of the reasons why we don't is that we don't have a supportive regulatory environment. Allowing traditional financial institutions to custody Bitcoin on behalf of their customers could help drive wider adoption beyond what we currently see, which is a combination of speculation and inflation hedging. Both the House and the Senate approved such a move with support from both sides of the aisles, but the President vetoed the bill. And here's another Bitcoin use case. A young woman who up until recently ran a school for girls in Afghanistan was forced to flee the country after the Taliban retook control. She was committed to keeping the school operating even after she fled, but needed to pay the teachers. As you might imagine, getting cash into Afghanistan is a challenge, especially when you're dealing with dissidents who want to educate young girls. The solution: pay them with Bitcoin.
Now I need to go check my freezer to make sure I didn't accidentally leave $40,000 behind the ice cream sandwiches! (Thanks for the reminder!) I bet your guest lecture was fabulous.
It's an empty bag that says "strawberries - summer 2022" on it.