this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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[–] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 96 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sure if Bitcoin had the largest and most powerful military in the world it would have become the world reserve currency by now

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Alright who wants to start a new country with me

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[–] gonzo0815@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

No because currency with built-in deflation is a bad idea. It would get scrapped very quickly.

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[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 77 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (20 children)

Bitcoin: 4.7% believed to be in the hands of a single person, another 3.1% in the hands of four addresses. Deflatory so no incentive to use it to make transactions. Value depends on the network effect (i.e. a pyramid scheme). Small transactions now too expensive to be realistic. 24% of the supply was created in the first year, 35% over two years. Movement of funds takes too long to be useful. Those who got in early are guaranteed to be richer than those who got in late without having made any effort...

Crypto would be great as a replacement of the stockmarket but it's fighting to be cash instead and it's doing a bad job of it because it's cash as envisioned by tech bros, not actual economists.

[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Also wastes energy and hardware (which includes rare earth metals mined by slaves) to endlessly compute hashes. Great solution for a post climate change world let me tell ya!

[–] explodicle@local106.com 3 points 1 year ago

Since nobody else responded to the stock market argument: it's how cash is envisioned to work by Austrian school economists, not the economists currently in charge. The average person needing to trust strangers with their money is not good.

It's an entirely different perspective on how money should work (that was de facto illegal for decades), and only now can we put our money where our mouths are.

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[–] ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Though great privacy when used offline, which is also pretty sick and the adoption levels defies reason, it's virtually usable globally both online and offline.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Bank notes have unique identifiers allowing the government to track the path of your money. Privacy is dead

[–] RealJoL@feddit.de 25 points 1 year ago (19 children)

That also assumes every bill you use will be immediately returned to a bank. You'd have no way of knowing where money comes from and belongs to after one hop. Just make a purchase at the supermarket to exchange a 50 for 45 and you've got anonymous cash.

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[–] Pinklink@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s why I roam the streets trading bills with strangers

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 16 points 1 year ago

Chad behavior

[–] jabberati@social.anoxinon.de 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

@ninjan @mod_pp Globally offline? In the US and maybe in some countries that don't have a stable currency on their own. Anywhere else you can't use it.

[–] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

American in Spain here. Everybody declines USD. Literally got coffee for free this morning because it was the only shop I've seen out of like 100 in the week I've been here that wouldn't take card.

For a charge of €2.50, when I offered $5 he opted to take nothing instead.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why not have local currency while you're in a foreign country where why would you assume they would accept your money they would have to go to the bank to exchange?

[–] Urbanfox@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hahahah, imagine going to another country and trying to pay in another currency and being shocked they wouldn't accept it.

I can't even spend Scottish notes in England when it's all Sterling, never mind trying to pay for a small shop coffee in dollars.

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[–] STUPIDVIPGUY@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I understand it's easier for you just to use a card, so you don't think it's necessary, but it's probably a good idea to carry a few euros at least

[–] MrVilliam@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. We've tried. ATMs aren't working with our cards and every touristy exchange kiosk option charges a shitload in fees. Why not just pay with card when literally every store until our second to last day in the country has been happy to take card? Including bus stations, train stations, taxis, etc. We stopped trying about halfway in when we got to more rural areas and they still happily accepted visa. We wanted to exchange at home before the trip but found out too late that our banks require two weeks notice to exchange currency so they can get it in.

We just learned today to ask and not assume before ordering. We were asking in the beginning but got complacent after the 100th "of course" response lol.

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[–] Zithero@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's funny because thia just proves the metrics used to measure a Cryptos "Viability" apparently have nothing to do with its actual value.

What matters is it's trading power... Not it's circulation or 'Supoly Cap'

[–] itsmect@monero.town 3 points 1 year ago

fully agree

[–] Mordachai_Shedbacon@lemm.ee 30 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Why is the US printing so much money?

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Paper money is flimsy and wears down quickly. It's being constantly printed and replaced. This meme is vague and intentionally misleading. Physical money in circulation is replaced and old money destroyed. Constantly. That's what these figures are about. The wealth inequality, solid point. The rest is just vague word use to make it sound alarming.

[–] itsmect@monero.town 20 points 1 year ago

Simple answer: Because they can, because it's lucrative, and because it's not as obvious as raising taxes. Imagine you could legally print money, and when anyones asks about it, you can just dismiss it with: "I'm stimulating the economy"

[–] Ubermeisters@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 year ago

Got to keep the printer people in business

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The US is printing a lot of money, but a lot of that money is theoretical and not really printed. Stocks are a way this happens, if you bought 10 shares at $10 and a week later they are worth $15, $50 got created. Loans are another way money gets created with a fractional reserve system, $1, 000 in savings can create $10,000 in loans.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not an economist but I don't think money gets actually created in either of your examples, the money just changed hands in either case.

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You are 100% correct and its amazing how accepting people are of that bullshit answer. Both the examples are transfers.

The value of stock is a reflection of value gained typically by capital investment and it's not just magic new money that comes from thin air. People have to get the money to buy the stock from somewhere. So they probably sold another asset and decreased it's value marginally.

Fractional reserve lending doesn't just make new money either. It lets the same money be spent over and over, which is not new money being created. If I loan you $100, and you loan Bob $90, Bob loans sue $81, so on and so forth, they're just lending smaller amounts of the same $100. You're still owed $100 and the entire chain is based on just that $100. This money moving through the economy more times is a term usually referred to as velocity and can have a massive effect on inflation or deflation, but it is most definitely not creating money out of thin air. For every dollar "created" someone owes the dollar, so their net worth does not change.

There's some dum shit going on with central banks these days and things like quantitative easing, but spreading silly nonsense doesn't help anyone. If the numbers in the meme are accurate it's like just talking about new dollar bills being printed. BECAUSE PAPER MONEY WEARS DOWN FAST AND NEEDS TO BE REPLACED CONSTANTLY.

I'm sure this meme is brought to you by crypto bro TM. All money is fake and made up crazy stuff, so buy my new money. It's the best money, cuz it's a scam like all money.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Fractional reserve banking literally creates money. If you have the only $100 in existence and put it in a bank, they can then lend $100 to someone else, now $200 exists. You still have that $100, and so does the person that got the loan.

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[–] Mordachai_Shedbacon@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

A good answer! Thank you! Geez, econ 101 boggles my mind

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[–] explodicle@local106.com 23 points 1 year ago (19 children)

Surely it's collapsed since this meme was made 10 years ago.

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[–] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago

Hmm, perhaps both are but symptoms of the greatest scam: capitalism.

[–] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago
[–] kitonthenet@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

It really is one of the society of all time

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