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Comment by RikNieu | Hacker News Reader

I feel that no one is using crypto currency for it's original intended purpose, and in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions.

Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with. This is stupid. But alas.

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>Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with.

Except ethereum has a decentralized composable financial ecosystem gaining traction as we speak with over $15b locked up.

[1]https://blog.coinbase.com/a-beginners-guide-to-decentralized... [2]https://defipulse.com/

I get paid in stablecoins on Ethereum.

Then, I deposit them in lending protocols like Aave to earn ~6% interest.

Would you say that I'm using them for their original intended purpose?

A lot more so than most! Is this your regular and main form of income?

Iran is using btc to settle international trade transactions[1]. Using a gold backed coupon for settling trade has been talked about for a really long time by a bunch of people. If you're confused why people are speculating about crypto they might know something you don't. The rewiring of the global economy off of the USD _is_ coming, the USD introduces counter-party risk (albiet small for most people) and if btc can avoid that its an improvement.

1 https://news.bitcoin.com/iran-bitcoin-sanctions-inflation/#:....

> in the way it would benefit the citizens of the world the most - as liquid currency for regular & cross-border transactions.

Hawala has succeeded in performing that role for centuries.

Yes but Hawala it is the anti-thesis of crypto. Crypto is born out of the dream of cyberpunks to have a trustless society.

That's funny, Bruce Schneier has written something on that topic.

https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_g...

Cypherpunks*

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk

That's why it's no surprise that crypto has mostly sucked at a role that Hawala has been filling just fine.

Well, it's very useful for LARGE and semi-clandestine cross-border transactions, but yes it's not a liquid currency. It's more of a separate economy.

It's just programmable money so it's really the beginnings of a new financial system that is a bit divorced from our current one. It's not panacea for the world financial problems, but it's cool and fun.

> Everyone just seems to want to use it like gold, to store wealth or speculate with. This is stupid.

Isn't this to be expected when there's no way to balance the currency value by adjusting the supply dynamically?

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