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Comment by logifail | Hacker News Reader

> If you can get it anonymously, you can move it anywhere you want as long as you stay on the blockchain

Q: Is this fundamentally different to having a suitcase full of cash?

No, but only if your suitcase will only open if unlocked by a cryptographically secure key and no one can open it through other methods. They can't steal the suitcase itself either. And you can instantly teleport the contents of your suitcase to an equivalent suitcase held by any other individual on the planet. And third parties can't arbitrarily devalue the contents of your suitcase by printing more of it.

The last part of this almost certainly doesn't apply to "Diem".

I'd argue none of the above apply to Diem actually. I'm definitely referring to traditional, actual blockchains

> [..] no one can open it through other methods

... other than https://xkcd.com/538/ ?

That still counts as using the key to open it :)

A suitcase full of cash is much more difficult to transport risk-free compared to bitcoin.

yet infinitely easier to spend.

> Q: Is this fundamentally different to having a suitcase full of cash?

Yes, government can't print bitcoin. If you store cash - in the long term you will lose buying power. If bitcoin gets adopted as a store of value - nobody will be able to print it at will.

Not really, and that is precisely one of the point for crypto advocates. To be used as "virtual" (just non physical) cash, easier to manage.

I’ve heard it’s easier to travel conspicuously and less risky than traveling with suitcases of cash.

It's very hard to take a suitcase full of cash across a border. It's very easy to take a private key for a wallet-account full of cryptocurrency across a border.

It's very hard to take a suitcase full of cash across a border.

Depends on the border.

As long as you declare the cash to the authorities, there are many borders you can cross with great flipping wads of cash. Some industries operate mostly on cash (restaurants, for example), and "suitcases full of cash" isn't just for mobsters and movie villains.

Where is that? In most of the west it's roughly $10k US (+/- 30%).

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