Hacker News Reader

Comment by Isinlor | Hacker News Reader

All crypto I know about is useful !only! for market speculation.

Bitcoin is especially broken and useless for anything. Unless you want to pay 100$ transaction cost to by ice-cream at grocery store.

View on HN

BTC maximalists argue that it’s a better store of value than gold due to portability, divisibility, durability, and scarcity. The theory is that it will be used to settle inter-bank transactions once it is widely adopted by institutions.

>The theory is that it will be used to settle inter-bank transactions once it is widely adopted by institutions.

Banks have absolutely not need of a proof of work scheme like Bitcoin, them switching to a system with the power requirements of BTC seems highly unlikely.

I use crypto (and mainly Bitcoin) to pay for three years every month now. Average fee over those years is more like $1. In comparison with $20 transaction fees my bank asks when I transact for example from EU to SouthAm, zero hassle and no paperwork when sending to countries with trade embargo, I must say, Bitcoin is golden.

How much are the fees for converting to Bitcoin, the recipient converting from Bitcoin, and the transaction costs? TransferWise is quoting me an effective all-in price[0] of £1.98 to send someone in Brazil £100 of my hard-earned Sterling. I’m struggling to believe you’re getting Bitcoin in or out of fiat for less than 2-5% a go, and transaction cost is ~$15, so ballpark this is costing $25?

0: £100 -> 729.83, where Google says it “should” be 744.61;

So it depends. For example in Argentina, they AFAIK have two conversion rates. When you use a normal bank account, you have to use government conversion rate that's 50% of black market rate between Argentinian pesos and USDs. With Bitcoin, you could try black market straight away and even if you pay 2-5%, you might end up better.

For transaction rate, Trezor says at 22sat/B., you will have your transaction confirmed in 4 hours 10 minutes for $1.85.

Even if BTC price was stable, I would still use it. But my experience is that having some BTC is usually better than just having cash.

I use Western Union and for the last 2 years it's said there's 0 transfer fee's. It's basically the same exchange rate as the bank so i don't think they skim off the top and if they do it would end up being like 50 cents in difference to the bank. ( i have no idea how WU makes money)

You may be benefiting from some kind of a special deal or a promotion, but overall their fees are very high

https://www.westernunion.com/content/dam/wu/EU/EN/feeTableRe...

Like sometimes two digit percentage high.

Drugs.

How many do you know? Tezos looks good to me, especially in the context of hic et nunc art market.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com