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Comment by emodendroket | Hacker News Reader

Is the claim that cryptocurrency is providing a societal benefit comparable to the automobile then?

some of the biggest plagues on society are rooted in central banking policies. If you have ever been upset at the amount of money bankers make, markets they've manipulated which resulted in tiny fines, or went bankrupt and needed bailouts which require printing money which devalues all the current dollars you own as well as not enforce any reason for them to avoid future bubbles then you might be more open to something like Bitcoin and DeFi initiatives.

Governments are no better than banks. Both right & left admins want bigger government, just in different ways. They both print money at obscene rates which is cheapening the money you have in your bank account right now.

If cryptocurrency can be a salvation from some of these problems then we should 100% be seeing if it can work.

Deflationary currency would be an absolute nightmare for everyone except those lucky enough to be holding on to a lot of it before it was too valuable.

Deflationary currency would be a nightmare because some cohort would become very wealthy? I am not sure those two thoughts are connected.

Deflation is not a bad thing for the end consumer. Our purchasing power should be going up over time as advancements/efficiencies in technology, shipping, healthcare create more for less.

Deflation is "bad" in our current system because we have so much debt that isn't backed by much collateral. Interest rates rise putting a hold on businesses that don't produce much and creates an endless domino effect

That's not what I said, is it? It would be great if you happen to have a bunch of Bitcoins. For everyone else it would be a nightmare because it would encourage disinvestment. Why take a risk when you can literally just sit on your money? Loans would also become pretty much unfeasible both for business purposes and for consumers (hope you can buy a house with cash).

"Hodling" is certainly part of the culture but it wont be as more services get rolled out. Look at the volume on exchanges, people move coins around, stake them, or even loan them out for APY rates.

Loans would not become unfeasible, but they would be extremely reduced to people who can pay them back. That encourages healthy financial investment. It also encourages business to focus on profitability instead of raising the next round.

Whether its Bitcoin/Ethereum/Gold/Silver or something else, a thriving financial system must be backed by something finite or an extremely controlled and low inflation rate. Thats not an opinion, thats a fact. Cash or StableCoins could still be issued and backed by something like Bitcoin or has its been done in the past with Gold.

> Whether its Bitcoin/Ethereum/Gold/Silver or something else, a thriving financial system must be backed by something finite or an extremely controlled and low inflation rate. Thats not an opinion, thats a fact.

I think most people would be surprised to learn that the US financial system is "unsuccessful." It certainly sounds a lot like your unsubstantiated opinion.

How is an entity encouraged to take on entrepreneurial risk in a deflationary environment?

If you have a lot of capital, it literally gains value by just sitting there.

Less incentive to use it.

Only people who benefit are those that have a lot to begin with (obtain more value by doing nothing).

> Deflationary currency would be an absolute nightmare for everyone except those lucky enough to be holding on to a lot of it before it was too valuable.

The era 1870~1910 in the US was deflationary (as was late 19th century sweden), hardly characterizable as a "nightmare", especially compared to the nightmare that immediately preceded it. The world had a brief experiment with deflationary currency and it wasn't all terrible, in fact one of the two major participants went from "failed state" to "global superpower" in that timeframe, even while enduring the economic challenges associated with freeing its slaves.

Not yet, but it might. Early cars were noisy, slow, finicky and far more polluting than cars today. They're only as useful as they are today because they were allowed to evolve for a hundred and twenty years.

Banning Bitcoin because it's used in cybercrime is analogous to banning the Model T because it got used in a bank robbery.

It's much more akin to if a competitor to Ford made a car with a bank-robbing feature.

If Bitcoin had a bank-robbing feature all transactions and wallets would be private. They aren’t.

Which wallets aren’t private?

Yes. Ask your average Lebanese or Venezuelan citizen. Outside of privileged western states crypto has been a massive societal benefit. Crypto will jeopardise the monopoly of statists however, which explains the coordinated establishment pushback.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210331005682/en/Glo...

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