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matheusmoreira

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/faqs/Currency/Pages...

> Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything

Bigger scam than Tether. Has been running for almost a century now.

> Crypto isn't used for anything except speculation.

Looks like Amazon's going to accept cryptocurrency as payment:

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-cryptocurrency-seeks-...

Hopefully we'll be able to put this "cryptocurrency is just speculation" argument to rest soon.

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And yet if I walk into a grocery store, I can buy milk with USD. Weird — it’s almost like there is something backing it, and it’s not just strictly gold/silver!

People can buy cryptocurrencies with USDT as well. They can even cash out dollars later. Weird, right? It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense.

Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies. They require citizens to pay taxes in those currencies. They probably even require stores to accept those currencies.

> It's almost like there's something backing USDT as well even though it's all nonsense.

Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges.

> Another truth is governments force their citizens to use their own currencies.

Absolutely. Not a single person in this thread has argued otherwise. What's your point? How does that somehow make something else more stable? If the government is the big bad wolf, what's stopping it from using that same force to blow USDT's house down? What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes? (And it will crash, eventually, just like every other market in history has, whether its due to Tether's negligence or external pressures)

> Yes. Speculation and their ~~criminal conspirators~~ exchanges.

Not that different from traditional banks and other elements of the financial sector.

> What's your point?

My point is there is no fundamental difference between cryptocurrencies and legal tender.

> What army and treasury is going to rescue USDT when it crashes?

When the traditional finance people screw up, the US government bails them out with taxpayer money. It should totally do the same for Tether.

Sure, so long as you assume that the US government would bail out USDT (which is an insane assumption), it's not that different.

So does that mean that if Amazon [1], Paypal [2], Square [2], and Visa [3] start accepting Bitcoin, it's now backed by the U.S. economy?

[1] https://gizmodo.com/amazon-to-accept-bitcoin-by-end-of-2021-...

[2] https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-goes-mainstream-as-...

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/07/visa-says-crypto-linked-card...

No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange. The simplest example of this is loyalty programs that offer 'points' that can be redeemed for goods and services. Since the points are useless on their own, the vendor creates agreements with other businesses so that they accept the points.

That's what gives the rewards program credibility. Real currency still changes hands in the background, but the customer only spends 'points'. Currencies, although unbacked by gold, are still credible because they are legal tender and widely accepted in ways that rewards points are not.

Amazon and other private businesses can refuse to accept BTC whenever they want. Earlier this year, Tesla 'accepted BTC for payments', and then changed their mind a month later.

> No, because it still isn't legal tender, and lacks credibility as a medium of exchange.

Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really.

> Some countries have accepted BTC as legal tender. It's only a matter of time really.

Why?

There are real precedents now, I have no doubt others will follow. Cryptocurrencies are real currencies, there's no reason not to accept them as such.

Non-blockchain fiats are significantly less energy intensive than DeFi, their reversibility is a feature (IMO), and KYC regulations are needed to resist corruption and funding crime. So what compelling advantages does DeFi offer besides pseudo-anonymity and temporarily sidestepping hyperinflation?

Considering the shaky fundamentals, I'd rather not trust greedy strangers to stop burning the world down trying to get rich quick.

Once I can pay my taxes in Bitcoin will be the day that it's backed by the US Economy.

I've helped friends move in exchange for beer and pizza but nobody would call that a transaction "backed by the US Economy".

Taxes are not part of Economy, taxes are extortion of accumulated value from the Economy backed by a monopoly on the ultimate physical coercion. Your voluntary exchange of values with your friends is the actual Economy you're looking for.

> Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything

This is how a fiat currency is supposed to work. Earn it, then buy some gold, silver, real estate, crypto, or whatever. And inflation is not necessary a bad thing.

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