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Comment by notch656a | Hacker News Reader

For most cases I would not consider it the best option. However I have used bitcoin codebase based coins for transactions where the time-span was short enough that it was a reliable store of value. Reliable store of value really depends on how long you intend to hold it. Dollars are a terrible store of value over 100 years and decent over 2 years. Several crypto coins are a bad store of value over 1 week but a decent one over a couple hours.

There are certain circumstances where I think it may make sense for someone to pick an alternative currency; I'm not arguing it is superior to the rest of them.

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> However I have used bitcoin codebase based coins for transactions where the time-span was short enough that it was a reliable store of value.

> Several crypto coins are a bad store of value over 1 week but a decent one over a couple hours.

What kind of (real world) transaction would need to rely on a cryptocurrency for value stability over a couple of hours time-span that wouldn't be served by fiat currency, which provides the same stability guarantees over that same time-span?

International transfer is a good use, as is irrevocable payment for purchased goods.

There is also a strong real world value in countries where local currency is less stable and secure than crypto. Not all places have access to USD or foreign currency.

There are interesting examples coming out of Argentina. Imagine living in a country where year over year inflation is ~100% and the government may periodically seize assets in your bank account.

> International transfer is a good use

I think it could make a useful underlying tool to enable this but to be used directly by end user customers it'd be a tough sell.

I've used Wise to transfer USD <-> CAD, if they use crypto to enable that (I don't think they do, but I guess they could), I couldn't really care less.

I don't think your run of the mill consumer is going to want to use crypto to do the same thing. With smaller amounts the difference in cost is probably negligible, with larger amounts you could theoretically save more to make the effort worth it, but you have higher pressure to have more "traditional" assurances that nothing goes wrong.

> International transfer is a good use, as is irrevocable payment for purchased goods.

In what ways do cash bank transfers not work for international transfers or irrevocable payments?

Something like Wise works most of the time but if you have a cousin in Papau New Guinea in the jungle with a cellphone and no bank account IDK how the hell you would send them large value in under an hour without losing your shirt. Maybe there is something and if so I'm interested in what it is (know someone else there with lots of money who really trusts you?).

In any case ACH can be clawed back and it is my understanding in some exceptional circumstance a wire can too. The point never was crypto is always superior, it may be conventional is better 99.9% of the time but that 0.1% means a use case remains.

International wire transfers can take 1 to 5 days, and Banks can seize or reverse the funds.

> and Banks can seize or reverse the funds.

Why would they do that? I've never had that happen to me when I send an international transfer.

But it's always been for innocuous things like "reimburse relative for vacation rental expenses"

I had a domestic wire temporarily seized for 2 days because a bank wanted to KYC me a second time, even though I'd already KYC to open the account.

Yes I was made whole but it was unpleasant and I happily would have eaten the ~.30 of litecoin transaction fees and 0.1% crypto exchange fee to avoid that. Not to mention the wire cost me $15 in the first place and not everyone has ready access to a bank with free wires.

I had a 100k wire held for 30+days. It was in the middle of escrow and I had to borrow 100k so that the purchase didn't fall apart.

> I had a 100k wire held for 30+days.

Depending on which country it is going to, that seems like an amount large enough to legitimately trip over some checks. In the US itself, last I heard all domestic transfers over 10k get reported.

I dont particularly care about what is reported. What I care about is being able to move my money when I need to. In this specific instance, it was a domestic transfer.

Getting locked out of your own money can cause major damage. I'm lucky that I was able to dig up another 100k. Someone else could have lost their 50k and be liable for hundreds of thousands more in liability to the seller.

Buying drugs and other illegal things online

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