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Comment by hospitalJail | Hacker News Reader

>Signs of de-dollarisation are unfolding in the global economy, strategists at the biggest U.S. bank JPMorgan said on Monday, although the currency should maintain its long-held dominance for the foreseeable future.

So... not as scary as the title.

Anyway what is the alternative? Commodities? China's currency is too controlled. Euro(pe) is too reckless. I like Bitcoin for storing value against inflation, but its not a great currency. GBP? Maybe, but for such a small economy, that is a lot of eggs in 1 basket.

I'm the first one to be skeptical of government fiat currency holding value, but which big player is doing it better?

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I think what is happening is that there is a push to settle bi-lateral trade using the currencies of the two countries that are trading, and then it will grow from there. Many Countries still use the US Dollar to settle bilateral trade between themselves.

There is a decent amount of inefficiency in doing this though because you still have to establish valuations between the bilateral currencies. How do you do that without using any reference to some kind of a reserve currency? Ie, how would you figure the 'correct' yen:peso rate with first refering to yen:usd and peso:usd? I mean, you can, but either party takes on a decent amount of risk of getting taken to the cleaners if they misjudge their direct currency ratios. Or, if you do use a reference currency, without actually settling with the reserve, the reference price can be more easily manipulated. So, that means everyone doing strict bilateral settlement has their guards up more which makes it harder to get any trade done.

> I like Bitcoin for storing value against inflation, but its not a great currency.

Why?

A right-leaning (wing?) Canadian politician, Pierre Poilievre, said crptocurrencies would be to 'opt out of inflation' about a year ago. Meanwhile:

> The number of bitcoins needed to pay for shawarmas, groceries, gas, and housing is up 73.1 per cent compared with 5.2 per cent annual inflation measured in Canadian dollars.

* https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2023/03/29/poilievres-over-i...

* https://archive.is/6Ab4T

Cryptocurrencies are way more unstable than any fiat currency (at least of developed nations).

>> I like Bitcoin for storing value against inflation, but its not a great currency.

>Why

> The number of bitcoins needed to pay for shawarmas, groceries, gas, and housing is up 73.1 per cent compared with 5.2 per cent annual inflation measured in Canadian dollars.

So its not a good currency, but its a good store of value. No Bitcoin holder is gauging the value in segments of 1 year.

> So its not a good currency, but its a good store of value.

How is it a good store of value?

> No Bitcoin holder is gauging the value in segments of 1 year.

If it cannot hold its value for one year, I have little faith that it can hold its value for more than one year.

Things in finance can happen slowly then all at once.

A more sensible form of money rather than current fiat currencies would be some token representing like a fraction of a global (investment grade) bond portfolio. Of course central bankers wouldn't like that idea because it would limit their tools to fight inflation.

> Bitcoin: a peer to peer electronic cash system

If you're buying into something that isn't "a great currency" then you are being lied to, and the thing that you're buying has been derailed from the original plan.

GBP is also not exactly a sane investment right now given that country’s economic slowdown and the recent Truss panic.

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