undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjafaku12y ago0 comments

You don't need to cross borders either. Guess what, I happen to live in a country where everything is banned (USD, Euro, gold, silver, etc.). That didn't stop me from saving in USD, Euro, or Bitcoin. I couldn't buy gold because nobody has that, because it's so inconvenient since you can't normally divide it, transport it, or keep it safe. But Bitcoin doesn't have any of those problems, so here we are saving in Bitcoin and not being punished through inflation, seizures, etc.

0 comments

1 comments · 1 top-level

betterunix12y ago

It is not about saving it is about spending. You need to buy certain things in life, like food. You need to pay taxes if you do not want to be thrown in prison. You need to do business with people who need to buy things; barter will only get you so far.

So sure, you can have your offshore savings in whatever currency you want, but at some point you need to spend that money locally. Bitcoin does not avoid this in any way; it actually adds an additional step to transactions, since you need to convert Bitcoin into your local currency (even businesses that "accept Bitcoin" usually accept payments through services that exchange Bitcoin for some fiat currency for a small fee). You might dream of a world where Bitcoin never needs to be exchanged, but that is not going to happen until governments start accepting Bitcoin payments for tax purposes (and why would any government do that?).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse