Have you looked into why USTs are being bought less by foreign entities? Imagine a world one day where a UST is not seen as a pristine asset. Russia has been bitten by this since its easy for the US to steal whatever Russian assets were at the FED I think. Pretty soon you start to understand what is your counter party risk. Imagine some of these countries who have paper currency and one day change it and tell you that you only have a month to exchange your old bills to new ones because the old ones become worthless. Paper currency is kind of contingent on it having value to someone else, but this can easily be taken away at a moment's notice. It can bite individuals as well as foreign states. But now you have this magical Bitcoin that has world wide acceptance and zero chance of counterparty risk. You telling me there is no benefit here?
But is anonymity the only real reason for having created the BTC? To circumvent government seizure from economic sanctions or evade detection from police when doing something illegal? I would think there's more to it than this, something more akin to the Internet that benefitted the world for the better.
Anonymity is important, and there are lots of great articles about why it isn't important for just criminals. But my main point was simply that when you make a transaction, you know it can't be undone, you don't need permission, you don't worry about confiscation, etc. Imagine you're selling something on craigslist and the guy wants to write you a cheque. Who the fuck is gonna trust that? Cash is clearly what you will choose. But now imagine that this cash is just as much at risk of seizure or risk of devaluation. Plus, cash only works for in person transactions. We also know that cash is actually risky in a bank. Most banks only have protections up to 100k or 250k. Clearly, your cash in the bank isn't really your cash. It used to be that you only worried about a bank failing maybe, but now governments are in the "seizure" game as well. But your bitcoin in a cold wallet is 100% safe. Heck, you can even exchange it back to cash if you so choose, but for the transaction part, the bitcoin sent and received will be final. I used to follow photography quite closely and there was this scam going around where a photographer would be hired for a big job. The client sent a cheque, but sent too much and asked for the difference to be returned or sent to some other vendor. So you think you got a 10k cheque and pay out 5k. Well, in 2 weeks the bank finds out the 10k cheque is no good and your 5k cheque that you wrote is long gone, and hence you are out 5k. Governments are now scamming entire states by seizing funds and all this other stuff too. Some countries are forced to buy USD in order to do a transaction, but its difficult for them to get access to USD. All of this currency business is truly problematic. So believe it or not, the entire world is gonna move towards a better payment system. If you want to move 100 million, it will be easier to do it with bitcoin since you won't worry about any counter party risk. Then you can choose if you want to keep it in BTC or convert to fiat once the transfer is done, but once again, you now have to worry about your fiat, so why not just stay in BTC? And hence why much of it sits unmoved in over a year. The Satoshi whitepaper talks about bitcoin I think mostly from an electronic peer to peer way to send money. But I think bitcion today represents so much more and the importance and use case has significantly evolved than simply sending value electronically.
I dunno, man. These days, anonymity and wiring funds are probably the least thing on most people's mind (those crypto HODLers). They're more worried about when BTC will reverse or, worst yet, if their cryptos won't blow up along with exchanges like FTX.
I agree that I don't care too much about anonymity, but agree that its important. Some cryptos will blow up, but bitcoin will survive and everyone will learn the difference. Exchanges will just be for buying your bitcoin and then taking it into cold storage, as it should be. Bitcoin will be seen as the most pristine asset, much like US treasuries are today.
Wow, you're really impressed with blockchain technology Honest question, what is this blockchain technology and why do think it's great? In your own words, no right or wrong answers
It seems in Ontario alone there are almost 1,400 registered Bitcoin ATMs. I also have noticed job adverts locally looking to hire more people to maintain them. It seems vendors like them. https://coinatmradar.com/state/55/bitcoin-atm-ontario/
Not sure about the fees, since I never used them, but they've been around for many years here. Bitcoin Well has been since 2014, and are the second largest Bitcoin ATM operator in Canada (I think). I've been taking a closer look at their investor relations page tonight: https://bitcoinwell.com/investors/ The Investors Deck is here: https://bitcoinwell.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/BTCW-Investor-Presentation-June-2022.pdf After doing research on the board members, there is a lot of buying as the shares are going down with the markets. Not one single member has sold even one share. Though, I can not be sure how much of the buying is due to stock options and what rules may be in place for vesting.
I have been stating this for years, which is that a blockchain in isolation won't be enough for 99% of people unless everything will be transacted on the chain. Oflks get paid in fiat and bank with fiat based banks. Any participation in btc requires end nodes and those operators already do and will continue to charge outrageous fees, far in excess of any current transfer fees of fiat currencies. Transacting in btc will not be a single penny cheaper, the oppsosite, if btc transfers are outside of the control of central regulators a few oligopolies will charge the shit out of people and enrich the very few, the same winner takes all mentality that has been celebrated in the US now for several decades. The Grand majority of folks will be worse off than ever before.