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Comment by throw_m239339 | Hacker News Reader

Access to a computer and internet is also a privilege. Good luck using bitcoin without these.

You would be surprised, but I am willing to bet that to have access to those is way more common that to live in a country with a sane and stable economy.

Any currency can be used as a parallel currency. Cryptocurrency doesn't have a monopoly on that. Usually people just use dollars when their native currency is worthless.

Sure, good luck using dollars without any banking services. The dollars are so safe under your pillow. Especially since the country is so stable and nice and criminals are so nonexistent. Very good plan.

In practice it's exactly what happens.

Bitcoin volume in Venezuela today is a rounding error. But most of the country is using physical USD to transact.

Crypto still has not solved two key problems, volatility and usability. Most people are not technical. Most people are also not OK putting their savings in something that can easily lose half its value in a month.

Internet services are regulated by the state, and it's not unheard of for states to turn off access during periods of mass upheaval, or block websites wholesale. What then?

Elon Musk's Starlink would like to have a word with you.

It’s still very rare. Most of the time you can connect to VPNs.

On a Boston subway several years ago I heard a homeless guy with a smartphone, talking to a friend about looking for a place to sleep that night, and about a cool new app.

Cell coverage is widely available in third-world countries, and smartphones are increasingly widespread.

So, not all that much privilege anymore.

> So, not all that much privilege anymore.

Your anecdote doesn't invalidate my statement. 2G/3G coverage isn't even highly available in most third world country. How do you know your homeless guy had a data plan? You don't.

The elephant tells the ape “you big too.”

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