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Comment by Reubachi | Hacker News Reader

Entire world in late 1920s, Iceland in 2008,Russia currently.

Of course my examples are a bit tongue in cheek, much more nuanced and not as "Bank bad" as I paint them to be. But It's entirely possible for a bank run/economic downturn to wipe out a currency overnight.

Does that mean crypto is the solution? It sure doesn't seem to be given cases like this (NFT/ETH being rugpulled from/by videogame devs). But I think that creating "better banks" can only mean "more government oversight", which leads right back to the original problem IE; economic/political factors having too much control.

I of course keep all my money in the form of expired New Hampshire State Highway toll tokens.

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Currency takes on the value in which people believe it holds. Bitcoin is no different, and would instantly crash in the scenario of a worldwide financial system collapse.

It’s juvenile to believe otherwise, and reaffirms the believe that Crypto is just a 21st century pyramid scheme.

> I think that creating "better banks" can only mean "more government oversight"

I mean, a bank is just a financial business. Why wouldn't it be possible to improve "banks" but it would be possible to improve cryptocurrency companies (also financial businesses). What is the quality that gives you optimism that these new entities will be able to avoid the problems that you are worried about?

Like, I get that the technology is decentralized and it's impractical to track down every node, but if the plan is to run an illegal business that's hard to shut down...you do not need blockchain to do that? And if the business can be legal that seems like it's about laws - not the tech.

I suppose the other commenter doesn't really leave out the argument that "better cryptocurrencies" can only mean "more government oversight."

I'm not really sure what a secure, generalized zero-trust system really looks like, from an algorithmic standpoint or a political standpoint. ETH is arguably the first large-scale attempt to answer that question, but so far it has unequivocally failed to do that.

> but if the plan is to run an illegal business that's hard to shut down...you do not need blockchain to do that?

It sure as hell makes it easier. Think about NFTs for a moment - they have the perfect recipe for money laundering:

1. Subjective market value (examples: paintings, pokemon cards)

2. High market value.

3. Relatively-unregulated bookkeeping system (examples: other cryptos, any transaction in a tax haven)

4. Trivial mechanisms for layering as a result of (3).

5. Easy (not necessarily cheap) liquidation (examples: casinos)

I personally keep all my money in Culver's Scoopie Tokens. They're basically just forward contracts written by Culver's on behalf of the dairy industry. Highly liquid, as well.

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